A memoir by the mother of a teenage girl with anorexia, written with her daughter's consent. (Her daughter is given the pseudonym "Kitty.")

There are a number of memoirs by people with anorexia (by far the best-written is Wasted by Marya Hornbacher, which is worth reading for the prose quality alone), but fewer by their loved ones. But a child ( Read more... )

Barbara Ehrenreich rips toxic positivity a well-deserved new one in this much-needed but unfortunately poorly organized book surveying the origins, bizarre applications, and downside of the American obsession with positive thinking ( Read more... )

Morrison’s book is a textbook for mental health clinicians. It is exactly what it says on the tin. It’s easy reading and could be read by a layperson with some knowledge of psychology. He lays out a number of important principles. I’ll just note a few that I find particularly useful ( Read more... )

The Essential Jung. When people tell me Jungian stuff, I love it! And then I attempt actual Jung. Where are they even finding all those cool ideas? All I am seeing is (opening at random) Even though alchemy was essentially more materialistic in its procedures than the dogma, both of them remain at the second, anticipatory stage of the coniunctio, ( Read more... )

In an Unspoken Voice: How the Body Releases Trauma and Restores Goodness
( Read more... )

But first, a brief health update. The relevant bit for this entry is that while my most recent experimental treatment (rifaximin) had no effect whatsoever, I am still feeling good enough from the combination of the semi-successful sleep experiment (it didn't permanently fix the problem, but it did improve it) and the previous successful ( Read more... )

Reading for one of my trauma classes. I’m not summarizing the whole thing, just bits I found especially interesting.

Chapter One: Clinical Features of PTSD. Nothing new here.

Chapter Two: Cognitive and Behavioral Features of PTSD.

Amnesia. People rarely have global amnesia for traumatic events (not even knowing it happened or having no memories ( Read more... )

A book on hallucinations which are not caused by schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders. (It also doesn’t deal much with culturally normal hallucinations, which is too bad.) Hallucinations - sensory perceptions which occur during waking and are not based on consensus reality - are surprisingly common, and include many experiences which ( Read more... )

Classic work on cognitive therapy by one of its founders. Parts are technical, but overall it’s straightforward, easy to read, and a good introduction ( Read more... )

Recced by
( Read more... )