Healing the Angry Brain by Ronald T. Potter-Efron - A Book Review.
It happens so many times in our lives that we are deeply contemplating on a subject that is bothering us and from somewhere, out pops up a friend, or an acquaintance who hands you a book that deals identically with the subject you were thinking about.
This is exactly that happened to me before I read this mind boggling book - “Healing the Angry Brain" by Ronald T. Potter-Efron. Instantly it connected with the phase I was going through and like an experienced surgeon, performing an operation on a serious patient, takes him out of danger and puts him back on a safe and sound path to recovery. It was not that I was angry myself, but I was reviewing this same topic not only with respect to my nature, but in context to people who had approached me with the same issues.
What I want to say about this Book is so well expressed here in these words by Steven Stosny when he says and I quote .....
“Healing the Angry Brain is as thorough a work on the neurobiology of anger as you will find anywhere. In addition to a comprehensive description of the biological and psychological functions of anger, it gives lots of practical advice on regulating anger in the context of a full and healthy emotional life.”
— Steven Stosny.
Lou Cozolino, professor of psychology at Pepperdine
University also says - “Psychotherapists are always asking neuroscientists, How does understanding the brain help me to help my clients?. In Healing the Angry Brain, Ronald Potter-Efron provides an answer. Through a combination of clinical expertise and clear scientific information, he guides the reader to a better understanding of anger while providing a roadmap to relational and inner peace.”
What made me write this review to his book was the way in which the author, spells out each phase of the process of a person getting angry and connects it with the sociological, psychological and medical angles to this whole process.
In a step by step process spread out in the chapters that follow, he explains the meaning, how to understand each stage, relating to that stage, and then applying the steps in each stage to come to a solution to your problem of getting angry.
The way in which he has clearly explained the Six stages of emotional processing of * Activation * Modulation * Preparation * Action * Feedback * and Deactivation* - and their subsequent advantages and disadvantages of good and bad handling of these stages is exemplary.
While the book deals with the actual process of emotional processing, more clearly of Anger in this Book, he also explains the medical part of each action, with respect to the parts of the brain, what and where each action originates and ends, and the sequence of each procedure.
It is like a person holding your hand and taking you all across from the point of origin of your problem, to the light at the end of the dark tunnel where you see the solution.
He supports them with examples as well as references from other experts in this field, researchers and medical journals where the facts are authenticated to precision.
I had been dealing with many cases of parents coming to me with cases of their children whose anger and emotions they are not able to control, thereby causing distress and anxiety in the whole family. I had always been applying the same techniques, but this book authenticated and supported almost every step I was following, which instilled more confidence in me; that what I was following was correct. In fact it added new dimensions of ways of attending to these situations.
I would not dissect the whole book for you here as it will take away the surprise and astonishment you will experience when you read it. Start with a totally neutral view to reading this amazing book, take it chapter by chapter and as he says himself - "Each chapter in this book will help you take this journey toward a calmer brain."
I am sure that your experience after reading this book will open new avenues towards ways in which you can deal with emotions as a whole.
Do record your feedback through your comments, ideas, and suggestions on your own views on reading this book and how it has or will affect your own handling of similar situations of processing emotions.
HAPPY READING!
