Margaret Reedy, PhD

Take time to learn, enjoy and be inspired by the following books and links, listed by topic, in no particular order:

Depression, Anxiety and Mood Problems

Feeling Good: The New Mood Therapy.  By David Burns.  "The manual" for mood problems and overcoming depression.

Bipolar Disorder Survival Guide.  By David Miklowitz.  An excellent resource for newly diagnosed patients and their families to help understand the diagnosis, help understanding and charting mood swings, and what to do to help take care of yourself.  

Check out the National Institutes of Health information on
anxiety disorders at www.nimh.nih.gov/health/publications/anxiety-disorders/introduction.shtml  
depression at www.nimh.nih.gov/health/publications/depression/what-is-a-depressive-disorder.shtml

The American Psychological Association also has information on
depression, see www.apa.org/topics/recover.html  and also many articles on topics in mental and emotional health, including anxiety disorders, struggling with suicide, stress, illness, eating disorders, etc., see www.apahelpcenter.org/articles

Couples

The Seven Principles for Making Marriage Work.  By John Gottman. See also: www.gottman.com.  His book is very well written and contains a bundle of research-based information and advice for marriages.  See his online site for two Relationship Quizzes and "Marriage: 101", plus other interesting information.

Tell Me No Lies: How to Face the Truth and Build a Loving Marriage.  By Ellyn Bader and Peter Pearson.  These nationally recognized clinicians (who also happen to be married to each other) tell the truth about relationships and improving yours.  See also: www.couplesinstitute.com.  This website has excellent articles for couples.

Hold Me Tight: Seven Conversations for a Lifetime of Love.  By Sue Johnson.  The best couples therapist in the world explains how to stop your relationship from going over the cliff and how to revitalize a stable, but tired relationship.  Conversations include:  Recognizing the Demon Dialogues, Repairing Injuries, Engaging and Connecting. 

The Five Love Languages.  By Gary Chapman.  This easy to read book offers a deceptively simple, but highly useful, view that unhappiness in marriage stems from the fact that partners often "speak" different love languages.  Men and women can take a quiz to find out their love language, and then are given help for what to do to be more responsive to each other's love language.    

Infidelity and Forgiveness

Not Just Friends.  By Shirley Glass.  An excellent resouce for couples following the discovery of infidelity.  Information on understanding why infidelity happens, what to do now, how to repair the damage, rebuilding trust and forgiveness. 

After The Affair.  By Janis Spring.  Another excellent book with lots of information and good advice to help couples work through an infidelity. 

Forgiveness.  By Janis Spring.  For those struggling to deal with various relationship injuries and wounds.  This book provides a blueprint for achieving forgiveness. 

Divorce, Remarriage and Stepfamilies

The Good Divorce.  By Constance Ahrons.  Gives helpful information on divorce, describes idfferent types of divorce and offers suggestions on how to have a good divorce.

Helping Your Kids Cope With Divorce.  By M. Gary Neuman.  Very helpful book with age-specific suggestions on talking to your children about divorce, helping children cope, and helpful strategies for co-parenting and decreasing conflict with your ex. 
 
Parenting

Uncommon Sense for Parents with Teenagers.  By Michael Riera.  Helpful, down to earth look at the world of your normal teenager and their issues.  Clear suggestions about how to help your teen navigate these years. 

Stop Negotiating With Your Teen: Strategies for Parenting Your Angry, Manipulative, Moodly or Depressed Adolescent.  By Janet Edgette.  A book for parents whose children fit the subtitle.  Good examples of what to say in challenging situations. 

Setting Limits with Your Strong-Willed Child.  By Robert MacKenzie.  Great book, clearly written to help parents who are frustrated with their strong-willed child. 

Redirecting Children's Behavior.  By Kathryn Kvols.  A great parenting book, with sound principles and advice to help frustrated parents, especially those with younger or elementary school-age children.  

How to Talk So Kids Will Listen and Listen So Kids Will Talk.  By Adele Faber and Elaine Mazlish.  This is also an excellent parenting book with information on helping younger children deal with their feelings, engaging cooperation, encouraging autonomy and how to use praise.  Includes exercises, assignments and even uses cartoons to demonstrate important points. 
   
Bereavement and Grief

Healing After Loss.  By Martha Hickman.  A book of daily meditations, written by a woman who has personally suffered great loss, including the death of her daughter, which offers much comfort.

When Bad Things Happen to Good People.  By Rabbi Kushner.  Rabbi Kushner offers a thoughtful and spiritually based perspective on loss and death. 

A Year of Magical Thinking.  By Joan Didion.  A profound, deeply thoughtful, beautifully written personal narrative of the experience of grief following the sudden death of her husband.   

Anger

The Anger Trap.  By Les Carter.  A practical book to help people understand the roots of their anger. Dr. Carter describes how to change thinking, communication and behavior to get freedom from unhealthy anger.  

Visit www.ajnovickgroup.com. The A.J. Novick Group is an Orange County-based organization which provides weekly group programs in anger management as well as online and home study anger management courses.  Excellent 8 lesson program. 

Also, visit the American Psychological Association website for information on anger, see www.apa.org/topics/controlanger.html 

Individual

Reinventing Your Life.  By Jeffrey Young.  Very helpful book with questionnaires to identify your primary "lifetraps", such as dependency, abandonment fears, unrelenting standards, etc.  You will learn much about your self, how your "lifetraps" developed and what to do about them.   

Alcohol

See the "mother" website at www.aa.org.  Or, the Orange County AA site, www.oc-aa.org which provides all local meetings, every day of the week. 
 
Money

See website www.debtorsanonymous.org.  Excellent resource for those with debt and/or overspending problems.  Online Debt Quiz and help finding a DA meeting. 

Personal Growth and Inspiration

The Four Agreements.  By Miguel Ruiz. This book proposes a code of conduct based on Toltec truth: Be impecable with your word.  Don't take anything personally.  Don't make assumptions.  Always do your best.  An inspirational read for younger and older readers.

The Last Lecture.  By Randy Pausch.  A computer science professor at Carnegie Mellon University, Pausch's book is based on his last lecture to his students entitled, "Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams".  Inspirational, humorous, intelligent, and wise -- how to live life well, because we never know how much time we have.