GETTING UNSTUCK by Don Kerson

Publisher: Greenpoint Psychiatric Press
Date published: December 2011
ISBN: 978-0976986720
Non-fiction
Ebook
Obtained via: Publisher/Netgalley
Reviewed by Gina


When we least expect it life can take what seems to be a sudden downturn. We know what we need to do but just can’t get it together to do it. We don’t have the energy, ambition or motivation to get up and get going again. Despite how active our minds might be, our bodies just will not get in gear.

In his book GETTING UNSTUCK, Dr. Don Kerson looks at some of the elements that may be getting in our way. These are often events or conditions that we have no control over without assistance such as attention deficit disorder (ADD), depression and/or trauma. With combinations of medication, therapy and controlled/intentional cognitive changes these roadblocks to completing projects in our lives can be taken down.

GETTING UNSTUCK is an excellent resource and tool for clinicians but it is definitely not a self-help book. While self-identification of some blocks we encounter that get us stuck can be gleaned from the book, having a trained therapist working through the phases with you is decidedly the better way to go. If I didn’t have a background as a therapist I would not have understood some of the materials presented in the book and definitely would not allow a lay person to undertake some of the techniques without assistance.

The author describes how ADD and depression can often go hand in hand and how trauma can cause flare-ups of both. Unworked through trauma from childhood can fester and strike us when we least expect—or need it—as an adult.

What the author does not address is that there does need to be some motivation on the part of the patient or client to begin to work through those issues. My own experience is that a good number of people in that stuck place are content where they are. They see no reason for living their lives and talking about events that happened 10, 20, 30 or more years ago as if they happened yesterday.

I would recommend anyone with a clinical therapy practice to add this book to their library.

THIS IS NOT AN ENDORSEMENT OF THIS BOOK. THIS IS AN OBJECTIVE UNBIASED REVIEW