Description
By Nilima Hamid
ISBN: 978-1-84991-903-6
Published: 2013
Pages: 541
Key Themes: Mental Health, Schizophrenia, Survivor, Self Help, Counselling, CBT
Description
There are times in our lives when we all feel confused and overwhelmed. The advice in this book can help you deal with specific emotional problems. This book provides support for those suffering from mental distress and unable to get immediate medical or psychological help. The book covers a comprehensive range of emotional disorders. The advice is intended to be the first step to recovery.
Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT) empowers you to understand the problem in a way that will maximise your potential to tackle future obstacles and become more independent. You will be successfully helped to mobilise your own resources, and improve your sense of self-effectiveness, by being enabled to attribute the cause of change to your own efforts.
CBT concentrates on the connections between a person’s thoughts about themselves or a situation and how this affects feelings and behaviour. Together the patient and therapist work to understand and alter the negative thinking and behaviour that result in distress and prevent the patient from living a normal life. CBT can be used for a variety of disorders and aims to tackle the root cause of the illness, reducing the need for drugs at all in some cases. For other illnesses, CBT is being developed as a partner for drugs.
‘A Better Life’ includes information, tools and exercises to enable you to gain insight into your problems; start making changes for the better; recover and move forward with confidence and prevent relapses so you maintain your progress.
You will experience an increase in power and control over your problems from gaining a different perspective and examining the roots of your problems. As your self-awareness and personal insight develop, you will feel new energy and self-acceptance. By exploring your thoughts, feelings and behaviour you will be able to face decisions and choices on your own more resourcefully. You will find the opportunity to make sense of your life and be able to plan changes that will make a difference to your future.
About the Author
Nilima Hamid, a British Muslim, was born in 1975 and is originally from Bangladesh. She was a very disturbed child. Life had its ups and downs but got progressively worse until she had a nervous breakdown in 1993. That was when she realized just how confused and neglected she was, and started to sort out her life.
She was an Oxbridge candidate for Medicine but her studies suffered as she focused on getting a grip on reality after being diagnosed with schizophrenia. When ill she had no bonds and was totally isolated in a fantasy world. Despite this, Nilima studied for a Masters in Chemistry and Biochemistry at Imperial College University of London.
In her battle with schizophrenia, she deteriorated to suicidal then thankfully emerged on the other side; a mental health survivor.
After overcoming her dysfunctional anger, she began to reach out to her family and friends; she started to build a better life.
Nilima is now a registered counsellor and runs Forward Counselling Advice Service. She is a highly experienced and reputable healthcare professional, an expert in the field of Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT) and devoted to helping people improve the quality of their lives.
Book Extract
Inhibitions
Inhibitions are of two types: Moral/internal and practical/external inhibitions as given in:
Why Are You Not Constantly Angry?
A very low level of anger provides feedback by letting people know that their behaviour is not agreeable to you, and is productive of socialization rather than competitiveness. Anything above this level is counter-productive.
You need to limit your anger to the point of stopping before it starts, by bringing your inhibitions to mind and behaving in line with them. To do this, try the Traffic Lights Technique. Write down your inhibitions as this will come in useful later.
Traffic Lights Technique:
Practise spotting when you become angry (red light). Allow your anger to dissipate as rapidly as possible to a low level (amber light). Only at this stage should you decide the way forward. Next act out your decision as to the way you should proceed (green light).
Review your successes.
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