Kitty Dukakis has battled debilitating depression for more than twenty years. Coupled with drug and alcohol addictions that both hid and fueled her suffering, Kitty's despair was overwhelming. She tried every medication and treatment available; none worked for long. It wasn't until she tried electroconvulsive therapy, or ECT, that she could reclaim her life. Kitty's dramatic first-person account of how ECT keeps her illness at bay is half the story of Shock. The other half, by award winnin...

A world-renowned psychiatrist reveals the fascinating story of psychiatry's origins, demise and redemption.Psychiatry has come a long way since the days of chaining 'lunatics' in cold cells and parading them as freakish marvels before a gaping public. But, as Jeffrey Lieberman reveals in his extraordinary and eye-opening book, the path to legitimacy for 'the black sheep of medicine' has been anything but smooth.In SHRINKS, Dr Lieberman traces the field from its birth as a m...

A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLERMore people than ever before see themselves as addicted to, or recovering from, addiction, whether it be alcohol or drugs, prescription meds, sex, gambling, porn, or the internet. But despite the unprecedented attention, our understanding of addiction is trapped in unfounded 20th century ideas, addiction as a crime or as brain disease, and in equally outdated treatment.Challenging both the idea of the addict's "broken brain" and t...

SCIENCE-BASED WAYS TO CHANGE WHAT YOU WANT TO CHANGE IN YOUR LIFEThere is an overwhelming amount of mis-information around about treatments for everything from alcohol abuse to weight loss. As a result, people who try to tackle their own conditions often experience the frustration of mixed success, relapse, or outright failure.To address this, internationally esteemed psychologist Martin Seligman has meticulously analyzed the most authoritative scientific r...

An "ominous and persuasive" study of when violence starts in child development—and the preventive measures to stop it ( The New York Times Book Review).This new, revised edition incorporates significant advances in neurobiological research and includes a new introduction by Dr. Vincent J. Felitti, a leading researcher in the field. When Ghosts from the Nursery: Tracing the Roots of Violence was first published, it was lauded for providin...

This provocative account of our obsession with neuroscience brilliantly illuminates what contemporary neuroscience and brain imaging can and cannot tell us about ourselves, providing a much-needed reminder about the many factors that make us who we are.What can't neuroscience tell us about ourselves? Since fMRI -- functional magnetic resonance imaging -- was introduced in the early 1990s, brain scans have been used to help politicians understand and manipulate vote...

A father's inspiring portrait of his daughter informs this classic reassessment of the "epidemic" of autism.When Isabel Grinker was diagnosed with autism in 1994, it occurred in only about 3 of every 10,000 children. Within ten years, rates had skyrocketed. Some scientists reported rates as high as 1 in 150. The media had declared autism an epidemic.Unstrange Minds documents the global quest of Isabel's father, renowned anthropologist Roy Richard G...

In this meticulously researched and masterfully written book, Pulitzer Prize-winner Deborah Blum examines the history of love through the lens of its strangest unsung hero: a brilliant, fearless, alcoholic psychologist named Harry Frederick Harlow. Pursuing the idea that human affection could be understood, studied, even measured, Harlow (1905-1981) arrived at his conclusions by conducting research-sometimes beautiful, sometimes horrible-on the primates in his University of Wisconsin labor...

Manic behavior holds an undeniable fascination in American culture today. It fuels the plots of best-selling novels and the imagery of MTV videos, is acknowledged as the driving force for successful entrepreneurs like Ted Turner, and is celebrated as the source of the creativity of artists like Vincent Van Gogh and movie stars like Robin Williams. Bipolar Expeditions seeks to understand mania's appeal and how it weighs on the lives of Americans diagnosed with manic depression....

Anxious Americans have increasingly pursued peace of mind through pills and prescriptions. In 2006, the National Institute of Mental Health estimated that 40 million adult Americans suffer from an anxiety disorder in any given year: more than double the number thought to have such a disorder in 2001. Anti-anxiety drugs are a billion-dollar business. Yet as recently as 1955, when the first tranquilizer -- Miltown -- went on the market, pharmaceutical executives worried that there wouldn't't...

Despite the immense obstacles they face, many alcoholics do manage to recover. In this groundbreaking book, Arnold M. Ludwig--a doctor with over twenty-five years of experience working with alcoholics--goes inside the minds of alcoholics in order to explain the behaviors and thought processes they use to get and stay sober. Whether alcoholics achieve recovery through Alcoholics Anonymous, a church, counseling, hospitalization, or entirely of their own initiative, the basic methods remain e...

A "fascinating overview" of neurofeedback and its potential benefits for treating depression, autism, epilepsy, and other conditions ( Discover).Since A Symphony in the Brain was first published, the scientific understanding of our bodies, brains, and minds has taken remarkable leaps. From neurofeedback with functional magnetic resonance imaging equipment, to the use of radio waves, to biofeedback of the heart and breath and coverage of biofeedbac...