A thorough and quietly encouraging manual on the causes and containment of panic attacks.
A comprehensive book looks at the science of acute anxiety—and possible new approaches to treatment.
Manning (CBT Diary and Worksheets, 2017, etc.) is the son of two efficient, hardworking Irish immigrants to Britain who rose to positions of power in their professions. But, according to the author, they were stymied when it came to parenting a son who was hesitant, introverted, and, from an early age, prone to periods of depression. Manning sketches in his autobiography in quick, economical strokes and skillfully uses it to ground the broader inquiry he and Ridgeway (Think About Your Thinking, 2009) conduct into the causes, nature, and possible treatments for panic attacks, which they describe briefly as “a whole-body response to perceived threat or danger.” The key word being “perceived”—the authors point out that one of the many cruel ironies of panic attacks is that they happen in the absence of any actual danger, producing the whole range of physiological and psychological symptoms that would be provoked in a genuine crisis. The amygdala fires repeatedly in the brain; the stomach contracts out of fear; the bowels tighten; the brain goes into a state of irrational hyperalertness; and the individual has little or no control over any of it. The authors make the unsubstantiated but surely correct assertion that far more people undergo panic attacks than anybody knows, since most sufferers probably avoid the associated stigma by refusing to report the incidents. Those secret victims—and their loved ones—should find the authors’ breakdown of the specific causes of fear and anxiety invaluable reading. And they may take comfort from the subsequent lucid discussion of cognitive behavioral therapy, a method of dealing with panic attacks that encourages sufferers to analyze the precise steps and timing of what’s happening to them through a variety of approaches. The authors’ wise choice to avoid hypertechnical professional jargon makes their book immediately accessible to the people who need it the most.
A thorough and quietly encouraging manual on the causes and containment of panic attacks.Pub Date: July 28, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-5355-7085-5
Page Count: 208
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: May 9, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2017
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
Striking research showing the immense complexity of ordinary thought and revealing the identities of the gatekeepers in our...
A psychologist and Nobel Prize winner summarizes and synthesizes the recent decades of research on intuition and systematic thinking.
The author of several scholarly texts, Kahneman (Emeritus Psychology and Public Affairs/Princeton Univ.) now offers general readers not just the findings of psychological research but also a better understanding of how research questions arise and how scholars systematically frame and answer them. He begins with the distinction between System 1 and System 2 mental operations, the former referring to quick, automatic thought, the latter to more effortful, overt thinking. We rely heavily, writes, on System 1, resorting to the higher-energy System 2 only when we need or want to. Kahneman continually refers to System 2 as “lazy”: We don’t want to think rigorously about something. The author then explores the nuances of our two-system minds, showing how they perform in various situations. Psychological experiments have repeatedly revealed that our intuitions are generally wrong, that our assessments are based on biases and that our System 1 hates doubt and despises ambiguity. Kahneman largely avoids jargon; when he does use some (“heuristics,” for example), he argues that such terms really ought to join our everyday vocabulary. He reviews many fundamental concepts in psychology and statistics (regression to the mean, the narrative fallacy, the optimistic bias), showing how they relate to his overall concerns about how we think and why we make the decisions that we do. Some of the later chapters (dealing with risk-taking and statistics and probabilities) are denser than others (some readers may resent such demands on System 2!), but the passages that deal with the economic and political implications of the research are gripping.
Striking research showing the immense complexity of ordinary thought and revealing the identities of the gatekeepers in our minds.Pub Date: Nov. 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-374-27563-1
Page Count: 512
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: Sept. 3, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2011
BOOK REVIEW
IN THE NEWS
These are not hard and fast rules, but Meyer delivers important reading for those engaged in international business.
A helpful guide to working effectively with people from other cultures.
“The sad truth is that the vast majority of managers who conduct business internationally have little understanding about how culture is impacting their work,” writes Meyer, a professor at INSEAD, an international business school. Yet they face a wider array of work styles than ever before in dealing with clients, suppliers and colleagues from around the world. When is it best to speak or stay quiet? What is the role of the leader in the room? When working with foreign business people, failing to take cultural differences into account can lead to frustration, misunderstanding or worse. Based on research and her experiences teaching cross-cultural behaviors to executive students, the author examines a handful of key areas. Among others, they include communicating (Anglo-Saxons are explicit; Asians communicate implicitly, requiring listeners to read between the lines), developing a sense of trust (Brazilians do it over long lunches), and decision-making (Germans rely on consensus, Americans on one decider). In each area, the author provides a “culture map scale” that positions behaviors in more than 20 countries along a continuum, allowing readers to anticipate the preferences of individuals from a particular country: Do they like direct or indirect negative feedback? Are they rigid or flexible regarding deadlines? Do they favor verbal or written commitments? And so on. Meyer discusses managers who have faced perplexing situations, such as knowledgeable team members who fail to speak up in meetings or Indians who offer a puzzling half-shake, half-nod of the head. Cultural differences—not personality quirks—are the motivating factors behind many behavioral styles. Depending on our cultures, we understand the world in a particular way, find certain arguments persuasive or lacking merit, and consider some ways of making decisions or measuring time natural and others quite strange.
These are not hard and fast rules, but Meyer delivers important reading for those engaged in international business.Pub Date: May 27, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-61039-250-1
Page Count: 288
Publisher: PublicAffairs
Review Posted Online: April 15, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2014
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