NOVEMBER 2019 BY WILLIAM POLKOWSKI Martin E. P. Seligman has been a professor of psychology at the University of Pennsylvania for many years and is the director of the Positive Psychology Center there. He is past president of the American Psychological Association and the author of several books. “Learned Optimism” (originally published in 1990) isContinue reading Learned Optimism Improves Health and Resilience
Borderline Personality Disorder: A Guide for Families
July 2019 By Susan Todoroff While looking for library books on borderline personality disorder (BPD) I saw the choices were scarce. Before going online to look for more, I decided to check out “The Essential Family Guide to Borderline Personality Disorder” by Randi Kreger. The book helps family members understand and communicate better with theirContinue reading Borderline Personality Disorder: A Guide for Families
Understanding Suicide From the Inside Out
APRIL 2019 BY WILLIAM POLKOWSKI Kay Redfield Jamison — author of the autobiography “An Unquiet Mind” and “Touched With Fire,” a study of the connection between creativity and bipolar disorder (or manic depression) — wrote “Night Falls Fast” in an attempt to understand suicide more deeply. Dr. Jamison, who lives with bipolar disorder, once attemptedContinue reading Understanding Suicide From the Inside Out
A Psychologist Tells Her Own Story of Schizophrenia
FEBRUARY 2019 BY LOIS MAHARG Arnhild Lauveng has written the kind of mental health book I like to read: an intimate account of lived experience and insight from a person who recovered her health and became what she wanted to be. But Lauveng’s diagnosis was schizophrenia, and schizophrenia is understood by many to be anContinue reading A Psychologist Tells Her Own Story of Schizophrenia
Science of Happiness Explored in Online Course
DECEMBER 2018 BY WILLIAM POLKOWSKI “Coursera” is a platform for massive open online courses, or MOOCs. It offers hundreds of free courses from many top universities in the world, including Yale, Stanford, Princeton and University of Michigan. There are courses in many different subjects. Among them are courses on depression, schizophrenia, autism spectrum disorders, medicalContinue reading Science of Happiness Explored in Online Course
Bipolar Disorder Did Not Stop Her From Excelling in Her Field
OCTOBER 2018 BY WILLIAM POLKOWSKI Both an authority on manic-depressive illness (Bipolar Disorder) and one who has experienced it first hand in its various dimensions, Kay Redfield Jamison has written prolifically about manic depression. She has had several books published. In 1990 “Manic Depressive Illness,” a comprehensive textbook of some 900 pages coauthored with FrederickContinue reading Bipolar Disorder Did Not Stop Her From Excelling in Her Field