Books and Me

By Tabatha Chansard (2019) There is nothing new here, but the book is nonetheless an efficient, well-written summary of evidenced-based approaches for tackling teen anxiety, along with exercises designed to encourage the reader to implement the theory.  I'm sure these approaches work, but the teen has to believe it possible and to engage with the suggestions fully.  This might be difficult.  You can lead a horse to water but you can't make him drink. Rating 6/10

by Heather T. Forbes (2010)  Phew, therapy that makes sense!  It sees the problems for what it really are and offers utterly wonderful, compassionate solutions.  It's a peculiar experience - when you finish this book, it all seems so obvious but that's probably because the explanations of the underlying causes of trauma-related behaviour are so right and real that it gives you the impression that it must have been staring you in the face all along. However, clearly this has been a difficult nut to crack and a good chunk of this book describes other nominally therapeutic strategies that are actually no help at all and indeed are often sources of even more trauma for the family. If your young person has been traumatised by something, including past therapy, read this utterly sensible, kind book. Rating: 9/10

By Nicola Morgan (2013) I perhaps should have read the blurb more closely as this book is aimed at a young teen market.  In fact, I don't think my 16 year old daughter would have been surprised by anything in it.  I was familiar with absolutely all the information it contained, and skipped through the stories as they seemed unnecessary for making the rather sketchy neuroscience.  I am not even sure that it doesn't directly contradict some of the stuff in the previous book I have just finished, ie: How Emotions are Made, by Lisa Feldman Barrett, which, if right, might challenge a few of the very broad assumptions that are made in this book. I did, however, warm to the device of offering several different explanations for her assertions.  This at least seemed sufficiently modest.  I particularly liked the one about "how do brains come through adolescence and out the other side with a whole bundle of skills to boot".  One suggested that it was school...