Product Description

In this groundbreaking book, psychotherapist Richard O'Connor explains how a wide range of ever-more-common problems-both emotional and physical-are in fact side effects of 21st-century life. When our fight-or-flight response is stuck in the "on" position, the over-stimulation and complex demands of the modern world can have severe long-term effects on health and well-being, sometimes in ways people don't even recognize until it's too late.

Combining expert authority with down-to-earth language, Undoing Perpetual Stress reveals how to put an end to this mode of existence, replacing anxious responses with a new and more effective set of skills. Readers will learn how to:

- Regain a measure of control over their environments
- Cope with stressors calmly and constructively
- Make health and happiness a daily priority

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #150415 in Books
• Published on: 2006-02-07
• Format: Bargain Price
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 544 pages

From Publishers Weekly
According to psychotherapist O'Connor (Undoing Depression), the human brain and nervous system cannot process the constant stress that is accepted as inevitable today, resulting in an alarming rise in chronic illness, depression and anxiety. Using current mind/body research, he shows how the brain and nervous system respond to stress; how the body manifests these changes; and how negative patterns become vicious cycles of mental, emotional and physical illness. O'Connor says there are many studies implicating stress as a major factor in heart disease, diabetes, cancer and such difficult to treat conditions as chronic fatigue syndrome and fibromyalgia, but the health-care establishment hasn't been able to adequately help patients make the lifestyle modifications needed for lasting change. To that end, he suggests mindfulness techniques to help readers identify mental and emotional programming and defense mechanisms, make healthy choices and form life-affirming habits. O'Connor's vast subject ranges from everyday stress to deep-seated emotional trauma and serious mental illness, and this work may overwhelm readers in the acute phase of a stress-related condition, although they will likely find O'Connor's compassionate understanding helpful. The book may be of greatest value to professionals who work therapeutically with patients, and readers interested in the mind/body connection who are ready to make major changes in their lives to combat stress.
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About the Author
A graduate of Trinity College in Hartford, Richard O'Connor received his MSW and Ph.D. from the University of Chicago, followed by postgraduate work at the Institute for Psychoanalysis and the Family Institute. He is also the author of Undoing Depression: What Therapy Doesn't Teach You and Medication Can't Give You, and Active Treatment of Depression. He is a practicing psychotherapist with offices in Connecticut and New York.

Customer Reviews

Creating Mindful Reactions That Are Good for Your Health!
I decided to read this book because I enjoyed Dr. O'Connor's book, Undoing Depression so much. I am delighted to report that Undoing Perpetual Stress is an even better book.

What is perpetual stress like? The metaphor that Dr. O'Connor uses is that of an impala who thinks there's a cheetah behind every rock. The flight or fight response is never at rest . . . and the poor impala's health is soon destroyed.

Dr. O'Connor argues that our over stimulating world creates the same kinds of stress from unseen "threats" as the world goes whizzing by at 75 miles per hour.

In the book, he describes the sources of the stress, how stress undermines your body, immune system, brain and mind, and what you can do to put the stress comfortably in the background.

This book will appeal to those who are stressed out, those who experience anxiety and depression at the same time, those who love such people, and those who want to better understand the mind-body connection based on the latest scientific research.

Undoing Perpetual Stress is filled with many helpful exercises that will help even those who don't think they have too much stress. One of the best from my perspective was taking a psychological snapshot of yourself every five years . . . and spotting what was wrong with your life at each stage. I was astonished to realize how many memories I had repressed, but which are still influencing my psychology. And Dr. O'Connor is good about reminding you to "practice, practice, practice" the exercises and his advice.

I have been a meditator for over ten years, and this book helped me to gain a lot of perspective on what the meditation is helping and what it is not. While I have eliminated a lot of the background noise, I haven't dealt with a lot of old issues. It was helpful to find out what those issues are . . . and what to do about them. I found that my creativity and mind were suddenly freed by the process.

For parents, there's a lot of new information here on how various parenting methods influence a child over a lifetime. It's a lot better than what you read in that first book about how to be a parent. Check it out!

This book should be required reading for anyone who finishes high school.

Winner of an "Academy Award for Books"
Undoing Perpetual Stress is one of eight books of the thousands published in 2005 to receive a Books for a Better Life award in a ceremony like an "Academy Awards" for books. Hurrah to Larry McMurtry, who won an Oscar for Brokeback Mountain and reminded the audience of the importance of books. The seven other winners in this amazing prize-winning list are: The Tender Bar (J.R. Moehringer), The Glass Castle (Jeannette Walls), The Treehouse (Naomi Wolf), The Sociopath Next Door (Martha Stout), Perfect Love, Imperfect Relationships (John Welwood), Unattended Sorrow (Stephen Levine), and Jim Cramer's Real Money.

From an earlier review for O'Connor's book: It's a reference work, and at the same time it's good reading. You can go to your particular problem--depression, anxiety, addiction, physical illness--and get both an authoritative explanation for what's wrong, and clear, practical advice for how to recover. You can also learn about just what is unique about contemporary stress, and understand in detail exactly what it's doing to your mind, brain, and body.

This is a long book, but it's necessary for the author to prove his controversial thesis. He doesn't want to simply assert that life experience changes the brain, he wants to show you how it does. In the form of stress, it destroys brain cells, damages the immune system, and shapes our character. But the good news is that we can change our own brains for the better by making deliberate choices about the kinds of life experience we seek.

Mindfulness helpful for Non-Specific Illness
I've just finished reading a copy of this book that I had checked out from the library. I found that I would want to read certain parts again, particularly the mindfulness exercises. So I ordered a copy for my library. As a person who has been diagnosed some time ago with Fibromyalgia Syndrome, one of the Non-Specific Illnesses referred to in the book, I was especially interested in the Biopyschosocial view which I believe this author represents. I have been dissatisfied with my medical diagnosis and the lack of treatments when the condition is considered strictly medical. I have been ready to accept/integrate a mind/body model of this condition and for most of the book I was willing to accept this model. I take issue with some of Mr. O'Connors assertions that "most" people with non-specific illnesses have a history of anxiety or depression. He may have cited studies, but I did not see the footnotes. And he states unequivocally that these non-specific illnesses "ARE NOT MEDICAL ILLNESSES". This statement somehow seems at odds with the acceptance throughout the book of the reality of the physical symptoms and the fact that the brain is a part of the physical body. Even mainstream research now acknowledges that Fibromyalgia is the result of disordered brain chemistry. While his intentions are undoubted noble, wanting people to get over the idea that there is a simple explanation or cure for non-specific disorders, this assertion undoes much of the persuading of the earlier parts of the book. If the mind affects the body, and the body affects the mind and both affect the brain, then why be so strident on this point? I am going to start to practice mindfulness as a part of my life, along with considering cognitive/behavioral therapy. I don't believe (any longer) in quick cures. But a multi-disiplinary approach is for me, and I am not dismissing my physician's advice for a strictly mindfulness approach.