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Summary
Summary
Have you ever wanted relief from feeling discouraged? worried? irritated? locked in habits that ultimately harm you? These negative states--depression, anxiety, anger and addictive habits--are the common colds of mental health. Like mild physical illnesses however, they can cause much distress and, if left untreated, can lead to worse difficulties.
"PRESCRIPTIONS Without Pills" offers techniques for resolving the problems that have been provoking your uncomfortable emotions. "PRESCRIPTIONS" guides you back to feeling good and then shows you how to sustain feelings of well-being.
Avoid the risk of negative side effects like weight gain and mental dullness that can result from taking pills to reduce your negative emotions. Instead implement these drug-free prescriptions. Use the prescriptions on your own or with help from a therapist.
Illustrated with engaging stories from the many clients Dr. Heitler has worked with in her forty-plus years as an internationally known psychologist and psychotherapy innovator, "PRESCRIPTIONS Without Pills" aims to help you navigate the route back to well-being and learn skills that can help you to stay there.
Author Notes
A graduate of Harvard and NYU, Dr. Susan Heitler is a clinical psychologist practicing in Denver. Her first book for therapists was "From Conflict to Resolution. She followed this up with resources for couples who want to improve their marriage: "Power of Two and The Power of Two Workbook." Dr. Heitler s master therapist video on couples therapy, "The Angry Couple," is used in training programs globally; she has lectured on her treatment methods in China, Australia, Europe, and the Middle East, where she recently keynoted the regional psychological conference in Beirut."
Excerpts
Excerpts
Who is this book for? My 10 year old grandson Harel recently came to visit me at my therapy office. Sitting in one of the bright yellow chairs where my clients and I sit Harel asked, "You just sit here and talk with people? Sounds like your job is offering psychology to people when they need it." Psychology For People When They Need It could have been the name for this book. If you are someone who feels in need of help to free yourself of a negative emotional state, the prescriptions here aim to give you access to much of what you would learn in my psychology office. If you are a therapist, these prescriptions hopefully will expand your repertoire of remedies for helping people who are suffering from emotional distress. In my therapy office, large windows enable the Denver sunshine to infuse the room with positive energy. This book aims to illuminate and refresh the dark corners in your life. Colorful contemporary art decorates my office walls. May your feelings of distress give way to similar uplifting visions. In sum, my hope is that the therapeutic prescriptions you are embarking on reading will help you like they help the clients in my therapy office. If you are a therapist, my hope is that the remedies in this book will further your effectiveness with your clients. Why is psychological treatment, self-administered with the prescriptions in this book or administered by a therapy professional, important? Painful emotions hurt. They actually light up the same pain centers of your brain as physical hurts do. While both emotional and physical pain serve to tell you that a problem that needs attention, sometimes the pain messenger itself becomes as much of a problem as the situation that the pain is alerting you to. In addition to causing emotional suffering, the impacts of emotional distress on physical health can be substantial. Unhappiness and anxiety leave you become more susceptible to illnesses from simple colds to cancer. Your immune system functions less effectively and your ability to heal from wounds and illness decreases. Fortunately, psychotherapy helps to relieve both the emotional and potential physical consequences of distress. One major research project found that when patients diagnosed with a mental health disorder received treatment for their emotional distress, their overall medical costs were reduced by 17 percent. By contrast, the medical expenses of those who received no treatment for their mental disorder increased by 12.3 percent. Improvements in emotional health improve physical health. Research has established that bibliotherapy such as you are doing by reading this book can offer effective mental health treatment. Adding the help of a therapist can make the results even more long-lasting. The more severe your emotional symptoms, the more important adding a therapist will be. In any case, do take this form of therapy seriously, making your reading and implementation of the prescriptions a priority. The prescriptions Like recipes in a cookbook or directions in a how-to manual, this book gives you step-by-step instructions. When my husband Bruce and I were still in graduate school, our first baby arrived. We both were relatively clueless about parenting. With great delight, my husband bundled baby Abigail up, strapped her into a chest-facing carrier where she could snuggle warmly into his chest, and took her for a long walk to enjoy together the Connecticut shoreline where we then were living. Clouds alas blew in. Bruce turned to head homeward as soon as a damp drizzle began. By the time we unwrapped tiny baby Abigail at home however, the dampness and chill had so plugged up her new respiratory system with mucous that she was barely breathing. To my husband's credit, he never lost his composure. "Where is that Dr. Spock book?" Bruce asked me calmly. "I think nurses at the hospital packed it in the box of goodies they sent home with us." I scurried to look and to my relief succeeded in finding the still-unpacked book. "Let's see," Bruce said calmly, "what the book says if you look in the index under the word nose." We'd only been married less than 10 months, but I knew at that moment that Bruce would be an blessedly reliable partner in living. "Nose: If a baby's nose is stuffed, use a syringe to remove the mucous." I quickly retrieved a blue rubber squeeze syringe from the hospital's new-baby gift box. Two squishes later and Abigail was breathing like a normal infant. Phew! Why do I tell that story now? I am hoping that you will be able to turn to this what-to-do-when book for similar help when emotionally challenging situations arise in your life. Excerpted from Prescription Without Pills: For Relief from Depression, Anger, Anxiety, and More by Susan Heitler All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.Table of Contents
Acknowledgments | p. xi |
Introduction: On Prescriptions, Pills, and How to Use This Book | p. xiii |
Why relief from negative feelings matters | p. xiii |
The prescriptions | p. xiv |
Why not pills? | p. xvii |
How to use this book | p. xxii |
Chapter 1 How You Feel and Why | p. 1 |
Rx 1.1 Treasure this Hand Map to guide your way | p. 1 |
Rx 1.2 Self-diagnose your negative emotions | p. 4 |
Rx 1.3 Regard emotional distress as helpful | p. 6 |
Rx 1.4 Clarify the dilemmas in your life | p. 7 |
Rx 1.5 Look further when external adversities appear overwhelming | p. 10 |
Chapter 2 Depression | p. 12 |
Rx 2.1 Consider ten theories to understand depression more broadly | p. 13 |
Rx 2.2 Appreciate how depression may protect you | p. 20 |
Rx 2.3 Identify situations in which you have been tempted to fold | p. 22 |
Rx 2.4 Alleviate depression with a Three P's visualization | p. 23 |
Rx 2.5 Relieve childhood-based depression with That Was Then, Tins Is Now | p. 29 |
Rx 2.6 Strengthen yourself with AGGRESS-N, eight natural antidepressants | p. 34 |
Rx 2.7 Check for relationship factors that induce depression | p. 43 |
Rx 2.8 Choose couples counseling for therapy if you are married | p. 49 |
Rx 2.9 Handle grief and relationship endings without depression | p. 53 |
Rx 2.10 Consider right-left prefrontal lobe energy-shifting | p. 56 |
Chapter 3 Anger | p. 60 |
Rx 3.1 Clarify sixteen costs of anger and one core remedy | p. 61 |
Rx 3.2 Rate your amygdala reactivity | p. 72 |
Rx 3.3 Check for factors that fuel anger | p. 75 |
Rx 3.4 Explore your anger triggers and models, then find better solutions | p. 78 |
Rx 3.5 Regard anger as a stop sign | p. 86 |
Rx 3.6 Design exit/re-entry plans to prevent arguments | p. 91 |
Rx 3.7 Defuse anger with That Was Then, This Is Now | p. 97 |
Rx 3.8 Identify what you do that invites anger in others | p. 100 |
Rx 3.9 Release resentments about the past | p. 102 |
Rx 3.10 Recognize narcissistic, borderline, paranoid, and bipolar anger | p. 114 |
Chapter 4 Anxiety | p. 123 |
Rx 4.1 Recognize anxiety, then take three steps to alleviate it | p. 124 |
Rx 4.2 Visualize anxiety: Where is the feeling within your body? | p. 128 |
Rx 4.3 Reduce anxiety with That Was Then, This Is Now | p. 131 |
Rx 4.4 Choose from two calming options for anxiety surges | p. 134 |
Rx 4.5 Minimize performance anxiety | p. 136 |
Rx 4.6 Halt agitation over decisions | p. 142 |
Rx 4.7 End worrying by seeking information | p. 144 |
Rx 4.8 Think of panic attacks as Find the Butterfly puzzles | p. 148 |
Rx 4.9 Alleviate chronic stress via three strategies | p. 151 |
Rx 4.10 Remove intense anxiety and eliminate PTSD with EFT | p. 160 |
Chapter 5 Addictions | p. 163 |
Rx 5.1 Recognize your self-injurious habits | p. 164 |
Rx 5.2 Identify four stages in the journey from habits to addictions | p. 166 |
Rx 5.3 Clarify the sources of your addictive habits | p. 167 |
Rx 5.4 Ask the Six Questions to End Bad Habits | p. 172 |
Rx 5.5 Learn from thumb-sucking, the earliest addiction | p. 176 |
Rx 5.6 Build new habits instead of relying on willpower to resist the old | p. 181 |
Rx 5.7 Become savvy about the addictive nature of electronic devices | p. 183 |
Rx 5.8 Pay attention to marijuana use | p. 185 |
Rx 5.9 Protect your marriage by regarding affairs as addictions | p. 187 |
Rx 5.10 Cease the four habits that feed enabling and codependency | p. 193 |
Chapter 6 Weil-Being | p. 199 |
Rx 6.1 Note quickly when collaborative dialogue becomes adversarial | p. 200 |
Rx 6.2 Activate Word Patrol to block words from the No-Fly List | p. 205 |
Rx 6.3 Keep sensitive discussions safe with Six Safe Sentence Starters | p. 213 |
Rx 6.4 Disagree agreeably with Triple-A | p. 218 |
Rx 6.5 Generate good feelings by Emanating Positivity | p. 221 |
Rx 6.6 Learn the Win-Win Waltz | p. 225 |
Rx 6.7 Identify conflicts and decisions that need the Win-Win Waltz | p. 229 |
Rx 6.8 Resolve inner conflicts with Do or Become | p. 233 |
Rx 6.9 Heal together after upsetting incidents | p. 236 |
Rx 6.10 Hold on to your Circle of Skills | p. 241 |
Chapter 7 Look Back and Look Ahead | p. 244 |
Rx 7.1 Review the Hand Map and its basic assumptions | p. 244 |
Rx 7.2 Write out your action plan | p. 245 |
Rx 7.3 Enjoy well-being | p. 246 |
Appendix A Further Learning Resources from Dr. Heitler | p. 247 |
Books | p. 247 |
Articles | p. 248 |
Audio programs | p. 248 |
Videos | p. 248 |
Online | p. 248 |
Appendix B How to Choose a Therapist | p. 250 |
Endnotes | p. 252 |