Book Review: Heal Your Mind, Heal Your Life

Occasional negative thoughts are a common feature of the human experience. While they can sometimes be justified, purposeful, and helpful in identifying pain and avoiding dangerous situations, they can also be irrational, keeping us trapped in a downward spiral of fear, avoidance, and eventually depression and anxiety. To change how we feel, says Corinne Coe in her new book, Heal Your Mind, Heal Your Life, we have to start with how we think. “Based on my clinical experience in treating people with mental illness, the key to overcoming psychological conditions such as depression and anxiety is to treat at the cognition level rather than the emotion or physical level,” writes Coe. It is the fear that results from irrational or catastrophic thinking, Coe contends, that causes us to avoid situations, feel trapped, and exist in an unfulfilled life. Over time, our fear response becomes more and more exaggerated, resulting in the release of larger amounts of adrenaline, which then affects as many as sixty different hormones in the body. Especially when fear is unjustified, we remain a victim to it, learning only to avoid those situations that may trigger fear. As a result, we become trapped in our comfort zone. “Irrational/unrealistic fear of dealing with challenging people and situation(s), and of interacting with others, and the external environment, will result in an unfulfilled, dissatisfied life,” writes Coe. The difference between people who overreact with irrational ...
Source: Psych Central - Category: Psychiatry Authors: Tags: Anxiety Book Reviews Depression General Happiness Healthy Living Memory and Perception Mindfulness Self-Help Source Type: news