Managing Your Mind The Mental Fitness Guide

by Butler, Gillian; Hope, Tony

• ISBN13: 9780195103793
• ISBN10: 0195103793
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1995-09-07
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

Self-help and personal development books take one of two approaches: they focus either on private life (how to improve relationships, how to overcome depression) or on work and professional skills (how to manage time effectively, how to cope with the boss). Now two leading clinicians, Gillian Butler and Tony Hope, argue that for real psychological well being, you must combine these approaches--integrating techniques of management with those of psychology, mixing feeling with action and work with play. In Managing Your Mind , they show you how, in a ground-breaking, step-by-step guide to the skills and attitudes that will help you become more effective in your work while you enjoy a more fulfilling personal life. Just as simple measures--regular exercise, a sensible diet--can make you feel better physically, the simple strategies described in Managing Your Mind will stretch, strengthen, and tune your mind. The authors contend that without the right training, your thoughts, feelings, and behaviors can sabotage important goals and cause depression and anxiety. But with the powerful, tested techniques described here, you can cope with the rigors and stresses of everyday life, keep mentally fit, and enjoy your life to the fullest. Butler and Hope show you how to * Build self-confidence and self-esteem * Overcome anxiety and depression * Take positive control of your present and future * Establish and maintain fulfilling relationships with family, friends, and colleagues * Free yourself from persistent fears and worries * Break bad habits * Manage your time * Relieve stress * Study effectively * And develop your full potential In addition, Managing Your Mind includes specific, up-to-date information on how to strengthen your memory, quit smoking, sleep better, recover from alcohol abuse, and more. Tackling emotional problems piecemeal no more leads to lasting psychological well being than crash dieting leads to a permanent solution to a weight problem. You need techniques that you can practice for the rest of your life. Managing Your Mind gives you these techniques. It will help you develop the positive attitudes and skills that allow you to overcome problems as they arise and to lead a happier, more productive life.

Author Biography

About the Authors:
Gillian Butler, Ph.D., is Consultant Clinical Psychologist at the Warneford Hospital, Headington, Oxford, and is a researcher in the University of Oxford Department of Psychology. She is married with two grown-up children.
Tony Hope, M.D., a clinical psychiatrist, is leader of the Oxford Practice Skills Project at the University of Oxford and co-author, with J.M. Longmore, of The Oxford Handbook of Clinical Medicine. He is married to a physician and they have two young children.

Table of Contents

Introduction

What to Expect from this Guide

The Scientific Background

Two Principles of Underlying Mental Fitness

Valuing Yourself

Recognizing That You Can Change

The Seven Basic Skills

Managing Yourself and Your Time

Facing the Problem

Treating Yourself Right

Problem-Solving: A Strategy for Change

Keeping Things in Perspective: Help from Cognitive Therapy

Building Self-Confidence and Self-Esteem

Learning to Relax

How to Improve Your Relationships

The Importance of Relationships

The First Key to Good Relationships: Being Fair to Yourself and Others

The Second Key to Good Relationships: Recognizing Voices from the Past

The Third Key to Good Relationships: Relationships as Systems

Anger in Relationships (new)

Sexuality and Intimate Relationships (new)

The Twin Enemies of Good MoodAnxiety

Getting the Better of Anxiety and Worry, or Defeating the Alarmist

Overcoming Fears and Phobias

Stress: How to Live with the Right Amount of It

Dealing with Panic: Controlling the Alarm SystemDepression

Depression-The Common Cold of the Mind

Digging Yourself Out of Depression

How to Become Less Vulnerable to Depression

Traumatic Experience (all new chapters)

Loss and Bereavement

Dealing with the Past

Recent Traumatic Events and Their After

Mind and Body

Breaking Habits and Stopping Smoking

Averting Problems with Alcohol

Overcoming Sleep Problems

Good Eating Habits

The Working Mind

The Fundamentals of Effective Study

Key Study Skills: Reading, Taking Notes, and Using the Material

How to Improve Your Memory

The Palest Ink and Other External Memory Aids

How to Improve Your Memory

Internal Memory Aids

Making Decisions

Thinking Straight

Notes

Further Reading

Index

Table of Contents provided by Publisher. All Rights Reserved.