Contemporary Psychology – serie

The increased bombardment of information on the world's dangers, from imminent disasters to terror and wars reported in the media, make us particularly vulnerable to stress and feelings of helplessness. This volume is unique in describing how to promote resilience in different groups, under different circumstances, and dealing with different adversities.Resilience is the human capacity to deal with stress, adversities, and threats—and somehow emerge stronger. Today, the increased bombardment of information on the world's dangers, from imminent disasters to terror and wars reported in the media, make us particularly vulnerable to stress and feelings of helplessness. This volume is unique in describing how to promote resilience in different groups, under different circumstances, and dealing with different adversities. The contributors—psychologists, medical doctors, teachers and physical therapists among them—show how we can learn to draw on supports, build inner strength, and acquire interpersonal and problem-solving skills to deal with adversity.This volume will be useful for parents, service providers, researchers, policymakers, curriculum writers, and program developers. Research findings are applied to actions and policies so that the knowledge can be used in everyday life. Topics addressed include a basic understanding of resilience, resilience in families, the role of schools in resilience, and resilience for those needing health care. The text includes a discussion of the concern that too many children are protected from adversity, are unprepared to face future stressors, and become overly dependent upon others.

Lyons provides a fresh and thought-provoking understanding of the children's public mental health system, as well as the need to foster its evolution and improvement. He presents the history of child mental health systems, including the U.S. system's roots and the early 19th-century case of the Wild Boy of Aveyron, which demonstrated the potentially therapeutic effects of environment. He shows us why modern leaders and presidents have issued calls for improvements to the U.S. child mental health system, and what barriers have slowed or even halted this evolution. Such barriers, Lyons explains, can be removed with community development and better clinical outcomes management.In addition to providing information for parents, family members, and advocates for improving the lives of children needing mental health care, this work will also interest clinicians, policy makers and students in social work, clinical psychiatry, public health and public policy.

Depression is commonly thought of as a biological disorder best treated with antidepressant medications. Pharmaceutical companies and many experts promote this view as established in scientific fact. Here, Leventhal and Martell argue that there is scant actual scientific evidence for this view, and that the issue is open to considerable question. They maintain that there is very little known—they call the evidence woefully weak—regarding the role of biology in depression. Marketing by drug producers has not only led the public to accept dubious claims and over-value antidepressants, but has also led medical doctors to prescribe them excessively. Leventhal and Martell argue that the effectiveness of psychological therapy has strong scientific support in the treatment of anxiety and depression, and it is safer and results in less frequent relapse. This book will help consumers decide which treatment is best for them. It includes a list of questions to ask before accepting a prescription for antidepressant medication.Readers will find this book helpful in understanding the controversy surrounding the widespread prescription and use of antidepressants. It traces the history and science behind the pharmaceutical treatment of depression, and it presents, in accessible language, information that will empower readers to make the best choices possible regarding the treatment of their own or their loved ones' feelings of depression and anxiety. The audience for this book includes those who are depressed and considering professional help, those concerned about health care and the services offered in the mental health field, and doctors or mental health professionals who may wish to reconsider the basis for treatments they are recommending to patients. Students and scholars in psychology, clinical psychology, public health, social work, and psychiatry will also find this of interest.

Israelis and Palestinians have been caught in what seems a forever war with routine terror in the promised land for more than 100 years. This book is the first to bring together commentary and anguished personal insights from people on both sides of the battle. Readers get a personal look at—and a clearer, more nuanced understanding of—the psychological trauma that is common for men, women and children there. Psychologists in the regions, as well as scholars from across disciplines, tell their personal stories, interwoven with academic reflections on important issues fueling the conflict such as humiliation, revenge, hate, and the need for a homeland and identity.Readers are brought face-to-face with controversial issues, like the psychological impact of Israel's Separation Wall, and unique perspectives, including the stories of eight Palestinian female martyrs, the insights of a young student helping to save blasted bodies after the bombing of a bus, the compassion of a Jewish doctor treating suicide bombers, the thinking of a Jidhadist woman raised to hate Jews but now working for peace with Israelis, and a doctor bringing together Palestinians and Israelis using meditation to find peace.

When the statue of Saddam Hussein fell and Iraqis danced on the body, hitting it with their shoes, there was joy. Moments later, when an American soldier climbed the statue to place an American flag on the face, there was a national gasp, a moment of humiliation for the Iraqis. Americans had claimed to be liberating them, but the placing of the American flag was a sign of conquest. The flag was quickly removed and replaced with an Iraqi flag, but those tense moments were a brief example of the power and potentially far-reaching, volatile effects of humiliating acts, even when unintentional. In this fascinating work, Dr. Linder examines and explains, across history and nations, how this little-understood, often-overlooked emotion sparks outrage, uprisings, conflict and war.With the insights of a seasoned psychologist and peace scholar, the analytical skill of a linguist who speaks seven languages, and the scholarship of a Columbia University professor, Lindner explains which words and actions can humiliate, how the victim perceives those words and actions, what the consequences have been, and how individuals and organizations can work to avoid instances in the future. From acts of humiliation in Nazi Germany to intentional humiliations such as those at Abu Graib, from events during the bloodbaths in Rwanda and Somalia, to precursors to the attacks on the Twin Towers in New York, Lindner offers vivid examples to explain how humiliation can be at the core of international conflict.

The authors explain how and why we must understand the conditions that spur youths to become martyrs by making them think suicide bombings and other acts of self-destructive terrorism are a good way to die. LoCicero and Sinclair present cutting-edge research and theory about the political, social, and living conditions that raise the risk of children deciding to join organizations that use terrorist tactics, and, having joined, to volunteer for missions in which they intentionally die while causing death and destruction, in order to make an impact. Equally important, LoCicero and Sinclair offer concrete suggestions about how ordinary Americans can help reduce and prevent terrorism around the globe.

In the midst of ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict, civil war, and political discord, courageous civilians from both sides are working together toward mutual understanding and peace. In 40 captivating chapters, experts tell intriguing personal stories, interwoven with psychosocial models and principles, describing how people living in hostile cultures can establish harmony. We come to know established programs like Seeds of Peace and Search for Common Ground, as well as lesser-heralded, yet valiant efforts by children and adults of the region. This hope-filled work will be of interest to everyone who cares about peace, as well as to professionals and students in the social sciences, psychology, international relations, public policy, human rights, and cross-cultural studies.In the midst of ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict, civil war, and political discord, courageous civilians from both sides are working together toward mutual understanding and peace. Israeli Jews and Arabs, and Palestinian Muslims and Christians, young and old, men and women, are cooperating in grassroots people-to-people projects, developing educational programs and creating activities to bridge their differences. Beyond Bullets and Bombs showcases such impressive and important projects that deserve more support and world attention. In 40 captivating chapters, experts tell intriguing personal stories interwoven with psychosocial models and principles proving how people living in hostile cultures can establish peace.This collection is the perfect companion to Kuriansky's earlier book, Terror in the Holy Land: Inside the Anguish of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict, an unprecedented work that presents more than 30 chapters written by Israelis, Palestinians, and psychological experts on the underpinnings and effects of the conflict. In the volume at hand, we come to know established programs like Seeds of Peace and Search for Common Ground, as well as lesser-heralded, yet valiant efforts by children and adults of the region working together for peace. Both volumes will be of interest to everyone who cares about peace, as well as to professionals and students in the social sciences, psychology, international relations, public policy, human rights, and cross-cultural studies.

In the midst of ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict, civil war, and political discord, courageous civilians from both sides are working together toward mutual understanding and peace. In 40 captivating chapters, experts tell intriguing personal stories, interwoven with psychosocial models and principles, describing how people living in hostile cultures can establish harmony. We come to know established programs like Seeds of Peace and Search for Common Ground, as well as lesser-heralded, yet valiant efforts by children and adults of the region. This hope-filled work will be of interest to everyone who cares about peace, as well as to professionals and students in the social sciences, psychology, international relations, public policy, human rights, and cross-cultural studies.In the midst of ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict, civil war, and political discord, courageous civilians from both sides are working together toward mutual understanding and peace. Israeli Jews and Arabs, and Palestinian Muslims and Christians, young and old, men and women, are cooperating in grassroots people-to-people projects, developing educational programs and creating activities to bridge their differences. Beyond Bullets and Bombs showcases such impressive and important projects that deserve more support and world attention. In 40 captivating chapters, experts tell intriguing personal stories interwoven with psychosocial models and principles proving how people living in hostile cultures can establish peace.This collection is the perfect companion to Kuriansky's earlier book, Terror in the Holy Land: Inside the Anguish of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict, an unprecedented work that presents more than 30 chapters written by Israelis, Palestinians, and psychological experts on the underpinnings and effects of the conflict. In the volume at hand, we come to know established programs like Seeds of Peace and Search for Common Ground, as well as lesser-heralded, yet valiant efforts by children and adults of the region working together for peace. Both volumes will be of interest to everyone who cares about peace, as well as to professionals and students in the social sciences, psychology, international relations, public policy, human rights, and cross-cultural studies.

Leaders of all kinds, in all fields, need to be methodical and logical, but also strategic, innovative, and intuitive. Yet the two different styles require different modes of thinking, or what author Mary Lou Décosterd describes as shifts to right brain, or left brain, thinking. Those who operate in what she explains as the left brain mode develop strong logical, rational, and analytical abilities, but they may downplay the value of right brain thinking, which spurs intuition, subjectivity, and creativity. And those who operate primarily in the latter mode lose the value of the former. A leader who is habitually a right-brainer sees only the big picture, rather than its parts, is creative but not usually analytical, is an emotional far more than logical. So who is more effective? Veteran consultant Décosterd shows how those with maximum success are leaders who understand both styles and have the ability to switch between the two at certain key moments to broaden their overall effectiveness.In the language of leadership, this pragmatic guide provides an all-encompassing view of how to maximize brain power and get to next-level leadership impact. Through case examples, simple assessment and unique learning tools, this book takes the reader through a new process for examining his or her current leadership style and skill sets, and framing a plan for greater success. Décosterd explains how, through use of popular leader exemplars, leadership examples and concise steps and summaries, every person can, at virtually any stage of personal and professional accomplishment, become a more consummate leader.

The mourning of a parent's death can take many years—for some it may take a lifetime. The first year of separation, however, is often the most difficult and heart wrenching. The first birthday, holiday, spring, summer, autumn, and winter spent without the loved one often revives or increases the pain. This unique guide is organized according to a timeline of a child's first year of mourning the loss of a parent. It is a warm, insightful, yet practical guide to help the families and community members surrounding a child who has suffered such a loss to anticipate and cope with the many difficulties that arise. Practical suggestions for providing comfort, information, and advice are provided for adults struggling to help children endure the trauma. A range of difficult situations that bereaved children encounter are identified, helping to prepare adults for a child's potential reactions and providing them with realistic coping strategies.Lewis and Lippman, child psychologists who have provided therapy to children who have lost a parent, suggest answers to questions that these children frequently ask. They offer methods for dealing with particularly difficult times such as birthdays, and share practical advice for everyday situations and events. They begin with helping the child through anticipation of death, if it is expected, or through the initial shock of unexpected death. Poignant vignettes from the therapists' experience dealing with young and older children are included.

These volumes by a team of internationally recognized experts reflect and highlight both recognized and under-recognized events that cause trauma. They also examine current and emerging research on effective interventions to minimize and heal the effects of the trauma. Special attention is also given to culture and context, because what is considered healthy or problematic may vary widely across cultures, and culture can influence people's coping styles. Sources of trauma discussed include stalking, killing, terrorism, torture, kidnap, workplace violence, domestic violence, children and war, fires, floods, AIDS, pain, burns, spinal cord injury, children and medical illness, homelessness, and more. Case examples, treatment recommendations, and public policy recommendations are included in each of the chapters.The growing field of trauma psychology has been spurred recently by natural events from Hurricane Katrina to the Tsunami, and by terrorist events worldwide, as well as chronic health and social issues—from persistent pain to homelessness—that are mounting. The experts offer a gripping overview of the most traumatic and widespread events causing trauma and of the symptoms and health impairment that may result. Most important, they explain how we can best recognize, understand, and treat the sufferers and develop intervention policies.

Color-coded terrorism alerts are issued, then lifted with no explanation. False alarms can, like crying wolf, desensitize people to a real need to be on alert. And that psychic numbing is just one effect discussed in this book by fifteen psychologists teamed up to take a critical look at the U.S. war on terrorism. These experts are led by the Chairman of an American Psychological Association task force charged with pinpointing the effect of our anti-terrorism efforts on American mental health. Together, they present the most up-to-date and intriguing picture we have of the fallout on our own people from our own programs. The text spotlights stereotyping of foreigners, increased domestic hate crimes, fear, depression and helplessness, as well as increased militancy and belligerence, especially among students. Perhaps most disturbing in the land of the free, we also see increasing acceptance of restrictions on our personal freedoms, and acceptance of human rights violations.Color-coded terrorism alerts are issued, then lifted with no explanation. False alarms can, like crying wolf, desensitize people to a real need to be on alert. And that psychic numbing is just one effect discussed in this book by fifteen psychologists teamed up for a critical look at the U.S. war on terrorism. These experts are led by the Chairman of the American Psychological Association task force charged with pinpointing the effect of our anti-terrorism efforts on America's mental health. Together, they present the most up-to-date and intriguing picture we have of the fallout on our own people from our own programs. The text spotlights fueled stereotyping of foreigners, increased domestic hate crimes, fear, depression and helplessness, as well as increasing militancy and belligerence, especially among students. Perhaps most disturbing in the land of the free, our attention is drawn to growing acceptance of restrictions on our personal freedoms, and acceptance of human rights violations.Contributors to this collection aim to give us a reality check, looking at what our national reactions to terrorism have been, how those reactions have affected the psyche of our people and whether this has made us stronger or weaker, and more or less likely to be the target for future attacks.

The increased bombardment of information on the world's dangers, from imminent disasters to terror and wars reported in the media, make us particularly vulnerable to stress and feelings of helplessness. This volume is unique in describing how to promote resilience in different groups, under different circumstances, and dealing with different adversities.Resilience is the human capacity to deal with stress, adversities, and threats—and somehow emerge stronger. Today, the increased bombardment of information on the world's dangers, from imminent disasters to terror and wars reported in the media, make us particularly vulnerable to stress and feelings of helplessness. This volume is unique in describing how to promote resilience in different groups, under different circumstances, and dealing with different adversities. The contributors—psychologists, medical doctors, teachers and physical therapists among them—show how we can learn to draw on supports, build inner strength, and acquire interpersonal and problem-solving skills to deal with adversity.This volume will be useful for parents, service providers, researchers, policymakers, curriculum writers, and program developers. Research findings are applied to actions and policies so that the knowledge can be used in everyday life. Topics addressed include a basic understanding of resilience, resilience in families, the role of schools in resilience, and resilience for those needing health care. The text includes a discussion of the concern that too many children are protected from adversity, are unprepared to face future stressors, and become overly dependent upon others.

Lyons provides a fresh and thought-provoking understanding of the children's public mental health system, as well as the need to foster its evolution and improvement. He presents the history of child mental health systems, including the U.S. system's roots and the early 19th-century case of the Wild Boy of Aveyron, which demonstrated the potentially therapeutic effects of environment. He shows us why modern leaders and presidents have issued calls for improvements to the U.S. child mental health system, and what barriers have slowed or even halted this evolution. Such barriers, Lyons explains, can be removed with community development and better clinical outcomes management.In addition to providing information for parents, family members, and advocates for improving the lives of children needing mental health care, this work will also interest clinicians, policy makers and students in social work, clinical psychiatry, public health and public policy.

Easily the most thorough treatment of terrorism's complexities on the market today is how one reviewer described the set from which this single volume is drawn: the 4-volume Psychology of Terrorism. Here, Editor Chris E. Stout presents seven classic chapters from across that multivolume set, which brought together experts from around the world in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. Stout includes a new introduction with this condensed version, along with appendices that will enable lay readers and professionals to recognize and treat symptoms of biological attack, take basic steps to prepare for terrorist incidents, and find resources for more information.

For good reasons, Americans are growing concerned about the cost of health care and housing. There are many reasons why people need care-the addiction of a teenage child or spouse, an elderly relative in need of nursing home care, a psychological disorder, or a chronic medical condition—but even moderately successful institutional solutions for these problems are often too costly to be truly helpful. The cost of healthcare is so high it can result in homelessness. Leonard Jason and Martin Perdoux show us a relatively low-cost and effective solution growing in neighborhoods across the country: true community. People are moving in together to meet each other's needs and, in the process, create a much higher quality of life than they would find in an institution. People living together in these healing communities include the elderly, recovering alcoholics and drug addicts, and people suffering from mental illness, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, AIDS, or Multiple Chemical Sensitivity. These communities offer them a way to recover the caring, structure, direction, and respect that a strong family can provide. The authors of this work show us how communities created out of necessity by their members constitute a more sustained, natural means to healing.In his foreword, Thomas Moore points out that the communities described in this book are not only physical homes, but also shelters for the soul, places to find the deepest kind of security. Here you will see concrete ways imaginative leaders help those in trouble find themselves rather than become dependent on institutions. It is a new and promising imagination of how social healing works: not by setting up more programs, but by treating people in trouble as human beings, with certain emotional and social needs. This book teaches how to re-imagine this whole process, and now, in an increasingly technical and lonely world, we need this precious wisdom more than ever.

Israelis and Palestinians have been caught in what seems a forever war with routine terror in the promised land for more than 100 years. This book is the first to bring together commentary and anguished personal insights from people on both sides of the battle. Readers get a personal look at—and a clearer, more nuanced understanding of—the psychological trauma that is common for men, women and children there. Psychologists in the regions, as well as scholars from across disciplines, tell their personal stories, interwoven with academic reflections on important issues fueling the conflict such as humiliation, revenge, hate, and the need for a homeland and identity.Readers are brought face-to-face with controversial issues, like the psychological impact of Israel's Separation Wall, and unique perspectives, including the stories of eight Palestinian female martyrs, the insights of a young student helping to save blasted bodies after the bombing of a bus, the compassion of a Jewish doctor treating suicide bombers, the thinking of a Jidhadist woman raised to hate Jews but now working for peace with Israelis, and a doctor bringing together Palestinians and Israelis using meditation to find peace.

When the statue of Saddam Hussein fell and Iraqis danced on the body, hitting it with their shoes, there was joy. Moments later, when an American soldier climbed the statue to place an American flag on the face, there was a national gasp, a moment of humiliation for the Iraqis. Americans had claimed to be liberating them, but the placing of the American flag was a sign of conquest. The flag was quickly removed and replaced with an Iraqi flag, but those tense moments were a brief example of the power and potentially far-reaching, volatile effects of humiliating acts, even when unintentional. In this fascinating work, Dr. Linder examines and explains, across history and nations, how this little-understood, often-overlooked emotion sparks outrage, uprisings, conflict and war.With the insights of a seasoned psychologist and peace scholar, the analytical skill of a linguist who speaks seven languages, and the scholarship of a Columbia University professor, Lindner explains which words and actions can humiliate, how the victim perceives those words and actions, what the consequences have been, and how individuals and organizations can work to avoid instances in the future. From acts of humiliation in Nazi Germany to intentional humiliations such as those at Abu Graib, from events during the bloodbaths in Rwanda and Somalia, to precursors to the attacks on the Twin Towers in New York, Lindner offers vivid examples to explain how humiliation can be at the core of international conflict.

Martyrdom is a controversial and disputed concept. Just as religion is often hijacked by politics, martyrdom is frequently ascribed to a narrow, partisan, and parochial foundation. This is the first book to present varied views on the topic of martyrdom, reaching beyond cliches and simplistic explanations to provoke deep consideration of the essential nature of human beings and society. The volume's authors—experts in the disciplines of psychology, theology, and politics—examine martyrdom in thoughtful and thought-provoking chapters. A closing conversation between the authors is designed to inspire further discourse and debate.Readers engaged in the exploration of social justice, conflict, psychology, religion, and the politics of memory will find this book unique and stimulating. The authors have appeared on public television and public radio, as well as ABC, CBS, and NBC news and discussion programs.

An award-winning author and transdisciplinary social scientist offers a must-read guide to paradigm change for creating a socially and ecologically sustainable future.Gender, Humiliation, and Global Security: Dignifying Relationships from Love, Sex, and Parenthood to World Affairs aims at outlining the kind of change that needs to be made if we wish to create a less crisis-prone world. This audacious work describes a vision for an alternative future, showing how new approaches to love can dignify gender relations, sex, parenthood, and leadership, and how they can guide us to a world where all citizens can live dignified lives. The book is organized in three parts. Part I, "Gender, Humiliation, and Lack of Security in Times of Transition," examines the nature of humiliation and how love and humiliation are influenced by large-scale, historical transitions such as globalization. Part II, "Gender, Humiliation, and Lack of Security in the World Today," looks at love, sex, parenthood, and leadership and how they can be dignified. Part III, "Global Security through Love and Humility in the Future," explores how love can be used to inspire psychological, social, cultural, and political strategies and to stimulate global, systemic change.

Emotional Exorcism: Expelling the Four Psychological Demons That Make Us Backslide offers a powerful, research-grounded model and tools to help us overcome our problems without beating up on ourselves for backsliding to negative habits.Dr. Holly Hunt's groundbreaking work, Emotional Exorcism, offers all those in emotional distress a new way to face one's demons and banish them once and for all. For anyone unable to pull themselves out of sadness, anxiety, anger, or addictive behaviors, it is a potent and practical strategy for expelling psychological demons and stopping the feeling of failure.Drawing on years of experience in private practice with clients of all backgrounds, Dr. Hunt shows how earlier life experiences can create a core of negative belief she calls the "Master Demon," as well as self-sabotaging thoughts and behavior patterns called the "Four Soldier Demons." These generate emotional negativity within us, providing a power source for the demons. Dr. Hunt then provides a practical, user-friendly, research-grounded model to change those self-sabotaging thoughts, behaviors, and feelings without the self-defeating burden of battling ourselves. Through a variety of tools, she empowers readers to separate from, stop feeding, and effectively exorcize our psychological demons.

Emotional Exorcism: Expelling the Four Psychological Demons That Make Us Backslide offers a powerful, research-grounded model and tools to help us overcome our problems without beating up on ourselves for backsliding to negative habits.Dr. Holly Hunt''s groundbreaking work, Emotional Exorcism, offers all those in emotional distress a new way to face one''s demons and banish them once and for all. For anyone unable to pull themselves out of sadness, anxiety, anger, or addictive behaviors, it is a potent and practical strategy for expelling psychological demons and stopping the feeling of failure.Drawing on years of experience in private practice with clients of all backgrounds, Dr. Hunt shows how earlier life experiences can create a core of negative belief she calls the "Master Demon," as well as self-sabotaging thoughts and behavior patterns called the "Four Soldier Demons." These generate emotional negativity within us, providing a power source for the demons. Dr. Hunt then provides a practical, user-friendly, research-grounded model to change those self-sabotaging thoughts, behaviors, and feelings without the self-defeating burden of battling ourselves. Through a variety of tools, she empowers readers to separate from, stop feeding, and effectively exorcize our psychological demons.

The mourning of a parent's death can take many years—for some it may take a lifetime. The first year of separation, however, is often the most difficult and heart wrenching. The first birthday, holiday, spring, summer, autumn, and winter spent without the loved one often revives or increases the pain. This unique guide is organized according to a timeline of a child's first year of mourning the loss of a parent. It is a warm, insightful, yet practical guide to help the families and community members surrounding a child who has suffered such a loss to anticipate and cope with the many difficulties that arise. Practical suggestions for providing comfort, information, and advice are provided for adults struggling to help children endure the trauma. A range of difficult situations that bereaved children encounter are identified, helping to prepare adults for a child's potential reactions and providing them with realistic coping strategies.Lewis and Lippman, child psychologists who have provided therapy to children who have lost a parent, suggest answers to questions that these children frequently ask. They offer methods for dealing with particularly difficult times such as birthdays, and share practical advice for everyday situations and events. They begin with helping the child through anticipation of death, if it is expected, or through the initial shock of unexpected death. Poignant vignettes from the therapists' experience dealing with young and older children are included.

This three-volume anthology is a comprehensive overview of how the human yearning for peace has played out, and is playing out, on this planet.Peace Movements Worldwide is quite simply the most comprehensive work of its kind on this important subject. In its three volumes, experts document the history and growth of the peace movement, why it is important, who gets involved, and how it can succeed.Organized by major themes and issues, the work examines every facet of human striving for peace, from the global to the personal. The first volume, History and Vitality of Peace Movements, explores the meaning of peace—its historical, philosophical, and biological foundations and related spiritual, gender, social, and economic viewpoints. The second volume, Players and Practices in Resistance to War, discusses control over weapons, efforts to prevent and end violent conflict, and efforts to heal the traumatic aftereffects of violence. The third volume, Peace Efforts That Work and Why, looks at how mankind can build a new world order by building communities with a sustainable culture of peace.

A social scientist with global affiliations, among others with Columbia University in New York, University of Oslo in Norway, and La Maison des Sciences de l'Homme in Paris, Lindner takes us across history and into nations worldwide to show how emotion spurs hierarchies of domination and therefore causes subjugation, human rights violations, abuse, conflict, and fighting. She spotlights results ranging from the binding and subsequent deforming of Chinese women's feet, to periods of slavery, bondage, feudalism, apartheid, and other events across time. Related actions from political domination internationally, to spousal or child abuse on the homefront are addressed. Lindner looks at how widely divergent societies—from the Japan of Samurais to the Meso America of Aztecs, up to the modern Iraq at war—are driven by hierarchies of emotionally-fueled control with rigid domination. Combining classic literature with emerging research, Lindner explains how similar dynamics are at work also in contemporary societies of the West, albeit more covert. What is still lacking, almost everywhere, is access to the full range of our emotions, together with the skills to regulate these emotions so that they become a liberating force in our lives, play a constructive role for productive, fair, and so-called "good conflict," and inform our institution building. Lindner concludes her book by laying out a road map for how to reduce domination and increase human dignity, both in our lives and in the world, by using the power of emotion to implement global systemic change.

A social scientist with global affiliations, among others with Columbia University in New York, University of Oslo in Norway, and La Maison des Sciences de l'Homme in Paris, Lindner takes us across history and into nations worldwide to show how emotion spurs hierarchies of domination and therefore causes subjugation, human rights violations, abuse, conflict, and fighting. She spotlights results ranging from the binding and subsequent deforming of Chinese women's feet, to periods of slavery, bondage, feudalism, apartheid, and other events across time. Related actions from political domination internationally, to spousal or child abuse on the homefront are addressed. Lindner looks at how widely divergent societies—from the Japan of Samurais to the Meso America of Aztecs, up to the modern Iraq at war—are driven by hierarchies of emotionally-fueled control with rigid domination. Combining classic literature with emerging research, Lindner explains how similar dynamics are at work also in contemporary societies of the West, albeit more covert. What is still lacking, almost everywhere, is access to the full range of our emotions, together with the skills to regulate these emotions so that they become a liberating force in our lives, play a constructive role for productive, fair, and so-called "good conflict," and inform our institution building. Lindner concludes her book by laying out a road map for how to reduce domination and increase human dignity, both in our lives and in the world, by using the power of emotion to implement global systemic change.

This intriguing analysis examines an aspect of President Obama that falls outside of his ethnic background, his political career, or policies: how his unique leadership style comes from his extraordinary ability to use both halves of his brain to maximum potential.Right Brain/Left Brain President: Barack Obama's Uncommon Leadership Ability and How We Can Each Develop It is an inspirational guide to leadership as it should be practiced, conveyed through an up-close look at the man who sets the new leadership bar. Author Mary Lou Décosterd uses her Right Brain/Left Brain Leadership Model to frame Barack Obama's leadership skill sets. Her book shows that Obama's unique brand of leadership is the result of his extraordinary ability to leverage full-brain potential in the ways he thinks, decides, and acts. Right Brain/Left Brain President examines Obama's life and the Obama phenomenon, analyzing how he rose to prominence so quickly and what that teaches us. The president is used as an example of the ten full-spectrum behaviors—the must-have leadership skills—that make one an extraordinary leader. To help readers emulate the Obama model and become the most consummate leaders possible, Décosterd discusses how each of us can learn to lead from both right and left brain abilities.

This thought-provoking work examines the traits and stories of influential women throughout history to the present day in order to make the case that women continue to evolve leadership practices for the better.How Women Are Transforming Leadership: Four Key Traits Powering Success delves into the precise skills, characteristics, social programming, and biological designs that make women leadership naturals. Distinguished leadership author Mary Lou Décosterd identifies four key traits that enable women to excel in even the most challenging of leadership roles, and offers detailed tools and techniques for all leaders—men and women alike—to hone these same traits in themselves.This book explores the idea that a specific set of feminine engendered skills—intuitive orientation, directive force, empowering intent, and assimilative nature—creates leaders with the greater breadth and depth of skills needed for our complex, global, and virtual times. With more than 100 of the world's most powerful women cited, readers will learn precisely what enabled these women to become major players on the world's stage. Interviews with four leadership development experts add power to the book's voice and message.

This thought-provoking work examines the traits and stories of influential women throughout history to the present day in order to make the case that women continue to evolve leadership practices for the better.How Women Are Transforming Leadership: Four Key Traits Powering Success delves into the precise skills, characteristics, social programming, and biological designs that make women leadership naturals. Distinguished leadership author Mary Lou Décosterd identifies four key traits that enable women to excel in even the most challenging of leadership roles, and offers detailed tools and techniques for all leaders—men and women alike—to hone these same traits in themselves.This book explores the idea that a specific set of feminine engendered skills—intuitive orientation, directive force, empowering intent, and assimilative nature—creates leaders with the greater breadth and depth of skills needed for our complex, global, and virtual times. With more than 100 of the world's most powerful women cited, readers will learn precisely what enabled these women to become major players on the world's stage. Interviews with four leadership development experts add power to the book's voice and message.