Untangling the Mind: Why We Behave the Way We Do
David Theodore George
Language: English
Pages: 288
ISBN: 0062127772
Format: PDF / Kindle (mobi) / ePub
Don't let emotions—your own, or someone else's—control your life!
Feeling extreme emotion is part of being human. We may feel overwhelming joy at the birth of a child, crippling terror at the sight of an intruder in our home, or unbearable sadness upon the death of a loved one. While we may be surprised at the force of our feelings, they are normal and are not a cause for concern. What's concerning is when strong emotions cause us to spin out of control and make us behave in ways we later wish we hadn't.
In Untangling the Mind, Dr. George explains how to:
- Identify the difference between a legitimate emotional reaction and a pathological one
- Understand the biological basis of your hard-wired reactions
- Recognize why your distress is caused by a neurological malfunction
Dr. George, a psychiatrist, has accessed the most cutting-edge technology, such as fMRI, facial analysis, PET scans, and chemical infusions. With this technology, he is able to provide a deep understanding of the inner workings of the brain that can portray a clear picture of what happens—chemically and physically—when we get depressed, act out, or fall into an addiction. Once we understand what happens, we can start to live a calmer, more harmonious life.
problem by learning how to use a calculator. These were tools used in the healing process but were incomplete because of a missing vital third element: understanding what was happening in each patient’s brain. I remember giving a talk to a group of people at a community outreach gathering. I was one of a number of speakers talking about depression and treatments, and I was the last speaker on the program. After speaking for about thirty minutes, I answered questions. As the people were leaving
treatment has side effects. Others are leery of ECT because its neurological impact is not fully understood. It is not clear why an electric shock to the brain that causes a brief seizure relieves depression. Yet there are many other effective treatments that medicine does not understand. The best way to explain why the debate surrounding ECT does not stop me from recommending it is to tell the rest of Yuki’s story. Yuki, you might remember, came to me because of depression and an unhappy
system, but lighting a smoke every time you have a cup of coffee can regularly activate it. In the same way, the habit of drinking when you feel stressed or overeating when you are bored can become addictive.15 The automatic feature of a habit—not thinking about what you are doing—can add force to its destructiveness. If you are not thinking about all that you are eating or drinking or smoking, you lose awareness of a problem. For example, you come home from work stressed and frustrated, and you
communication, but neither liked what the other was communicating. Both felt threatened and afraid, but they did not know of what. They lived in a state of fear, braced for the next confrontation, and ready to defend themselves. It was as if they lived in a house with bars on the windows and an elaborate alarm system while they were being robbed by a live-in nanny. Therapy for John and Margie had to begin with identifying what they felt threatened by and why they were afraid. They had to truly
remember talking to a man, sinewy and frail. Through an interpreter, he talked about guilt and not being able to live with what he had done. Soldiers had conscripted him into the Lord’s Resistance Army and forced him to kill his sisters. He had broken free but now was deadened by the memories. The trauma had rendered him numb, yet his conversation with me signaled a will to live. Thoughts about the power of our survival instinct were still with me a week later when I left Gulu for a brief stay