The best Psychiatry books: Reddit reviews

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An excellent book on this phenomenom is called Tribe by Sebastian Junger.

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also plugging this book

Have you tried EMDR therapy? it worked wonders for me. Also this book was very helpful to me https://www.amazon.com/Body-Keeps-Score-Healing-Trauma/dp/0143127748

Living in the moment, with no thought of future consequences of one's actions or inactions, is a fundamental characteristic of a psychopath. Add it to his constant lying, lack of empathy, and grandiose self-image. The sooner the public is educated about psychopathy, the better.

1 in 100 is a psychopath. That's over 3 million in the US. The odds are good you know one personally. Do not confuse it with a mental illness. It is a structural brain defect, and cannot be treated.

For more on psychopathy, I recommend <em>Without Conscience</em> by Dr. Robert Hare, who developed the clinical test for identifying psychopaths.

Just a note that nowadays the SNR is considered to be fight/flight/freeze. Freeze response is just as common in nature but was largely ignored by psychology researchers due to a lack of access to female test subjects, who skew toward freeze more often than fight. I can't recommend The Body Keeps the Score enough, which goes into very deep and well-researched detail regarding trauma, anxiety, depression, and the body's response to it.

I know this isn't an easy road, but I want to congratulate you for bravely stepping onto it. Feeling alone, outcast, and alien is a near universal symptom of trauma...just wanted to let you know you're not alone.

r/ptsd

https://www.amazon.com/Body-Keeps-Score-Healing-Trauma/dp/0143127748/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1537026534&amp;sr=8-1&amp;keywords=the+body+keeps+the+score

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Yeah, /u/Electr0freak is correct. I have both CPTSD and ADHD. The ADHD presents as my inability to focus on tasks, auditory processing issues, inability to schedule, think or plan for the future, frequent forgetfulness, and inability to manage time. The CPTSD, on the other hand presents as my inability to be in close proximity to people for very long (minutes at a time, tops), due to an instinctive protective mode from blows from others, an acute inability to self-regulate emotions such that if I am having an attack, I hit/punch/elbow, choke, scratch, bite and pull my own hair. I tell people curious about it that the sensation is a hot "cold sweat" and the internal sensation of being held down against my will, and to escape I will do anything, and my body interprets that as "Skin yourself alive. Cut your own throat. Choke yourself to death." That's not ADHD. My brother, also diagnosed with ADHD did not have these symptoms growing up either. I am now taking Lamictal to counter these symptoms, which is an anti-convulsive med used often to treat people with BPD. This is all very recent, the new med is about 3 weeks in and I have never felt better, I never get the body sensations that I was getting causing me to react like that. I'm 29, and have been doing these things since I was 6 or 7, and my father left when I was 5, which I attribute the majority of my emotional self-blame to, followed closely by corporal punishment as a child. Read the book The Body Keeps The Score. If someone thinks CPTSD is not a thing, they're wrong.

I just read the book "The Body Keeps the Score" by Bessel Van Der Kerk and found it immensely helpful. You mention an abusive childhood, the effects of which are covered extensively in the book and include anxiety and depression (particularly of a kind that simply trying to reframe your thoughts cannot help). Traumatic events leave their mark on our bodies as well as our minds and hearts. I highly recommend checking it out. It's even on sale on Amazon right now: The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma https://www.amazon.com/dp/0143127748/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_3HRqDbJ8YCPFA

(33F here. I have similar feelings)

I'm so so sorry, this is a tough thing to go through. As others have said, the biggest thing is finding some professional help. Be patient with yourself, there is no magic thing that will make this less challenging to walk yourself through. But you absolutely will, and you are not alone.

Reading your post was like something I could have written myself a few years ago. I'm still working on it. Learning to have respect and patience for where I was at in the process was a thing I really struggled with, because I just wanted to be done with it and put it behind me. When I couldn't afford therapy, I read a lot of self help books and these two really resonated with me: The Body Keeps the Score by Bessel Van Der Kolk and Trauma and Recovery by Judith Herman. Please feel free to PM me any time if you want someone to talk to.

I'm sorry to hear that her therapy caused her flashbacks that were so bad that she had to quit. I don't know how long ago that was, but could she be convinced to try again? There are a lot of therapists now who specialize in trauma, and they have a lot of good evidence that somatic treatments like EMDR are extremely effective for PTSD and Complex PTSD.

It's only very recently that anyone has had any idea how to treat PTSD, and treatment is improving all the time. Check out The Body Keeps the Score by Bessel van der Kolk, it's an excellent overview of how PTSD and trauma affect the body, and the various treatment options.

She definitely needs a trauma therapist, though, especially since she's already had flashbacks. They will start the treatment with helping her grow her emotional resources so that the flashbacks won't overwhelm her. The whole idea is to take it at a manageable pace so it's not terrifying. As someone dealing with Complex PTSD, I can say that trauma therapy has been the hardest thing I've ever done, and also that it's only thing that could possibly help me live my life fully.

I'm sorry to hear that her health is failing. Her life is NOT over in her 60s, she still potentially has many years left, and it must be so hard to see her in despair like this. Hugs for you if you want them. <3

There are two different things you might mean by this.

(1) You want to prove that being homosexual is/is not currently considered to be a mental disorder by psychiatrists.

The current definitive reference is the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 5th edition ("DSM-V"), published by the American Psychiatric Association. Homosexuality is not listed as a mental disorder in it. It has not been listed as a disorder since edition 3-R, published in 1987. To prove this, you could get a copy and look through it - warning: it's long and dry - and demonstrate that homosexuality is not there.

Or you could simply ask a psychiatrist. If you don't know one, then you can post a question on /r/AskPsychiatry.

(2) You want to prove that being homosexual is/is not an unhealthy thing.

This is somewhere between tough and impossible. It's an opinion, so it isn't something you can prove either way. It still might be worthwhile to ask a professional. Again, see /r/AskPsychiatry.

Hi! I'm sorry to hear about your struggle, it sounds like you're going through a lot of emotions related to her.

The go to treatment for people with bpd is dialectical behavioral therapy, or otherwise known as DBT. I very much recommend that you try to get your daughter into a DBT program. As for how to deal with her, I think the validation section of the dbt workbook would be incredibly helpful for you, and also interpersonal skills such as SET and DEAR MAN.

Best of luck to you and your daughter!

This is mentioned in the book about trauma called The Body Keeps the Score. The author points out that even though memories can be fabricated, the visceral terror that goes along with true trauma cannot be faked. Find the book here.

Exactly. A key component of trauma is helplessness. When something bad happens, and you have a way to respond, it greatly reduces the chance of long-term post-traumatic stress. This was one of the big takeaways from reading <em>The Body Keeps The Score</em>, which is a great look at causes and treatments of PTSD.

Even pre-disaster, prepping has been a great way for me to combat anxiety. Instead of worrying, I prepare, and I can better accept the things I can't prepare for.

>I definitely thought it was curious when literally all the people with BPD I interviewed in med school had some form of childhood trauma.

yeah it's basically a per-requisite for BPD- something like high 40's to mid 70's % of people with BPD report that they were sexually abused as children, and low 20's to high 70's % report they were physically abused.

i personally can't remember my trauma because i am selectively amnesic in response to traumatic / stressful / emotionally painful stuff- like if i get into an argument with my girlfriend or my mom or something, i won't remember it an hour later. childhood and most of school / highschool [which i graduated 3 years ago] basically does not exist in my memory.

i've had people who've 'wondered' about my trauma and how it must be 'fucked up' or 'very horrible' and i cannot tell them- while most of them can either remember what happened to them normally, or through the use of whatever you call psychiatrist assisted hypnosis [there's a word for it that i don't know]

>If you know of any literature on the subject I'd be interested to read it

there's a lot of stuff that is easily googled on the subject but i personally do not have anything specific to BPD on hand. i saw something relating to trauma a few days ago on the subject of specifically CPTSD / PTSD: The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma by Bessel van der Kolk.

the book apparently talks about the history of trauma diagnosis and misdiagnosis with the regards to the DSM, why people with CPTSD / PTSD / people with trauma behave the way they do or in certain ways, has a lot of case studies, and information on healing for people with trauma.

might read it when i am not on a big OSRS grind

Deeply sorry to hear about your struggle. This sounds like a monumental amount of effort to deal with. Id highly recommend checking out this book to get a better understanding of trauma. Do you have a good support system?

I have to second the principles of neural science as it truly is the bible of neuroscience, but if you’re a real beginner I could not recommend neuroscience: exploring the brain more. Used it in neuro 100 first year of college. I’m a senior now and I still use it because of its clear descriptions that don’t involve vocabulary or concepts you may not understand yet.

Edit: typo

Yup, it's just a form of therapy that helps think us dialectically and improves social relationships. Not adhd specific, but it definitely helped me with the stuff that I developed over the years that my adhd didn't help. I didn't do it with a therapist, because of coronavirus but a therapist probs could teach you all of it in a few sessions. This was the book I bought:

DBT® Skills Training Handouts and Worksheets, Second Edition https://www.amazon.com/dp/1572307811/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_a40eFbMF03PEF

Hey man. I can’t begin to understand what you’re going through. I went through some traumatic things when I younger but very different.

I’ve found this book really useful in my recovery. You might even have read it. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Body-Keeps-Score-Healing-Trauma/dp/0143127748

Also, while I’m in therapy now, I did have break from it and found journaling really helped. Idk if you’ve tried it but I now do it alongside therapy and find it just as useful as talking to someone. Again - our experiences are different - but journaling has helped me so much to understand what happened and understand the past wasn’t my fault but I get to choose how the future goes. Writing pages and pages and letting the tears flow.

I wish you all the best man.

There's a few others that I recommend:

The Body Keeps the Score https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/0143127748/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&amp;psc=1

It's not always depression https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/0241976405/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&amp;psc=1

I've heard The Body Keeps the score is a go-to book for learning about trauma treatment. It's not exactly Buddhist, but there are some details into how mindfulness, yoga, and breathing were used effectively in treatment with therapy. It is pretty heavy content-wise, so just a word of caution. One section of the book focuses on children and developmental trauma.

This is a really good book. Actually, it's the bible for ACONs and a very good place to start.

https://www.amazon.com/Body-Keeps-Score-Healing-Trauma/dp/0143127748/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&amp;keywords=the+body+keeps+score&amp;qid=1626024973&amp;s=books&amp;sr=1-1

If you have abuse or neglect in your background, your disconnection from your body and others could be due to that, rather than from a neurodevelopmental disorder you were born with. It's worth thinking about. Kids who don't learn emotional language and who aren't taught to listen to the signals bodies and identify feelings have a kind of blindness. A very good book is The Body Keeps The Score, which has a chapter that addresses alexithymia.

"Many traumatized children and adults simply cannot describe what they are feeling because they cannot identify what their physical sensations mean. They may look furious but deny that they are angry; they may appear terrified but say that they are fine. Not being able to discern what is going on inside their bodies causes them to be out of touch with their needs, and they have trouble taking care of themselves, whether it involves eating the right amount at the right time or getting the sleep they need."

In many ways. For example, certain types of mental trauma can even show up on MRI scans.

To anyone who is interested in trauma and trauma therapy, I wholeheartedly recommend van der Kolk's book The Body Keeps the Score. It is brilliantly written, not very long, and well-researched. I also recommend this to anyone looking to deal with their own trauma, as understanding your body's reaction to your environment can help you cope with it.

Dammit, now this post is just an ad. I stand by it though, as the book answers your exact question in far greater depth than I ever could.

Oh boy. Just based on what you've written, what I think she's really saying is "You still love me, right?" To her, love may only have manifested in dysfunctional co-dependent behaviors, so if you're not in this cycle with her, it must mean you don't love her. That's clearly not true and you shouldn't feel bad about it. It's a problem with her processing, not with what you're doing.

There's no easy answer for you here. If you want to try to unpack and heal this relationship, you can try family therapy for the two of you. Or individual therapy for you - if you change your reactions, it could break the cycle.

If that's not an option, you can try to just breathe and slow down in the moment, and reflect back at her. "Mom, what I hear you saying is XYZ. Why do you feel that way?" And just stay calm, don't react, just keep asking her questions and reframing her answers, and reassure her that you love her.

If you just want to keep your head down and get through this, then just "gray rock" her - tell her you're fine, there's no issues and of course you care about her. Talk to her about innocuous details of your life, but not anything deep or important.

Last, you need to find some coping mechanisms that work for you, since you're not getting any meaningful support from anywhere. (Which absolutely sucks and I'm sorry.) Physical exercise, mindfulness meditation and read some books about healing trauma, like The Body Keeps the Score.

Good luck!

Or that it's not "real". That wording was also confusing to me. The abuse is actually happening. Does the woman's body and brain know that consent is involved and it's play-acting? Or are the trauma affects still hurting her mind and body whether or not it's planned out ahead of time?

When people hit you, your body responds. It changes how you think and how your body works. I am concerned about whether those effects can be consented away: https://www.amazon.com/Body-Keeps-Score-Healing-Trauma/dp/0143127748/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&amp;keywords=the+body+keeps+the+score&amp;qid=1607714316&amp;sr=8-1

The The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma by Bessel van der Kolk is a good one that I recommend but I’m sure there are many others too.

I have PTSD as well, recently diagnosed. I just got this book from Amazon. It just got here yesterday so I haven’t read it yet but someone in /r/ptsd recommended it.

THIS book has everything you need. I would recommend starting with mindfulness (the book has all of the skills and handouts as well as the worksheets/homework associated with them). Then work through the other modules (Emotion Regulation, Interpersonal Effectiveness, and Distress Tolerance) in any order. If you're in a bad place now I recommend starting with Distress Tolerance because that is the most immediately useful.

Most DBT classes introduce one skill per week and assign the associated worksheet(s) as homework. You can work through the skills at any pace you'd like but I like having a whole week to focus on practicing and using a single skill.

By chance was it talk therapy? For some people telling their story helps, for other's it re-traumatizes people. Being re-traumatized is a common occurrence for people dealing with CPTSD. You may want to look at other kinds of process work, such as art therapy, or even yoga. I realize that sounds ridiculous, but according to Vessel Van Der Kolk, in his book &quot;The Body Keeps The Score&quot; he mentions that the newest research is more likely in the direction of yoga/body based therapies.

Sorry to hear about your husband's and your struggles. He may want to look into IFS therapy (often paired with EMDR) to treat his PTSD/cPSTD. It is very, very successful in treating trauma.

If you want to understand how trauma effects people, please check out: The Body Keeps the Score by Van Der Kolk,

Feel free to ping me with any questions.