The Loss Of Self

"Everything feels unreal to me, like a dream...I feel detached, like a stranger to myself." These are quotes from actual people, experiencing something they don't understand. What they are saying is being heard by friends, families, and physicians today more than ever before. They do not simply suffer from anxiety, or depression, and they are not schizophrenic. They have found themselves trapped in a very real and singular disorder, yet few even know its name. Their enigmatic state of mind has been studied for more than 100 years, but only recently has it become clear how prevalent and how distinctive it really is. The condition is called Depersonalization Disorder, and Feeling Unreal is the first book to reveal what it's all about. This important volume explores not only Depersonalization, but the philosophical and literary implications of selflessness as well, while providing the latest research, possible treatments, and ways to live and thrive when life seems "unreal." For those who still believe that such experiences are merely part of something else, that depersonalization is just a symptom and not a disorder in its own right, Feeling Unreal presents compelling evidence to the contrary. This book provides long-awaited answers for people suffering from Depersonalization Disorder and their loved ones, for mental health professionals, and for all students of the condition, while serving as a wake up call to the medical community at large.

Since his death in April 12 Francis Bacon has been acclaimed as one of the very greatest of modern painters. Yet most analyses of Bacon actually neutralize his work by discussing it as an existential expression and as the horrifying communication of an isolated individualâe"which simply transfers the pain in the paintings back to Bacon himself. This study is the first attempt to account for the pain of the viewer. It is also, most challengingly, an explanation of what Baconâe(tm)s art tells us about ourselves as individuals. For, during this very personal investigation, the author comes to realize that the effect of Baconâe(tm)s work is founded upon the way that each of us carves our identity, our âeoeself,âe from the inchoate evidence of our senses, using the conventions of representation as tools. It is in his warping of these conventions of the senses, rather than in the superficial distortion of his images, that Bacon most radically confronts âeoeart,âe and ourselves as individuals.

Winner, ICQI 2022 Outstanding Qualitative Book Award In Writing the Self in Bereavement: A Story of Love, Spousal Loss, and Resilience, Reinekke Lengelle uses her abilities as a researcher, poet, and professor of therapeutic writing to tell a heartfelt and fearless story about her grief after the death of her spouse and the year and a half following his diagnosis, illness, and passing. This book powerfully demonstrates that writing can be a companion in bereavement. It uses and explains the latest research on coming to terms with spousal loss without being prescriptive. Integrated with this contemporary research are stories, poetry, and reflections on writing as a therapeutic process. The author unflinchingly explores a number of themes that are underrepresented in existing resources: how one deals with anger associated with loss, what a healthy response might be to unfinished business with the deceased, continuing conversations with the beloved (even for agnostics and atheists), ongoing sexual desire, and secondary losses. As a rare book where an author successfully combines a personal story, heart-rending poetry, up-to-date research on grief, and an evocative exploration of taboo topics in the context of widowhood, Writing the Self in Bereavement is uniquely valuable for those grieving a spouse or other loved one, those supporting others in bereavement, and those interested in the healing power of poetry and life writing. Researchers on death and dying, grief counsellors, and autoethnographers will also benefit from reading this resonant resource on love and loss.

In Loss of Self in Psychosis: Psychological Theory and Practice Simon Jakes takes a critical look at contemorary approaches to the psychology of psychosis. In doing so, he explores how these vastly different approaches, as well as our numerous conceptualisations of schizophrenia, work to reduce the effectiveness of CBT as a treatment. Four different psychological approaches to psychosis are examined in the first part of this book, as well as the development of CBT for psychosis and the theory behind this. In the second part, he describes the therapy of some clients and suggests that incorporating ideas from some of the different theories of psychosis in the same treatment may be beneficial. Using extended examples from clinical practice over the past 20 years to illuminate his theories, Loss of Self in Psychosis: Psychological Theory and Practice will prove to be thought-provoking reading for clinical psychologists, psychiatrists and other mental health professionals working with this client group.

Process your grief, protect your mental health, and find moments of happiness with these 100 self-care activities specifically designed for difficult and distressing situations. When faced with loss or trauma, the grief can oftentimes feel overwhelming. It can feel difficult, if not impossible, to focus your attention elsewhere. And yet, during hard times is the perfect time to look inwards for support and practice self-care. Tuning in to your personal needs and taking the time to create a thoughtful self-care practice can make all the difference in moving forward in a healthy way. In Self-Care for Grief, you’ll find 100 self-care activities that are specifically designed to help you protect your mental health, even while grieving. You’ll find useful activities like: -Cooking to honor your loss -Practicing saying “No” -Naming your emotions -And many more No matter what the circumstances are, Self-Care for Grief has the activities you need to de-stress, stay calm, and even find moments of joy in the most challenging of times.

Our jobs are often a big part of our identities, and when we are fired, we can feel confused, hurt, and powerless—at sea in terms of who we are. Drawing on extensive, real-life interviews, Job Loss, Identity, and Mental Health shines a light on the experiences of unemployed, middle-class professional men and women, showing how job loss can affect both identity and mental health. Sociologist Dawn R. Norris uses in-depth interviews to offer insight into the experience of losing a job—what it means for daily life, how the unemployed feel about it, and the process they go through as they try to deal with job loss and their new identities as unemployed people. Norris highlights several specific challenges to identity that can occur. For instance, the way other people interact with the unemployed either helps them feel sure about who they are, or leads them to question their identities. Another identity threat happens when the unemployed no longer feel they are the same person they used to be. Norris also examines the importance of the subjective meaning people give to statuses, along with the strong influence of society’s expectations. For example, men in Norris’s study often used the stereotype of the “male breadwinner” to define who they were. Job Loss, Identity, and Mental Health describes various strategies to cope with identity loss, including “shifting” away from a work-related identity and instead emphasizing a nonwork identity (such as “a parent”), or conversely “sustaining” a work-related identity even though he or she is actually unemployed. Finally, Norris explores the social factors—often out of the control of unemployed people—that make these strategies possible or impossible. A compelling portrait of a little-studied aspect of the Great Recession, Job Loss, Identity, and Mental Health is filled with insight into the identity crises that unemployment can trigger, as well as strategies to help the unemployed maintain their mental strength.

Dear Reader, I know exactly how you are feeling. People will tell you, to have sabr and trust in Allah's plan. People will expect you to behave in a certain way. I have written this child loss book for you and me. We are parents who have lost a piece of our heart. No one else can understand what we are going through. There are many self-help books for parents and child loss stories, however, very few are written from an Islamic perspective. I am here to tell you that there is hope, there is a way to find peace and solace, and that way is through the healing words of Allah and the comforting words of our beloved Prophet Muhammad (saw). Inshallah, both the Quran and Sunnah are a balm that will soothe your heart. Together they have helped me carry on when I thought my sorrow would consume me. Inshallah, my sincere dua is that this book provides you with comfort and the strength to carry on. Love and duas Farhat Amin Losing a baby or child, whether through miscarriage or illness, leaves so many parents lost in grief and full of unanswered questions. Farhat Amin personally experienced a miscarriage and faced the loss of her teenage son. She has written this self-help book, which thoughtfully describes her experiences and how she found a way to live and learn from her bereavement. Some of the proceeds from the sale of this book will be donated to charity.