Books by Sharon Begley

Richard J. Davidson har studeret hjernemønstre hos tibetanske lamaer og har kunnet påvise meditations gavnlige effekt på hjernen. DIN HJERNES FØLELSESMÆSSIGE LIV er en samlet fremlæggelse af de sidste års opdagelser omkring hjernens smidighed og påvirkelighed og specifikt, hvad denne hjerneforskning kan lære os om sindets indretning, om vores forskellighed og om vores individuelle muligheder for at påvirke os selv og øge vores livsglæde.Bogen vil præsentere videnskabelig dokumentation for, hvorfor vi føler og reagerer, som vi gør. Den vil appellere til de mange, der ønsker at gå et skridt videre end populærpsykologien. Den vil give samleveren bedre mulighed for at forstå kærestens humørsvingninger, forældrene bedre mulighed for at forstå deres børn og bedsteforældrene mulighed for at optimere deres aldring.Richard J. Davidson er hjerneforsker og medvirkede i de samtaler mellem Dalai Lama og førende videnskabsfolk, som blev beskrevet i Goleman-bogen Destruktive følelser.

HIGHLY COMMENDED for the British Medical Awards book prize for Popular Medicine'Filled with emotionally resonant stories, Can't Just Stop helps us understand not only the underpinnings of some forms of mental illness, but also the everyday worries that drive so much of our behaviour. A fascinating peek into the human mind in our age of anxiety.'David Kessler, author of Capture: Unraveling the Mystery of Mental Suffering Do you check your smartphone continuously for messages? Or perhaps do the weekly shop with military precision? Maybe you always ensure the cutlery is perfectly lined up on the table?Compulsion is something most of us have witnessed in daily life. But compulsions exist along a broad continuum, and at the opposite end of these mild forms are life-altering disorders.Sharon Begley's meticulously researched book is the first of its kind to examine the science behind both mild and extreme compulsive behaviour; using fascinating case studies to understand their deeper meaning and reveal the truth about human compulsion - that it is a coping response to varying degrees of anxiety.Through the personal stories of dozens of interviewees exhibiting behaviours such as OCD, hoarding, compulsive acquiring, exercise or even altruism, Begley employs genuine compassion and gives meaningful context to their plight. Along the way she explores the role of compulsion in our fast paced culture, the neuroscience behind it, and strange manifestations of the behaviour throughout history. Can't Just Stop makes compulsion comprehensible and accessible, exploring how we can realistically grapple with it in ourselves and in those we love.

This groundbreaking book by a pioneer in neuroscience brings a new understanding of our emotions - why each of us responds so differently to the same life events and what we can do to change and improve our emotional lives.If you believe most self-help books, you would probably assume that we are all affected in the same way by events like grief or falling in love or being jilted and that only one process can help us handle them successfully.From thirty years of studying brain chemistry, Davidson shows just why and how we are all so different. Just as we all have our own DNA, so we each have our own emotional 'style' depending on our individual levels of dimensions like resilience, attention and self-awareness. Helping us to recognise our own emotional style, Davidson also shows how our brain patterns can change over our lives - and, through his fascinating experiments, what we can do to improve our emotional responses through, for example, meditation.Deepening our understanding of the mind-body connection - as well as conditions like autism and depression - Davidson stretches beyond mainstream psychology and neuroscience and expands our view of what it means to be human.

For decades, the conventional wisdom of neuroscience held that the hardware of the brain is fixed - that we are stuck with what we were born with. But recent pioneering experiments in neuroplasticity reveal that the brain is capable not only of altering its structure but also of generating new neurons, even into old age. The brain can adapt, heal, renew itself after trauma and compensate for disability. In this groundbreaking book, highly respected science writer Sharon Begley documents how this fundamental paradigm shift is transforming both our understanding of the human mind and our approach to deep-seated emotional, cognitive and behavioural problems. These breakthroughs show that it is possible to reset our happiness meter, regain the use of limbs disabled by stroke, train the mind to break cycles of depression and OCD and reverse age-related changes in the brain.