Better Than Normal

Better Than Normal

Author: Dale Archer, MD

Publisher: Harmony

Published: 2013-03-12

Total Pages: 258

ISBN-13: 0307887480

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A New York Times bestseller that offers a groundbreaking new view of human psychology, showing how eight key traits of human behavior--long perceived as liabilities--can be important hidden strengths What if the inattentiveness that makes school or work a challenge holds the secret to your future as an entrepreneur? What if the shyness in groups that you hate is the source of deep compassion for others? What if the anxiety and nervousness you often feel can actually help energize you? Renowned psychiatrist and popular on-air personality Dr. Dale Archer believes that behaviors frequently labeled "ADHD," "bipolar," and "OCD" are often normal human qualities--and he contends that we all experience these and other psychological traits to some extent yet fail to leverage the significant advantages they can offer. Worse, we stigmatize one another for these aspects of our personalities. In Better Than Normal, Dr. Archer offers an empowering framework for redefining mental health. Drawing on his 20 years of clinical experience, he describes eight traits of human behavior, each of which occurs along a continuum rather than as a simple on-off switch. These are the aspects of our personality that we worry about the most, but these are also the very things that make us distinctive and different. Filled with engaging anecdotes and practical tools to help readers capitalize on their unique characteristics, Better Than Normal offers a new and liberating way to look at ourselves and others.


No Such Thing as Normal

No Such Thing as Normal

Author: Bryony Gordon

Publisher: Headline

Published: 2021-01-07

Total Pages: 174

ISBN-13: 1472284127

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'Mental illness has led to some of the worst times of my life... but it has also led to some of the most brilliant. Bad things happen, but good things can come from them. And strange as it might sound, my mental health has been vastly improved by being mentally ill.' From depression and anxiety to personality disorders, one in four of us experience mental health issues every year and, in these strange and unsettling times, more of us than ever are struggling to cope. In No Such Thing As Normal, Bryony offers sensible, practical advice, covering subjects such as sleep, addiction, worry, medication, self-image, boundary setting, therapy, learned behaviour, mindfulness and, of course - as the founder of Mental Health Mates - the power of walking and talking. She also strives to equip those in need of help with tools and information to get the best out of a poorly funded system that can be both frightening and overwhelming. The result is a lively, honest and direct guide to mental health that cuts through the Instagram-wellness bubble to talk about how each of us can feel stronger, better and just a little bit less alone.


Faster Than Normal

Faster Than Normal

Author: Peter Shankman

Publisher: Penguin

Published: 2017-10-03

Total Pages: 258

ISBN-13: 1524704997

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A refreshingly practical and honest guide that rewrites the script on ADHD Peter Shankman is a busy guy -- a media entrepreneur who runs several businesses, gives keynote speeches around the world, hosts a popular podcast, runs marathons and Iron Mans, is a licensed skydiver, dabbles in angel investing, and is loving father to his young daughter. Simply put, he always seems to have more than 24 hours in a day. How does he do it? Peter attributes his unusually high energy level and extreme productivity to his ADHD. In Faster Than Normal, Shankman shares his hard-won insights and daily hacks for making ADHD a secret weapon for living a full and deeply satisfying life. Both inspiring and practical, the book presents life rules, best practices, and simple but powerful ways to: Harness your creative energy to generate and execute your ideas Direct your hyperfocus to get things done Identify your pitfalls--and avoid them Streamline your daily routine to eliminate distractions Use apps and other tech innovations to free up your time and energy Filled with ingenious hacks and supportive self-care advice, this is the positive, practical book the ADHD community has long needed - and is also an invaluable handbook for anyone who's sick of feeling overwhelmed and wants to drive their faster-than-normal brain at maximum speed...without crashing.


A Better Normal

A Better Normal

Author: Tess Devèze

Publisher: Connectable Therapies Pty Limited

Published: 2021-09-27

Total Pages: 216

ISBN-13: 9780645310108

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"A really important influence in my and many others road back to physical and mental health during and post cancer treatment. Without Tess' support who knows where we'd be." Steve, cancer survivor "This book is an absolute game changer. Practical, clear, accessible guidance. I already love introducing Tess' work to couples craving re-connection post cancer treatment, and now I have this go-to instructional guide." Victoria Cullen, founder of A Touchy Subject "Your impact on others suffering is just so profound. Love you for that Tess. Thank you!" SJ, cancer survivor Impacted sexuality from cancer treatments is one of the most common challenges people face, yet is one of the most under-addressed. Cancer treatments can impact all aspects of our lives, so why is no one talking about the more 'intimate' struggles we face? If you've received a cancer diagnosis, or are the loved one of someone who has, this book offers support and solutions to recover and increase connection, intimacy & sexuality, during and after treatments. Jam-packed with fun activities and easy-to-do strategies for how to improve things like; low libido, changes in body image and body confidence, when things are 'dry & sore', dating, the more direct side-effects treatments can have on our body and ways to heal and work around them like pain, fatigue, when sex hurts, drops in sex-drive and so, so much more. This book is a must-have for anyone impacted by cancer who may need support, because we all deserve love and connection. Written by a sexuality clinician and educator, who's also had cancer, this book is filled with practical information and ways you can reconnect with yourself and/or a partner, from someone who's literally been there. With down to Earth humour mixed in with a dash of neuroscience, Tess offers a positive path to your intimacy recovery, so what you thought was sexually impossible, becomes possible.


Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal?

Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal?

Author: Jeanette Winterson

Publisher: Open Road + Grove/Atlantic

Published: 2012-03-06

Total Pages: 152

ISBN-13: 0802194753

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A New York Times bestseller: The “magnificent” memoir by one of the bravest and most original writers of our time—“A tour de force of literature and love” (Vogue). One of the New York Times’ “50 Best Memoirs of the Past 50 Years” Jeanette Winterson’s bold and revelatory novels have established her as a major figure in world literature. Her internationally best-selling debut, Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit, tells the story of a young girl adopted by Pentecostal parents, and has become a staple of required reading in contemporary fiction classes. Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal? is a “singular and electric” memoir about a life’s work to find happiness (The New York Times). It is a book full of stories: about a girl locked out of her home, sitting on the doorstep all night; about a religious zealot disguised as a mother who has two sets of false teeth and a revolver in the dresser, waiting for Armageddon; about growing up in a north England industrial town now changed beyond recognition; about the universe as a cosmic dustbin. It is the story of how a painful past, rose to haunt the author later in life, sending her on a journey into madness and out again, in search of her biological mother. It is also a book about the power of literature, showing how fiction and poetry can form a string of guiding lights, or a life raft that supports us when we are sinking. Witty, acute, fierce, and celebratory, Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal? is a tough-minded story of the search for belonging—for love, identity, home, and a mother.


Nobody's Normal: How Culture Created the Stigma of Mental Illness

Nobody's Normal: How Culture Created the Stigma of Mental Illness

Author: Roy Richard Grinker

Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company

Published: 2021-01-26

Total Pages: 448

ISBN-13: 0393531651

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A compassionate and captivating examination of evolving attitudes toward mental illness throughout history and the fight to end the stigma. For centuries, scientists and society cast moral judgments on anyone deemed mentally ill, confining many to asylums. In Nobody’s Normal, anthropologist Roy Richard Grinker chronicles the progress and setbacks in the struggle against mental-illness stigma—from the eighteenth century, through America’s major wars, and into today’s high-tech economy. Nobody’s Normal argues that stigma is a social process that can be explained through cultural history, a process that began the moment we defined mental illness, that we learn from within our communities, and that we ultimately have the power to change. Though the legacies of shame and secrecy are still with us today, Grinker writes that we are at the cusp of ending the marginalization of the mentally ill. In the twenty-first century, mental illnesses are fast becoming a more accepted and visible part of human diversity. Grinker infuses the book with the personal history of his family’s four generations of involvement in psychiatry, including his grandfather’s analysis with Sigmund Freud, his own daughter’s experience with autism, and culminating in his research on neurodiversity. Drawing on cutting-edge science, historical archives, and cross-cultural research in Africa and Asia, Grinker takes readers on an international journey to discover the origins of, and variances in, our cultural response to neurodiversity. Urgent, eye-opening, and ultimately hopeful, Nobody’s Normal explains how we are transforming mental illness and offers a path to end the shadow of stigma.


The Myth of Normal

The Myth of Normal

Author: Gabor Maté, MD

Publisher: Penguin

Published: 2022-09-13

Total Pages: 560

ISBN-13: 059308389X

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The instant New York Times bestseller By the acclaimed author of In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts, a groundbreaking investigation into the causes of illness, a bracing critique of how our society breeds disease, and a pathway to health and healing. In this revolutionary book, renowned physician Gabor Maté eloquently dissects how in Western countries that pride themselves on their healthcare systems, chronic illness and general ill health are on the rise. Nearly 70 percent of Americans are on at least one prescription drug; more than half take two. In Canada, every fifth person has high blood pressure. In Europe, hypertension is diagnosed in more than 30 percent of the population. And everywhere, adolescent mental illness is on the rise. So what is really “normal” when it comes to health? Over four decades of clinical experience, Maté has come to recognize the prevailing understanding of “normal” as false, neglecting the roles that trauma and stress, and the pressures of modern-day living, exert on our bodies and our minds at the expense of good health. For all our expertise and technological sophistication, Western medicine often fails to treat the whole person, ignoring how today’s culture stresses the body, burdens the immune system, and undermines emotional balance. Now Maté brings his perspective to the great untangling of common myths about what makes us sick, connects the dots between the maladies of individuals and the declining soundness of society—and offers a compassionate guide for health and healing. Cowritten with his son Daniel, The Myth Of Normal is Maté’s most ambitious and urgent book yet.


Is This Normal?

Is This Normal?

Author: John Whyte

Publisher: Rodale Books

Published: 2011-08-02

Total Pages: 274

ISBN-13: 1609611225

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A collection of vital information that answers readers' most pressing questions about how age impacts their bodies. Many people are embarrassed to bring their everyday health anxieties to their physicians or even to ask for advice from family and friends. They might think that depression, failing eyesight, memory loss, and other difficulties that change their quality of life are normal because of their age. This is where Is This Normal? steps in and lets readers know whether or not these changes should be a concern or an expected part of aging. With compassion, reassurance, and friendly guidance, Dr. John Whyte, chief medical expert at the Discovery Channel, provides the essential tools for dealing with the common health issues that arise as we get older, proving that you can stay active and healthy at any age. "Using soothing language and a gentle sense of humor, Whyte...tries to separate fact from rumor." —The Washington Post "All your embarrassing aging questions answered—finally!"—Vital Juice


Everybody's Normal Till You Get to Know Them

Everybody's Normal Till You Get to Know Them

Author: John Ortberg

Publisher: Zondervan

Published: 2009-05-18

Total Pages: 257

ISBN-13: 0310565774

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Normal? Who's normal? Not you, that's for sure! No one you've ever met, either. None of us are normal according to God's definition, and the closer we get to each other, the plainer that becomes. Yet for all our quirks, sins, and jagged edges, we need each other. Community is more than just a word--it is one of our most fundamental requirements. So how do flawed, abnormal people such as ourselves master the forces that can drive us apart and come together in the life-changing relationships God designed us for? In Everybody's Normal Till You Get to Know Them, teacher and bestselling author John Ortberg zooms in on the things that make community tick. You'll get a thought-provoking look at God's heart, at others, and at yourself. Even better, you'll gain wisdom and tools for drawing closer to others in powerful, impactful ways. With humor, insight, and a gift for storytelling, Ortberg shows how community pays tremendous dividends in happiness, health, support, and growth. It's where all of us weird, unwieldy people encounter God's love in tangible ways and discover the transforming power of being loved, accepted, and valued just the way we are.


55, Underemployed, and Faking Normal

55, Underemployed, and Faking Normal

Author: Elizabeth White

Publisher: Simon & Schuster

Published: 2020-01-28

Total Pages: 272

ISBN-13: 1501196839

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A practical plan for the millions of people in their fifties and sixties who find themselves out of work, unable to find a job, and financially incapable of retiring, Elizabeth White shows how to get past any blame or shame, overcome denial, and find a path to a new normal. Elizabeth White has an impressive resume, which includes advanced degrees from Harvard and Johns Hopkins and a distinguished employment history. She started a business that failed and then tried to reenter the work force in her mid-fifties, only to learn that there is little demand for workers her age. For a while Elizabeth lived in denial, but then had to adjust to her new reality, shedding the gym membership, getting a roommate, forgoing restaurant meals, and so on. She soon learned she wasn’t alone: there are millions of Americans in her predicament and worse, exhausted from trying to survive and overcome every day. In 55, Underemployed, and Faking Normal, Elizabeth invites you to look beyond your immediate circumstances to what is possible in the new normal of financial insecurity. You’re in your fifties and sixties, and may have saved nothing or not nearly enough to retire. It’s too late for blame or shame—and it wouldn’t help anyway. What you want to know is what you can do now to have a shot at a decent retirement. “This relevant and well-researched book will appeal not only to those 55 plus, but to the generation coming right behind them who may face similar issues” (Booklist, starred review). 55, Underemployed, and Faking Normal is a must-have for anyone whose income has suddenly diminished or even disappeared. “Providing practical solutions with a focus on retirement and maximizing savings, White maintains authority with a realistic, empathetic tone throughout. This deeply useful work will resonate with aging readers of all income levels and situations” (Publishers Weekly). If you’re ready to get serious about feeling good again, this book is for you.