NEURAL PATH THERAPY: HOW TO CHANGE YOUR BRAIN'S RESPONSE TO ANGER, FEAR, PAIN & DESIRE by Matthew McKay and David Harp, 2005 OUTLINE OF BOOK'S FACTS & IDEAS ABOUT THE AUTHORS = [1] Matthew McKay = He is a professor at the Wright Institute in Berkeley, CA. He has authored and coauthored numerous books, including The Relaxation and Stress Reduction Workbook, Self-Esteem, Thoughts and Feelings, When Anger Hurts, and ACT on Life Not on Anger. His books combined have sold more than 2.5 million copies. McKay received his PhD in clinical psychology from the California School of Professional Psychology. In private practice, he specializes in the cognitive behavioral treatment of anxiety and depression. [2] David Harp = David Harp, MA, is president of Musical iPress, a music instruction publishing company, and of Harmony Productions, a public speaking and corporate training bureau based on his study of applied cognitive science. For Musical iPress, he created and produced over twenty instructional titles. For Harmony Productions, he organized and presented a variety of public speaking events. 1) STEP 1 --- THE POWER OF THE BREATH 2) STEP 2 --- THOUGHT WATCHING 3) STEP 3 --- COMPASSION 4) STEP 4 --- SOFTENING AROUND PAIN 5) STEP 5 --- WISE PATHS 6) STEP 6 --- BEYOND THE STEPS Steps ONE and TWO are concerned with the "level of coping," of dealing with the issues of daily life by changing them, or changing our relationship to them. Steps THREE and FOUR are concerned with the "level of acceptance," of dealing with mental or physical pain through compassion and softening. However, there are levels of coping that are "higher and deeper" than the first four. This chapter presents ways of bringing happiness and meaning into your life and then looks at ways of transcending your body, brain, and SENSE of SELF. These levels have been the subject of hundreds of thousands of books during the past. [1] HAPPINESS AND MEANING The two words, "happiness" and "meaning," may not seem to go together. Yet, research studies increasingly indicate that the elements usually thought to increase happiness, such as winning the lottery, good health, sexual satisfaction, have little positive effect on a person's happiness. Instead, people who say that they find meaning in their lives, from their jobs, hobbies, or charitable endeavors, for example, tend to rate themselves as happier than those who don't have such positive experiences. In fact, a growing number of articles indicate that doing altruistic acts --- as many as FIVE A WEEK --- makes people happier. The recent research on happiness also indicates that WRITING DOWN a few things that make you happy each day can increase your level of happiness. (p128) (1) What you see is what you get (2) Compassion in action (3) Forgiveness (4) Historic focus on what's not right (5) Modern focus on what's not right (6) Cultural focus on what's not right (7) Existential pain [2] WHAT CAN BE DONE? (1) Vicious cycles, benevolent cycles (2) The state of compassionate awareness (3) Transcendent states (4) Enhancing the experience of prayer (5) Transcendence without religion (6) The life of meaning and the meaning of life [3] A FEW WORDS OF GRATITUDE www.neuralpaththerapy.com WHAT IS NEURAL PATH THERAPY? This is a unique book to help you change your brain's response to anger, fear, pain, and desire. This book can help fix the stressful and anxiety-provoking conditions of everyday living. It is no secret that life is tough, and that each passing year isn't making it any easier for most people. Whether you are more stressed by politics, the environment, your relationships, your job, major life changes, or simply the daily task of keeping food on the table, it is easy to let life knock you down and it is hard to get back up again. This book offers you a chance at a different way of life. It shows you how to accept life as it is, regard the events of each day with nonjudgmental awareness, and stop obsessive thoughts from compounding your feelings of helplessness and frustration. The first part of the book introduces you to the basics of neural network learning theory. The basic idea is that neural pathways strengthen with use and weaken with disuse. While certain events are likely to provoke a hardwired neural response in us, we are capable of creating new neural paths with no more than a thought. Instead of letting automatic triggers dictate our responses to painful events, we can use this characteristic of our nervous systems to short-circuit the responses that lead to painful thoughts and emotions. THIS IS PORTABLE THERAPY! The first part of the book introduces you to the basics of neural network learning theory. The basic idea is that neural pathways --- the chains of brain cells, or neurons, that generate our every thought, word, action, and emotion --- strengthen with use and weaken with disuse. While certain events are likely to provoke a hardwired neural response in us, we are capable of creating new neural paths with no more than a thought. Instead of letting automatic triggers dictate our responses to painful events, we can use this characteristic of our nervous systems to short-circuit the responses that lead to painful thoughts and emotions. The second part teaches you five easy-to learn skills for dealing with stress --- breath counting, thought watching, compassionate awareness, softening to pain, and wise mind. Together, they make up a set of skills that you can take anywhere, a kind of portable therapy. READER REVIEWS = [1] I don't usually read self-help books. My girlfriends give them to me (implying there is something seriously wrong with me) and I read them out of respect. I find the area sometimes interesting but rarely useful. The problem, as I see it with most of these books, is that either they are so academic that you can't apply what you learn to your own life, or they are so filled with stories about "people just like you" that you spend most of your time self-diagnosing from someone else's life. Neural Path Therapy goes straight to the issues: it is one of the few therapy books that provides a useful and practical plan for the stresses in life that often overwhelm us. This is a book you can use. [2] Neural Path Therapy begins by explaining how our sometimes puzzling brains work, on a neurological level. When we think, when we respond to outside stimuli, we develop neural pathways: neurological routings in our brain for all those thoughts. I tried to think of this as if the brain was setting up it own postal delivery system. The thoughts/emotions had to be driven from point A to point B for delivery. The more you drive from A to B the deeper the ruts in the road get. But what if the "package" being delivered is the equivalent of a letter bomb? How many of our thoughts are unwanted: stressful thoughts, angry thoughts, depressive, disturbing thoughts, thoughts of self-doubt or ugly self-image thoughts - thoughts that undermine who you are and what you achieve. How do we stop the delivery of negative thoughts - how do we get out of those ruts we've created? The authors McKay and Harp don't try to steal you away from other methods of professional therapy or treatment you might be following, they just want to supply you with a simple, readily available tool to manage these thoughts. [3] The authors first help you become aware of the thoughts that act as "triggers" to emotional discomfort; they encourage you to recognize the mental pathways that engender self-destructive thinking. Through simple breathing exercises you are taught to step back and observe these thoughts, to see them as "mental objects" which are within your ability to manipulate. Then you choose how to react to these thoughts. As simple as this sounds, it is extremely effective. While the book goes into greater depth later about how to "react" when you are examining these thoughts, just getting to the point where I can see my anger, or pain, or angst as only a damaging "object" inside my mind has been extraordinarily helpful to me. The system McKay and Harp have provided in their book expects only that it be applied --- like any good methodology --- it requires practice. I can't recommend this book strongly enough. Instantly return to: LIST OF BRAIN BOOKS