Tag: Negativity

What is a Hedonic Treadmill?

Published on by Andrew Marshall1 Comment

Introduction

The hedonic treadmill, also known as hedonic adaptation, is the observed tendency of humans to quickly return to a relatively stable level of happiness despite major positive or negative events or life changes.

According to this theory, as a person makes more money, expectations and desires rise in tandem, which results in no permanent gain in happiness. Philip Brickman and Donald T. Campbell coined the term in their essay “Hedonic Relativism and Planning the Good Society” (1971). The hedonic treadmill viewpoint suggests that wealth does not increase the level of happiness.

Refer to Positivity Offset.

Overview

Hedonic adaptation is a process or mechanism that reduces the affective impact of emotional events. Generally, hedonic adaptation involves a happiness “set point”, whereby humans generally maintain a constant level of happiness throughout their lives, despite events that occur in their environment. The process of hedonic adaptation is often conceptualised as a treadmill, since no matter how hard one tries to gain an increase in happiness, one will remain in the same place.

Hedonic adaptation can occur in a variety of ways. Generally, the process involves cognitive changes, such as shifting values, goals, attention and interpretation of a situation. Further, neurochemical processes desensitise overstimulated hedonic pathways in the brain, which possibly prevents persistently high levels of intense positive or negative feelings. The process of adaptation can also occur through the tendency of humans to construct elaborate rationales for considering themselves deprived through a process social theorist Gregg Easterbrook calls “abundance denial”.

Major Theoretical Approaches

Behavioural/Psychological Approach

“Hedonic treadmill” is a term coined by Brickman and Campbell in their article, “Hedonic Relativism and Planning the Good Society” (1971), describing the tendency of people to keep a fairly stable baseline level of happiness despite external events and fluctuations in demographic circumstances. The idea of relative happiness had been around for decades when in 1978 Brickman, et al., began to approach hedonic pleasure within the framework of Helson’s adaptation level theory, which holds that perception of stimulation is dependent upon comparison of former stimulations. The hedonic treadmill functions similarly to most adaptations that serve to protect and enhance perception. In the case of hedonics, the sensitization or desensitization to circumstances or environment can redirect motivation. This reorientation functions to protect against complacency, but also to accept unchangeable circumstances, and redirect efforts towards more effective goals. Frederick and Lowenstein classify three types of processes in hedonic adaptation: shifting adaptation levels, desensitisation, and sensitisation. Shifting adaptation levels occurs when a person experiences a shift in what is perceived as a “neutral” stimulus, but maintains sensitivity to stimulus differences. For example, if Sam gets a raise he will initially be happier, and then habituate to the larger salary and return to his happiness set point. But he will still be pleased when he gets a holiday bonus. Desensitisation decreases sensitivity in general, which reduces sensitivity to change. Those who have lived in war zones for extended periods of time may become desensitised to the destruction that happens on a daily basis, and be less affected by the occurrence of serious injuries or losses that may once have been shocking and upsetting. Sensitization is an increase of hedonic response from continuous exposure, such as the increased pleasure and selectivity of connoisseurs for wine, or food.

Brickman, Coates, and Janoff-Bulman were among the first to investigate the hedonic treadmill in their 1978 study, “Lottery Winners and Accident Victims: Is Happiness Relative?”. Lottery winners and paraplegics were compared to a control group and as predicted, comparison (with past experiences and current communities) and habituation (to new circumstances) affected levels of happiness such that after the initial impact of the extremely positive or negative events, happiness levels typically went back to the average levels. This interview-based study, while not longitudinal, was the beginning of a now large body of work exploring the relativity of happiness.

Brickman and Campbell originally implied that everyone returns to the same neutral set point after a significantly emotional life event. In the literature review, “Beyond the Hedonic Treadmill, Revising the Adaptation Theory of Well-Being” (2006), Diener, Lucas, and Scollon concluded that people are not hedonically neutral, and that individuals have different set points which are at least partially heritable. They also concluded that individuals may have more than one happiness set point, such as a life satisfaction set point and a subjective well-being set point, and that because of this, one’s level of happiness is not just one given set point but can vary within a given range. Diener and colleagues point to longitudinal and cross-sectional research to argue that happiness set point can change, and lastly that individuals vary in the rate and extent of adaptation they exhibit to change in circumstance.

Empirical Studies

In a longitudinal study conducted by Mancini, Bonnano, and Clark, people showed individual differences in how they responded to significant life events, such as marriage, divorce and widowhood. They recognised that some individuals do experience substantial changes to their hedonic set point over time, though most others do not, and argue that happiness set point can be relatively stable throughout the course of an individual’s life, but the life satisfaction and subjective well-being set points are more variable.

Similarly, the longitudinal study conducted by Fujita and Diener (2005) described the life satisfaction set point as a “soft baseline”. This means that for most people, this baseline is similar to their happiness baseline. Typically, life satisfaction will hover around a set point for the majority of their lives and not change dramatically. However, for about a quarter of the population this set point is not stable, and does indeed move in response to a major life event. Other longitudinal data has shown that subjective well-being set points do change over time, and that adaptation is not necessarily inevitable. In his archival data analysis, Lucas found evidence that it is possible for someone’s subjective well-being set point to change drastically, such as in the case of individuals who acquire a severe, long term disability. However, as Diener, Lucas, and Scollon point out, the amount of fluctuation a person experiences around their set point is largely dependent on the individual’s ability to adapt.

After following over a thousand sets of twins for 10 years, Lykken and Tellegen (1996) concluded that almost 50% of our happiness levels are determined by genetics. Headey and Wearing (1989) suggested that our position on the spectrum of the stable personality traits (neuroticism, extraversion, and openness to experience) accounts for how we experience and perceive life events, and indirectly contributes to our happiness levels. Research on happiness has spanned decades and crossed cultures in order to test the true limits of our hedonic set point.

In large panel studies, divorce, death of a spouse, unemployment, disability, and similar events have been shown to change the long-term subjective well-being, even though some adaptation does occur and inborn factors affect this.

In the aforementioned Brickman study (1978), researchers interviewed 22 lottery winners and 29 paraplegics to determine their change in happiness levels due to their given event (winning lottery or becoming paralysed). The event in the case of lottery winners had taken place between one month and one and a half years before the study, and in the case of paraplegics between a month and a year. The group of lottery winners reported being similarly happy before and after the event, and expected to have a similar level of happiness in a couple of years. These findings show that having a large monetary gain had no effect on their baseline level of happiness, for both present and expected happiness in the future. They found that the paraplegics reported having a higher level of happiness in the past than the rest (due to a nostalgia effect), a lower level of happiness at the time of the study than the rest (although still above the middle point of the scale, that is, they reported being more happy than unhappy) and, surprisingly, they also expected to have similar levels of happiness than the rest in a couple of years. One must note that the paraplegics did have an initial decrease in life happiness, but the key to their findings is that they expected to eventually return to their baseline in time.

In a newer study (2007), winning a medium-sized lottery prize had a lasting mental wellbeing effect of 1.4 GHQ points on Britons even two years after the event.

Some research suggests that resilience to suffering is partly due to a decreased fear response in the amygdala and increased levels of BDNF in the brain. New genetic research have found that changing a gene could increase intelligence and resilience to depressing and traumatising events. This could have crucial benefits for those with anxiety and PTSD.

Recent research reveals certain types of brain training can increase brain size. The hippocampus volume can affect mood, hedonic setpoints, and some forms of memory. A smaller hippocampus has been linked to depression and dysthymia. Certain activities and environmental factors can reset the hedonic setpoint and also grow the hippocampus to an extent. London taxi drivers’ hippocampi grow on the job, and the drivers have a better memory than those who did not become taxi drivers. In particular, the posterior hippocampus seemed to be the most important for enhanced mood and memory.

Lucas, Clark, Georgellis, and Diener (2003) researched changes in baseline level of well-being due to changes in marital status, the birth of first child, and the loss of employment. While they found that a negative life event can have a greater impact on a person’s psychological state and happiness set point than a positive event, they concluded that people completely adapt, finally returning to their baseline level of well-being, after divorce, losing a spouse, the birth of a child, and for women losing their job. They did not find a return to baseline for marriage or for layoffs in men. This study also illustrated that the amount of adaptation depends on the individual.

Wildeman, Turney, and Schnittker (2014) studied the effects of imprisonment on one’s baseline level of well-being. They researched how being in jail affects one’s level of happiness both short term (while in prison) and long term (after being released). They found that being in prison has negative effects on one’s baseline well-being; in other words one’s baseline of happiness is lower in prison than when not in prison. Once people were released from prison, they were able to bounce back to their previous level of happiness.

Silver (1982) researched the effects of a traumatic accident on one’s baseline level of happiness. Silver found that accident victims were able to return to a happiness set point after a period of time. For eight weeks, Silver followed accident victims who had sustained severe spinal cord injuries. About a week after their accident, Silver observed that the victims were experiencing much stronger negative emotions than positive ones. By the eighth and final week, the victims’ positive emotions outweighed their negative ones. The results of this study suggest that regardless of whether the life event is significantly negative or positive, people will almost always return to their happiness baseline.

Fujita and Diener (2005) studied the stability of one’s level of subjective well-being over time and found that for most people, there is a relatively small range in which their level of satisfaction varies. They asked a panel of 3,608 German residents to rate their current and overall satisfaction with life on a scale of 0–10, once a year for seventeen years. Only 25% of participants exhibited shifts in their level of life satisfaction over the course of the study, with just 9% of participants having experienced significant changes. They also found that those with a higher mean level of life satisfaction had more stable levels of life satisfaction than those with lower levels of satisfaction.

Applications

Happiness Set Point

The concept of the happiness set point (proposed by Sonja Lyubomirsky) can be applied in clinical psychology to help patients return to their hedonic set point when negative events happen. Determining when someone is mentally distant from their happiness set point and what events trigger those changes can be extremely helpful in treating conditions such as depression. When a change occurs, clinical psychologists work with patients to recover from the depressive spell and return to their hedonic set point more quickly. Because acts of kindness often promote long-term well-being, one treatment method is to provide patients with different altruistic activities that can help a person raise his or her hedonic set point. This can in turn be helpful in reducing reckless habits in the pursuit of well-being. Further, helping patients understand that long-term happiness is relatively stable throughout one’s life can help to ease anxiety surrounding impactful events.

Resilience Research

Hedonic adaptation is also relevant to resilience research. Resilience is a “class of phenomena characterised by patterns of positive adaptation in the context of significant adversity or risk,” meaning that resilience is largely the ability for one to remain at their hedonic setpoint while going through negative experiences. Psychologists have identified various factors that contribute to a person being resilient, such as positive attachment relationships (see Attachment Theory), positive self-perceptions, self-regulatory skills (see Emotional self-regulation), ties to prosocial organisations (refer to prosocial behaviour (or intent to benefit others)), and a positive outlook on life.

Critical Views

One critical point made regarding humans’ individual set point is to understand it may simply be a genetic tendency and not a completely determined criterion for happiness, and it can still be influenced. In a study on moderate to excessive drug intake on rats, Ahmed and Koob (1998) sought to demonstrate that the use of mind-altering drugs such as cocaine could change an individual’s hedonic set point. Their findings suggest that drug usage and addiction lead to neurochemical adaptations whereby a person needs more of that substance to feel the same levels of pleasure. Thus, drug abuse can have lasting impacts on one’s hedonic set point, both in terms of overall happiness and with regard to pleasure felt from drug usage.

Genetic roots of the hedonic set point are also disputed. Sosis (2014) has argued the “hedonic treadmill” interpretation of twin studies depends on dubious assumptions. Pairs of identical twins raised apart are not necessarily raised in substantially different environments. The similarities between twins (such as intelligence or beauty) may invoke similar reactions from the environment. Thus, we might see a notable similarity in happiness levels between twins even though there are no happiness genes governing affect levels.

Further, hedonic adaptation may be a more common phenomenon when dealing with positive events as opposed to negative ones. Negativity bias, where people tend to focus more on negative emotions than positive emotions, can be an obstacle in raising one’s happiness set point. Negative emotions often require more attention and are generally remembered better, overshadowing any positive experiences that may even outnumber negative experiences. Given that negative events hold more psychological power than positive ones, it may be difficult to create lasting positive change.

Headey (2008) concluded that an internal locus of control and having “positive” personality traits (notably low neuroticism) are the two most significant factors affecting one’s subjective well-being. Headey also found that adopting “non-zero sum” goals, those which enrich one’s relationships with others and with society as a whole (i.e. family-oriented and altruistic goals), increase the level of subjective well-being. Conversely, attaching importance to zero-sum life goals (career success, wealth, and social status) will have a small but nevertheless statistically significant negative impact on people’s overall subjective well-being (even though the size of a household’s disposable income does have a small, positive impact on subjective well-being). Duration of one’s education seems to have no direct bearing on life satisfaction. And, contradicting set point theory, Headey found no return to homeostasis after sustaining a disability or developing a chronic illness. These disabling events are permanent, and thus according to cognitive model of depression, may contribute to depressive thoughts and increase neuroticism (another factor found by Headey to diminish subjective well-being). Disability appears to be the single most important factor affecting human subjective well-being. The impact of disability on subjective well-being is almost twice as large as that of the second strongest factor affecting life satisfaction – the personality trait of neuroticism.

This page is based on the copyrighted Wikipedia article < https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hedonic_treadmill >; it is used under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License (CC-BY-SA). You may redistribute it, verbatim or modified, providing that you comply with the terms of the CC-BY-SA.

What is Distress Tolerance?

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Introduction

Distress tolerance is an emerging construct in psychology that has been conceptualised in several different ways.

Broadly, it refers to an individual’s “perceived capacity to withstand negative emotional and/or other aversive states (e.g. physical discomfort), and the behavioral act of withstanding distressing internal states elicited by some type of stressor.” Some definitions of distress tolerance have also specified that the endurance of these negative events occur in contexts in which methods to escape the distressor exist.

Measurement

In the literature, differences in conceptualisations of distress tolerance have corresponded with two methods of assessing this construct.

As self-report inventories fundamentally assess an individual’s perception and reflection of constructs related to the self, self-report measures of distress tolerance (i.e. questionnaires) specifically focus on the perceived ability to endure distressful states, broadly defined. Some questionnaires focus specifically on emotional distress tolerance (e.g. the distress tolerance scale), others on distress tolerance of negative physical states (e.g. discomfort intolerance scale), and yet others focus specifically on tolerance of frustration as an overarching process of distress tolerance (e.g. frustration-discomfort scale).

In contrast, studies that incorporate behavioural or biobehavioural assessments of distress tolerance provide information about real behaviour rather than individuals’ perceptions. Examples of stress-inducing tasks include those that require the individual to persist in tracing a computerised mirror under timed conditions (i.e. computerised mirror tracing persistence task) or complete a series of time-sensitive math problems for which incorrect answers produce an aversive noise (i.e. computerised paced auditory serial addition task). Some behavioural tasks are conceptualised to assess physical distress tolerance, and require individuals to hold their breath for as long as possible (breath holding task).

As this is a nascent field of research, the relationships between perceptual and behavioural assessments of distress tolerance have not been clearly elucidated. Disentangling distinct components of emotional/psychological distress tolerance and physical distress tolerance within behavioural tasks also remains a challenge in the literature.

Theoretical Structures

Several models about the structural hierarchy of distress tolerance have been proposed. Some work suggests that physical and psychological tolerance are distinct constructs. Specifically, sensitivity to feelings of anxiety and tolerance of negative emotional states may be related to each other as aspects of a larger construct representing sensitivity and tolerance of affect broadly; discomfort surrounding physical stressors, however, was found to be an entirely separate construct not associated with sensitivity to emotional states. Notably, this preliminary work was conducted with self-report measures and findings are cross-sectional in nature. The authors advise that additional longitudinal work is necessary to corroborate these relationships and elucidate directions of causality.

Recent work expands on the distinctness of emotional and physical distress tolerance to a higher-order construct of global experiential distress tolerance. This framework draws upon tolerance constructs that have been historically studied as distinct from distress tolerance. The five following constructs are framed as lower-order factors for the global distress tolerance construct, and include:

  • Tolerance of uncertainty, or “the tendency to react emotionally, cognitively, or behaviourally to uncertain situations”
  • Tolerance of ambiguity, or “the perceived tolerance of complicated, foreign, and/or vague situations of stimuli”
  • Tolerance of frustration, or “the perceived capacity to withstand aggravation (e.g. thwarted life goals)”
  • Tolerance of negative emotional states, or “the perceived capacity to withstand internal distress”
  • Tolerance of physical sensations, or “the perceived capacity to withstand uncomfortable physical sensations”

Within models that solely conceptualise distress tolerance as the ability to endure negative emotional states, distress tolerance is hypothesized to be multidimensional. This includes individual processes related to the anticipation of and experience with negative emotions, such as perceived and actual ability to tolerate the negative emotion, the appraisal of a given situation as acceptable or not, the degree to which an individual can regulate his/her emotion in the midst of a negative emotional experience, and amount of attention dedicated to processing the negative emotion.

Biological Bases

There are several candidate biological neural network mechanisms for distress tolerance. These proposed brain areas are based on the conceptualization of distress tolerance as a function of reward learning. Within this framework, individuals learn to attune to and pursue reward; reduction of tension in escaping from a stressor is similarly framed as a reward and thus can be learned. Individuals differ in how quickly and for how long they display preferences for pursuing reward or in the case of distress tolerance, escaping from a distressful stimulus. Therefore, brain regions that are activated during reward processing and learning are hypothesized to also serve as neurobiological substrates for distress tolerance. For instance, activation intensity of dopamine neurons projecting to the nucleus accumbens, ventral striatum, and prefrontal cortex is associated with an individual’s predicted value of an immediate reward during a learning task. As the firing rate for these neurons increases, individuals predict high values of an immediate reward. During instances in which the predicted value is correct, the basal rate of neuronal firing remains the same. When the predicted reward value is below the actual value, neuronal firing rates increase when the reward is received, resulting in a learned response. When the expected reward value is below the actual value, the firing rate of these neurons decreases below baseline levels, resulting in a learned shift that reduces expectancies about reward value. It is posited that these same dopaminergic firing rates are associated with distress tolerance, in that learning the value of escaping a distressing stimulus is analogous to an estimation of an immediate reward There are several potential clinical implications if these posited distress tolerance substrates are corroborated. It may suggest that distress tolerance is malleable among individuals; interventions that change neuronal firing rates may shift predicted values of behaviours intended to escape a distressor and provide relief, thereby increasing distress tolerance.

Other neural areas may be implicated in moderating this reward learning process. Excitability of inhibitory medium spiny neurons in the nucleus accumbens and ventral striatum have been found to moderate the association between the value of an immediate reward and probability of pursuing reward or relief. Within rats, it has been demonstrated that increasing the excitability of these neurons via increased CREB expression resulted in an increased amount of time that the rats would keep their tail still when a noxious thermal paste was applied, as well as an increased amount of time spent in the open arms of a complex maze; these behaviours have been conceptualised as analogous distress tolerance in response to pain and anxiety.

Associations with Psychopathology

Distress tolerance is an emerging research topic in clinical psychology because it has been posited to contribute to the development and maintenance of several types of mental disorders, including mood and anxiety disorders such as major depressive disorder and generalised anxiety disorder, substance use and addiction, and personality disorders. In general, research on distress tolerance have found associations with these disorders that are tied closely to specific conceptualisations of distress tolerance. For instance, Borderline Personality Disorder is posited to be maintained through a chronic unwillingness to engage in or tolerate emotionally distressful states. Similarly, susceptibility to developing anxiety disorders is often characterised by low emotional distress tolerance. Low distress tolerance of both physical and emotional states is perceived to be a risk factor in maintaining and escalating addiction. Distress tolerance is particularly important in neurobiological theories that posit that advanced stages of addiction are driven by use of a substance to avoid physical and psychological withdrawal symptoms.

As a result of this interest in distress tolerance and its relationship with clinical psychopathology, several psychosocial treatments have been developed to improve distress tolerance among populations that are traditionally resistant to treatment. Many of these interventions (e.g. acceptance-based emotion regulation therapy) aims to boost distress tolerance by increasing the willingness to engage with emotion and meta-skills of acceptance of emotional conflict. Other behavioural interventions include components of building distress tolerance for various treatment targets, including acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT), dialectical behaviour therapy (DBT), functional analytic psychotherapy, integrative behavioural couples therapy, and mindfulness-based cognitive therapy. Multiple studies suggest that such distress tolerance interventions may be effective in treating generalised anxiety disorder, depression, and borderline personality disorder.

Therapy Approaches to Improving Distress Tolerance

DBT and ACT are therapy approaches which include specific focus on distress tolerance.

This page is based on the copyrighted Wikipedia article < https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Distress_tolerance >; it is used under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License (CC-BY-SA). You may redistribute it, verbatim or modified, providing that you comply with the terms of the CC-BY-SA.

Book: The Mindfulness and Acceptance Workbook for Self-Esteem

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Book Title:

The Mindfulness and Acceptance Workbook for Self-Esteem.

Author(s): Joe Oliver.

Year: 2020.

Edition: First (1st).

Publisher: New Harbinger, Workbook Edition.

Type(s): Paperback and Kindle.

Synopsis:

We all have stories we have created about ourselves-some of them positive and some of them negative. If you suffer from low self-esteem, your story may include these types of narratives: “I’m a failure,” “I’ll never be able to do that,” or “If only I were smarter or more attractive, I could be happy.” Ironically, at the end of the day, these narratives are your biggest roadblocks to achieving happiness and living the life you deserve. So, how can you break free from these stories-once and for all?

Grounded in evidence-based acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT), this workbook offers a step-by-step programme to help you break free from self-doubt, learn to accept yourself and your faults, identify and cultivate your strengths, and reach your full potential. You will also discover ways to take action and move toward the life you truly want, even when these actions trigger self-doubt. Finally, you’ll learn to see yourself in all your complexity, with kindness and compassion.

Book: The Queer and Transgender Resilience Workbook

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Book Title:

The Queer and Transgender Resilience Workbook: Skills for Navigating Sexual Orientation and Gender Expression (New Harbinger Self-Help Workbook).

Author(s): Anneliese A. Singh (PhD, LPC) and Diane Ehrensaft (PhD).

Year: 2018.

Edition: First (1st) Workbook Edition.

Publisher: New Harbinger Publications.

Type(s): Paperback and eTextbook.

Synopsis:

How can you build unshakable confidence and resilience in a world still filled with ignorance, inequality, and discrimination? The Queer and Transgender Resilience Workbook will teach you how to challenge internalised negative messages, handle stress, build a community of support, and embrace your true self.

Resilience is a key ingredient for psychological health and wellness. It’s what gives people the psychological strength to cope with everyday stress, as well as major setbacks. For many people, stressful events may include job loss, financial problems, illness, natural disasters, medical emergencies, divorce, or the death of a loved one. But if you are queer or gender non-conforming, life stresses may also include discrimination in housing and health care, employment barriers, homelessness, family rejection, physical attacks or threats, and general unfair treatment and oppression – all of which lead to overwhelming feelings of hopelessness and powerlessness. So, how can you gain resilience in a society that is so often toxic and unwelcoming?

In this important workbook, you will discover how to cultivate the key components of resilience: holding a positive view of yourself and your abilities; knowing your worth and cultivating a strong sense of self-esteem; effectively utilising resources; being assertive and creating a support community; fostering hope and growth within yourself, and finding the strength to help others. Once you know how to tap into your personal resilience, you’ll have an unlimited well you can draw from to navigate everyday challenges.

By learning to challenge internalised negative messages and remove obstacles from your life, you can build the resilience you need to embrace your truest self in an imperfect world.

Book: The Mental Toughness Handbook

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Book Title:

The Mental Toughness Handbook: A Step-By-Step Guide to Facing Life’s Challenges, Managing Negative Emotions, and Overcoming Adversity with Courage and Poise.

Author(s): Damon Zahariades.

Year: 2020.

Edition: First (1st).

Publisher: Independently Published.

Type(s): Paperback, Audiobook, and Kindle.

Synopsis:

Bravely Endure Hardship, Perform Under Pressure, and Overcome Challenges More Easily Than You Ever Thought Possible!

Do you feel overwhelmed by your circumstances? Are you exhausted and overburdened with stress? Are you tempted to give up whenever you encounter obstacles and mishaps? If so, The Mental Toughness Handbook is for you.

Imagine boldly facing any challenge that comes your way. Imagine confronting any problem you run into and resolving it with confidence.

Imagine being 100% certain that you can handle any predicament or setback life throws at you.

Amazon bestselling author, Damon Zahariades, provides a step-by-step training program for toughening your mind against adversity. You will learn how to persevere when life become difficult and your circumstances deviate from your plans. You will discover how to handle pressure, control your impulses, and endure the emotional and psychological distress that accompany misfortune.

And best of all, you will learn how to achieve more than you thought possible through sheer tenacity and determination.

  • Hhow mental toughness differs from grit (most people mistakenly think they’re the same thing).
  • the top 7 traits mentally-tough people adopt to conquer any problem they encounter.
  • how mental toughness is closely entwined with emotional mastery (as well as the importance of self-awareness and empathy).
  • 5 daily habits you must embrace to strengthen your mind and harden your resolve.
  • why willpower and motivation are unreliable (and how mental toughness trumps both!).
  • 5 simple tips for controlling your impulses and delaying gratification
  • how Navy SEALs develop mental toughness (and 5 surprising tactics they employ to do so).

Plus, you will received 18 exercises that will help you to apply the advice and tactics you will learn throughout this book!

Book: Breaking Negative Thinking Patterns

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300300

Book Title:

Breaking Negative Thinking Patterns – A Schema Therapy Self-Help and Support Book.

Author(s): Gitta Jacob.

Year: 2015.

Edition: First (1st).

Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell.

Type(s): Hardcover, Paperback, and Kindle.

Synopsis:

Breaking Negative Thinking Patterns is the first schema-mode focused resource guide aimed at schema therapy patients and self-help readers seeking to understand and overcome negative patterns of thinking and behaviour.

  • Represents the first resource for general readers on the mode approach to schema therapy.
  • Features a wealth of case studies that serve to clarify schemas and modes and illustrate techniques for overcoming dysfunctional modes and behaviour patterns.
  • Offers a series of exercises that readers can immediately apply to real-world challenges and emotional problems as well as the complex difficulties typically tackled with schema therapy.
  • Includes original illustrations that demonstrate the modes and approaches in action, along with 20 self-help mode materials which are also available online.
  • Written by authors closely associated with the development of schema therapy and the schema mode approach.

Book: From Bud to Brain – A Psychiatrists View of Marijuana

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Book Title:

From Bud to Brain: A Psychiatrists View of Marijuana.

Author(s): Timmen L. Cermak.

Year: 2020.

Edition: First (1ed).

Publisher: Cambridge University Press.

Type(s): Paperback and Kindle.

Synopsis:

The trend toward liberalising medical and recreational marijuana use is increasing the obligation on clinicians to provide useful information to the public.

This book summarises the science all healthcare professionals need to know in order to provide objective and relevant information to a variety of patients, from recreational and medicinal users to those who use regularly, and to adolescents and worried parents.

The author brings two and a half decades of studying cannabinoid research, and over forty years’ experience in psychiatric and addiction medicine practice, to shed light on the interaction between marijuana and the brain.

Topics range from how marijuana produces pleasurable sensations, relaxation and novelty (the ‘high’), to emerging medical uses, effects of regular use, addiction, and policy.

Principles of motivational interviewing are outlined to help clinicians engage patients in meaningful, non-judgmental conversations about their experiences with marijuana.

An invaluable guide for physicians, nurses, psychologists, therapists, and counsellors.

Book: Cognitive Behavioural Therapy Workbook For Dummies

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Book Title:

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy Workbook For Dummies.

Author(s): Rhena Branch and Rob Wilson.

Year: 2012.

Edition: Second (2ed).

Publisher: For Dummies.

Type(s): Paperback and Kindle.

Synopsis:

Whether you are trying to overcome anxiety and depression, boost self-esteem, beat addiction, lose weight, or simply improve your outlook, cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) offers a practical, sensible approach to mastering your thoughts and thinking constructively. In this updated and expanded edition of the companion workbook to their bestselling Cognitive Behavioural Therapy For Dummies, professional therapists Rhena Branch and Rob Wilson show you, step-by-step, how to put the lessons provided in their book into practice. Inside you’ll find a huge number of hands-on exercises and techniques to help you remove roadblocks to change and regain control over your life.

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy Workbook For Dummies, Second Edition:

  • Develops the ideas and concepts that presented in the book and provides exercises to put those ideas into practice.
  • Features a range of hands-on CBT exercises and techniques for beating anxiety or depression, boosting your self-esteem, losing weight, or simply improving your outlook on life.

Book: Behavioural Consultation and Primary Care

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Book Title:

Behavioural Consultation & Primary Care – A Guide to Integrating Services.

Author(s): Patricia J. Robinson and Jeffrey T. Reiter.

Year: 2016.

Edition: Second (2ed).

Publisher: Springer.

Type(s): Hardcover, Paperback and Kindle.

Synopsis:

2007, First Edition

The Primary Care Behavioural Health (PCBH) model is emerging as the future of integration between mental health and primary care services. The first book to detail the model, Behavioural Consultation and Primary Care explains in hands-on terms how to achieve truly integrated care. From starting up a new PCBH service to evaluating its outcome, clinicians and medical administrators alike will value in this up-to-the-minute resource.

2016, Second Edition

In this 2nd edition, Robinson and Reiter give us an updated blueprint for full integration of behavioural health and primary care in practice. They review the compelling rationale, but their real contribution is telling us exactly how to think about it and how to do it. This latest book is a must for anyone interested in population health and the nuts and bolts of full integration through using the Primary Care Behavioural Health Consultation model.

The best-selling guide to integrating behavioral health services into primary care is now updated, expanded and better than ever!

Integration is exploding in growth, and it is moving inexorably toward the model outlined here. To keep pace, this revised text is a must for primary care clinicians and administrators. It is also essential reading for graduate classes in a variety of disciplines, including social work, psychology, and medicine.

This updated edition includes:

  • A refined presentation of the PCBH model.
  • The latest terms, trends and innovations in primary care.
  • Comprehensive strategies and resource lists for hiring and training new Behavioural Health Consultants (BHC).
  • Step-by-step guidance for implementing the PCBH model.
  • A plethora of evolved practice tools, including new Core Competency Tools for BHCs and primary care providers.
  • Sample interventions for behaviourally influenced problems.
  • The use of “Third Wave” behaviour therapies in primary care.
  • Detailed programme evaluation instructions and tools.
  • The latest on financing integrated care.
  • An entire chapter on understanding and addressing the prescription drug abuse epidemic.
  • Experienced guidance on ethical issues in the PCBH model.
  • Improved patient education handouts.

With all of the changes in health care, the potential for the PCBH model to improve primary care – and the health of the population – is greater than ever.

This book should be the first read for anyone interested in realising the potential of integration.

Book: The Anxiety Workbook for Kids

Published on by Andrew MarshallLeave a comment

Book Title:

The Anxiety Workbook for Kids – Take Charge of Fears & Worries Using the Gift of Imagination.

Author(s): Robin Alter PhD and Crystal Clarke MSW.

Year: 2016.

Edition: First (1ed).

Publisher: New Harbinger; Workbook Edition.

Type(s): Paperback and Kindle.

Synopsis:

Millions of children suffer from anxiety, which can be extremely limiting, causing kids to miss school, opt out of activities with friends, and refuse to speak or participate in a variety of situations. Furthermore, children who are diagnosed with anxiety or brought into therapy often feel embarrassed about not being “normal.” Focusing on the problem of anxiety can stress kids out and make them feel ashamed. But when the focus is on their strengths and their vivid imaginations, children are empowered to face their anxiety head-on.

The Anxiety Workbook for Kids is a fun and unique workbook grounded in evidence-based CBT and designed to help children understand their anxious thoughts within a positive framework-a perspective that will allow kids to see themselves as the highly imaginative individuals they are, and actually appreciate the role imagination plays in their anxiety. With this workbook, children will learn that, just as they are capable of envisioning vivid scenarios that fuel their anxiety, they are capable of using their imagination to move away from anxious thoughts and become the boss of their own worries.

With engaging CBT-based activities, games, and illustrations-and with a focus on imagination training and developing skills like problem solving, assertiveness, positive thinking, body awareness, relaxation, and mindfulness-this book will help kids stand up to the “worry bully” and harness the power of their imagination for good.