Given epidemic anxiety and stress disorders, this is a timely book that will greatly interest those who suffer from them as...
Comprehensive survey of the state of knowledge concerning PTSD, woven into the author’s experiences as a therapist and the child of survivors.
Family memories of the partition of India and Pakistan fueled psychiatrist and PTSD researcher Jain’s initial explorations of a condition marked by what she deems “five quintessential intrusive features”—namely, distress caused by memories of trauma, flashbacks, nightmares, unshakable waking thoughts, and physiological responses such as the feeling that one can’t breathe or that death is imminent. The trauma that produces PTSD is life-transforming. The author writes that recent therapies have improved the outlook for some of those who suffer from PTSD, and she suggests, in a footnote to the ongoing nature vs. nurture controversy, that someone raised in a supportive family may well weather trauma better than someone in a conflict-ridden environment. Moreover, she adds, “the resilience of the wider community to which you belong has a knock-on effect of your own capacity, as an individual, to be resilient.” When someone is not resilient, however, then trouble can lie ahead: PTSD sufferers tend to self-medicate, for instance, and their conditions are often misdiagnosed, so that when they are medicated pharmaceutically, it may well be with the wrong thing (benzodiazepines, in particular). Domestic violence, trouble with the law, suicide, and other negative consequences of PTSD are also commonplace. Jain carefully lays out what can be said with confidence about the syndrome—the fact, for instance, that “children with PTSD have altered neurobiology”—and what is more speculative, all with an eye to potential cures or at least effective therapies for managing the condition, such as recent British experiments with intensive residential treatments and the application of methods “with an emphasis on the fear and horror associated with the traumatic event."
Given epidemic anxiety and stress disorders, this is a timely book that will greatly interest those who suffer from them as well as family members and medical practitioners.Pub Date: May 7, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-06-246906-9
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: March 23, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2019
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
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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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