# Can anyone recommend books for me



## Pablo (Sep 1, 2005)

Hello I think I have a decent idea of what is causing my problems and I need to help in finding the right areas to read for me to help myself.

I think my problem is due to repressing emotions and feelings which are threatening to my sense of self. When I had a bad ecstasy trip I was flooded with emotion which practically destroyed my sense of who I am and since I have been dissociated and dp'd. I think that I somehow need to integrate these negative feelings which are so threatening to my ego to get back to reality.

Basically I think it is a fear of annihilation due to emotions which I felt about myself which destroyed my sense of who I was. Do you think reading psychology would help me or just make me more confused? I was thinking about trying Freud and Jung but it seems a bit daunting, can anybody recommend reading them? I have got a therapist but it is such a slow process and I am not sure how intelligent he is so I am keen on doing whatever I can to help myself so any recommendations would be very helpful.


----------



## kdogg1976 (Mar 15, 2006)

As *1A* would say

*Claire Weekes * Hope and Help for Your Nerves


----------



## Dreamland (Jun 1, 2005)

Peace from Nervous Suffering...Dr. Claire Weeks. Hands down, the best book out there on the subject of dealing with stress.


----------



## Methusala (Dec 22, 2005)

In my opinion, the two key books are:
'Betrayal Trauma' by Professor Jennifer Freyd
'The Trauma Model' by Dr Ross

These two books represent the culmination of 30 years of science research work by many people in cognitive psychology, attachment studies and psychotherapy. These two books are backed by peer reviewed research and present a new unified scientific model of psychopathology.

The psychological systems of Freud and Jung are not science because they are not backed by repeatable experimental research. Nor can they be backed by research because the basic claims of these two systems are not measurable.

A short history of psychology will help to explain the importance of the above two books:

pre 1890-Piere Janet discovers and documents dissociation before Freud and Jung.

around 1890-Freud and colleague read about Janet's work and write a paper describing a case in which childhood sexual abuse is linked to adult dissociation symptoms.

This paper is a controversy in Freud's academic world, Freud starts to second guess it, and replaces the papers idea with a new theory.

This new theory is basicaly that his clients were not sexually abused, but instead supposedly fantasized about childhood sex and 'repressed' this fantasy because it was improper. (Fast forward 90 years-Jeffery Masson writes a book explaining Freud's betrayal)

1905-1980 Freuds theory goes on to become ever more elaborate with clients undergoing years of convoluted therapy from many true believing therapists. There are also many related psychology systems like Jungs, all lack the backing of science research.

1920-1960 Behaviorism becomes dominant in US University psychology studies.

Around the mid 50's, cognitive psychology starts to supercede behaviorism. Attachment studies also become influential. Dr Spocks book of child care is popular, which is more gentle than the then current practice.

around 1960-The first medical paper on child abuse is written.

around 1970-Feminists and others start talking about both domestic and child abuse. After this point, the amount of books and communication on child abuse rapidly expands and starts to influence US society.

around 1970-many new types of therapies are invented. Only a handful are backed by science research. The most successful of the science backed therapies is cognitive-behavioral therapy. 'Birth without violence' by Dr Leboyer is published.

around 1970-the new period of dissociation studies starts with the discovery of ptsd in US Vietnam war vetrans and new studies of what is then called multiple personality disorder.

around 1980-Alice Miller publishes 'Drama of the gifted child' which describes how alot of cruel emotional child abuse often occurs unrecognized to society.

1980-1995-the 'recovery' movement happens, involving greater recognition of child abuse and the growing popularity of the '12 steps', 'co-dependency' and 'inner child' therapy. The leading practitioner is John Bradshaw and the recovery movement also has links with the 'new age' movement. These therapies are not backed by research.

1985-2006 The study of dissociation is organized, expands and is ultimately linked with the now dominant cognitive psychology and attachment studies schools of thoughts. This sizeable amount of history and research of this period is covered at http://www.issd.org in it's journal and yearly conference papers, which are both available for purchase.
A key evidenced idea from 'The Trauma Model' is that therapies like psychoanalysis and much recovery movement therapy is of a short term cathartic/acting out nature. 'The Trauma Model' explains a cognitive-behavioral and attachment studies based therapy for both general psychopathology and dissociation that is backed by research studies. Despite this, many issd.org connected therapists are still in a transition period from psychoanalysis and recovery movement therapies.

In short, the study of psychopathology can only be said to have recently become a science beyond crude behaviorism and literary or spiritual like philosophies.

M


----------



## jeremy (Apr 28, 2006)

Hi Pablo

I would recommend the following.

*"Way of the Peaceful Warrior"* by Dan Millman. It is a fiction/non-fiction but very very inspiring and well worth the read. I must have read it at least 5 times myself.

*"You Can Heal Your Life"* by Louise Hay. A great book on alternative and holistic ways to heal your life! Louise Hay cured cancer for herself by mainly changing her thought patterns and beliefs. This is a great read and she is very well respected in the field.

*"Heal Your Body"* by Louise Hay. A small reference book on illness and metaphysics. Describes illnesses, the possible emotional reason and a new thought pattern to combat the condition.

*"Creative Visualisation"* by Shakti Gawain. Another tiny book only about 40-50 pages long but with some great visualisation exercise and reading about the Law of Attraction.

*"Remembering Wholeness: A Personal Handbook for Thriving in the 21st Century"* by Carol Tuttle. An amazing book, that I thought had been written completely for myself! It is a fairly spiritual book and places emphasis on the Law of Attraction.

*"Energy Medicine"* by Donna Eden. I haven't read this book but it gets great credit and reviews from the energy psychology community.

*"Hidden Messages in Water"* by Dr. Masaru Emoto. An absolutely groundbreaking book on how water reacts to intent, words and energy. Considering our bodies are made up of 70% water, this is fairly striking.

*"Freedom at Your Fingertips"*. http://www.fayf.com

I could go on and on. If you want to know my full list of recommendations, let me know!

Jeremy[/b]


----------



## 1A (Aug 12, 2004)

Sounds like you're going for more of the classic psychologist type authors -- with emphasis on repressed emotion/feelings. Try the book "The Meaning of Anxiety" by Rollo May. It's very long, but an excellent read, with a focus on root causes.


----------



## sebastian (Aug 11, 2004)

Pablo,

You might want to also check out this thread, which has a number of suggestions in it:

http://www.dpselfhelp.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=5334

s.


----------



## Pablo (Sep 1, 2005)

Thanks for the replies, I think Amazon are going to be happy with me today. I have looked at Claire Weeks but never got round to buying I think I will get hers, Dr Ross and Rollo May.

Thanks Methusala for your post, very interesting, even though Freud isn't backed by scientific evidence he still interests me as apparently him and his collegues sat through thousands of hours of patients free-associating so he must have learned something of use in that time. I have tried more modern cognitive behavioural therapy techniques but they actually made me feel worse, 1A is right that I am more interested in the more classic type psychology authors who try to deal with emotional repression but it is difficult as every "expert" thinks their technique works and is right and all the others are wrong.

I have read some of those books Jeremy and I own 'Energy Medicine' by Donna Eden but I have kind of exhausted my research into alternative methods of healing after about two years of experimenting, it has helped but not got to the source of my troubles. Maybe I will come back looking one day, I will look out for Dan Millman though. If you are interested the one alternative book which helped me the most was 'Emotional Clearing' - John Ruskin which you can download for free : http://www.emclear.com/WorkingOnYourself_FRT.html

Has anybody read any good books on EMDR ?


----------



## jeremy (Apr 28, 2006)

Thanks Pablo

I have downloaded the book, will read it when I get a chance. Just skimming through it looks very interesting and right up my alley. You can never have too much information!!

Jeremy


----------



## Dreamer (Aug 9, 2004)

Lest we forget, Dr. Daphne Simeon's new book: Feeling Unreal: Depersonalization Disorder and the Loss of the Self

I was going to recommend the book link discussion that Sebastian did as well. It's at the top of this forum. Could people add what they've written here to that discussion. It's a shame to have the info in two places. There are some fascinating posts here.


----------

