The Upward Spiral

Depression can feel like a downward spiral, pulling you into a vortex of sadness, fatigue, and apathy. In The Upward Spiral, neuroscientist Alex Korb demystifies the intricate brain processes that cause depression and offers a practical and effective approach to getting better. Based on the latest research in neuroscience, this book provides dozens of straightforward tips you can do every day to rewire your brain and create an upward spiral towards a happier, healthier life. Whether you suffer from depression or just want a better understanding of the brain, this book offers an engaging and informative look at the neuroscience behind our emotions, thoughts, and actions. The truth is that there isn’t one big solution to depression, but there are numerous simple steps you can take to alter brain activity and chemistry. Some are as easy as relaxing certain muscles to reduce anxiety, or getting more sunlight to improve your mood. Small steps in the right direction can have profound effects—giving you the power to become your best self as you literally reshape your brain, one small change at a time.

Positive life changes lead to positive brain changes. Drawing on the huge success of his groundbreaking book, The Upward Spiral, neuroscientist Alex Korb offers actionable, step-by-step skills to help you reshape your brain and create an upward spiral towards a happier, healthier life. Depression is defined by a collection of symptoms. You feel crappy most of the time. Nothing seems interesting, and everything seems overwhelming. You have trouble with sleep. You feel guilty and anxious and have thoughts that life isn’t worth living. Each symptom reinforces and inspires new symptoms, and this is a sign that your brain circuits are caught in the downward spiral of depression. So, how can you reverse it? In his first book, The Upward Spiral, neuroscientist Alex Korb demystified the intricate brain processes that cause depression and outlined a practical and effective approach for getting better. Based on the latest research, this evidence-based workbook takes the theory behind Korb’s breakthrough book and distills it into concrete, actionable exercises and skills. Just as one small trigger can drag you down, an effective intervention can start enough momentum to carry you back up. Exercise, attention to breathing, gratitude, sleep hygiene, and positive social interactions are just some of the offerings in this workbook that can help alter activity in specific neural circuits, setting you on the path toward an upward spiral to happiness and well-being.

The Neuroscience of Depression: Features, Diagnosis and Treatment, is a comprehensive reference to the diagnosis and treatment of depression. This book provides readers with the mechanisms of depression reflecting on the interplay between depression and the biological and psychosocial processes. A detailed introduction to various episodes of depression, from PTSD to post-partum depression is provided, followed by a thorough discussion on biomarkers in depression and how to diagnose depression including the Hamilton Depression Rating scale. This book also includes three full sections on treatment options for depression, including pharmacological, behavioral and other novel regimes. The Neuroscience of Depression: Features, Diagnosis and Treatment is the only resource for researchers and practitioners studying, diagnosis and treating of depression. Covers a pharmacological and behavioral treatment options Features sections on diagnosis and biomarkers of depression Discusses depression in children, teens and adults Contains information on comorbidity of physical and mental conditions Includes more than 250 illustrations and tables

"How lovely to discover a book on the craft of writing that is also fun to read . . . Alison asserts that the best stories follow patterns in nature, and by defining these new styles she offers writers the freedom to explore but with enough guidance to thrive." ―Maris Kreizman, Vulture A Publishers Weekly Best Book of 2019 | A Poets & Writers Best Books for Writers As Jane Alison writes in the introduction to her insightful and appealing book about the craft of writing: “For centuries there’s been one path through fiction we’re most likely to travel― one we’re actually told to follow―and that’s the dramatic arc: a situation arises, grows tense, reaches a peak, subsides . . . But something that swells and tautens until climax, then collapses? Bit masculosexual, no? So many other patterns run through nature, tracing other deep motions in life. Why not draw on them, too?" W. G. Sebald’s Emigrants was the first novel to show Alison how forward momentum can be created by way of pattern, rather than the traditional arc--or, in nature, wave. Other writers of nonlinear prose considered in her “museum of specimens” include Nicholson Baker, Anne Carson, Marguerite Duras, Gabriel García Márquez, Jamaica Kincaid, Clarice Lispector, Susan Minot, David Mitchell, Caryl Phillips, and Mary Robison. Meander, Spiral, Explode is a singular and brilliant elucidation of literary strategies that also brings high spirits and wit to its original conclusions. It is a liberating manifesto that says, Let’s leave the outdated modes behind and, in thinking of new modes, bring feeling back to experimentation. It will appeal to serious readers and writers alike.

Lawyers help others but take very poor care of themselves. In their quest to max out their earning potential and afford the best material goods our economy has to offer, lawyers lead a narrow, grimly serious existence without emotional rewards. They work inhuman hours yet always feel pressured for time. Since they never stop, breathe, and relax, they are frequently tense, irritable and ready to bark. Lawyers are highly competitive, results-oriented and easily shamed by losing. They see opposing lawyers as the enemy and they substitute suspicion, cynicism and verbal abuse in place of peaceful, connected communication. This has made lawyers sick, sick of being lawyers and sick both mentally and physically. In polls of career satisfaction, more than half of all lawyers say they would quit today if they could afford it. One out of every five lawyers has major depression or alcoholism. Lawyers are 3.6 times more likely to be depressed than all other people working full time, and twice as likely to be alcoholics. It doesn't have to be this way. Lawyers can learn to let go of their manic pursuit of material wealth and value things like love, friendship, self-discovery, authenticity, spirituality and working with others to create something deeply meaningful. Lawyers can learn to overcome the polarizing us/them mindset which turns colleagues who deserve inclusion, respect and cooperation into enemies to be feared, mistrusted, hated and attacked. They can be taught to practice law with inspiration, enthusiasm, zest, pride and pleasure. They can learn how to practice effectively and yet still give themselves what human beings need - freedom, sunshine, fresh air, rest, ease, play, laughter, spirituality, creativity, and the pleasures of family, friendship and community. This book is a comprehensive self-help guide that can save the careers and lengthen the lives of lawyers under stress, and help them achieve the unthinkable - to feel happy, joyful, grateful to be alive.

Dual Winner -- 2016 Nautilus Gold Award (Women) and Silver Award (Business & Leadership). Women comprise 51 percent of the world's population, make up over half the workforce, and control 85 percent of consumer decisions. Never before have women been so degreed or so represented as decision makers in all areas of influence. Why, then, do we still feel as if success eludes us? Why do we sometimes struggle to keep our drive alive? The linear, heads-down, forward-at-all-cost approach to success that has been forged by men will never take us to the heart of fulfillment. Women are not designed for the straight and narrow path. But until now there hasn't been another choice. Pioneering corporate coach Wendy Wallbridge recognizes this unmet need of professional women for an alternative path to success. Spiraling Upward: The 5 Co-Creative Powers for Women on the Rise offers a cogent, step-by-step roadmap for professional women to unlock their power and achieve success on their own terms. The "Spiral Up" method teaches women to cultivate the five co-creative powers of energy, thoughts, feelings, speech, and action--the fundamentals of self-creation--in order to redefine success and re-author their lives. If you're ready to rise up and express your creativity, authenticity, voice, and power to effect the changes you want, Spiraling Upward will show you the way. Complete with easy-to-follow steps and exercises, as well as inspiring stories of successful women, this book offers a cogent road map for professional women looking to unlock their power and achieve success on their own terms.

A psychologist explains how to create a richer, healthier, more fulfilling life through a process called the upward spiral that incorporates innovative techniques for using positivity to influence relationships, health, and work.