Henry Emmons

With the Chemistry of Calm by Dr. Henry Emmons, we are introduced to holistic methods to treat anxiety and stress disorders. It isn’t necessarily the case that he frowns upon medication or its use, Dr. Emmons seems to want to use a different approach. This I can understand. A lot of medications and drugs used to treat anxiety and stress might do more harm than good. If I can fix something by changing my diet it might be easier than having to go through the side effects of certain drugs. Also, a lot of Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors are somewhat expensive and could cause more damage in the case of weight gain and cooling the libido. These may not be all that pleasant to deal with.

This is more of a giant lifestyle adjustment than anything else. Emmons recommends a certain diet and exercise to help deal with stress and anxiety along with mindfulness or other types of meditative practices for the spirit. I find it somewhat hokey I suppose, but if it works then why not. I have a certain strange fondness for Western Style medicine since Eastern Medicine seems to focus on Chakras and other things that can’t really be measured. I probably just haven’t found anything to demonstrate it properly or something along those lines.

Finally, this book isn’t really what I expected. More than a lifestyle-changing program to improve resilience against anxiety and stress, I thought this book was going to be on how the brain experiences stress and anxiety. I took it out of the library so it isn’t like I sunk any money into this, but it is somewhat disappointing all the same. While the book does have a section that explores what neurotransmitters and other things do in the brain and how to improve brain chemistry in some ways, it wasn’t really what I wanted.… (plus d'informations)

This book has some very good information. The explanations of brain chemistry are clear without being too oversimplified. I don't know enough about Ayerveda to have a feel for the accuracy of that section but it, too, was clear and interesting. The section on Buddhism seemed grossly oversimplified, but given that it's more aimed an an audience that has no familiarity with it, that's probably a wise choice. The frequent use of example cases helps make the information and suggestions very real and more understandable.

But, I have some problems with this particular work. My biggest problem is the overall condescending tone. Everything presented in the book in some way belongs to the author (I advise my patient's to) and if the reader would just do what the benevolent doctor says, all will be well and you'll loose weight. Even if he's right, he doesn't have to be a dick about it.

Which leads me to another problem - pervasive fat phobia. Almost every female example in the book gained weight with the onset of mental ill health, and lost some or all of it once she obeyed the doctor's suggestions. The entire book carries an undertone of blaming the patient, but overweight carries an overt, finger-wagging disapproval. It's not that he's saying overweight people are evil - but the author seems to think it's more okay to blame an overweight person for their mental health problems, which makes it harder for me to take him seriously.

I found the book often repeated itself. It didn't actually plagiarize itself, but similar information would be repeated over and over. In the first section, the author alternately suggested supplements to help brain chemistry imbalances, and insisted that the reader should work with a professional before taking supplements. The combination of repetition and conflicting messages made the first section a bit eye-crossing to read.

And, finally, the information was generally presented as somehow belonging to the author. Sorry, but Buddhist meditation techniques have existed must longer that this book. Yes, it's a nit I'm picking - his wording for a guided meditation is, in some fashion, his, even if the idea for it has existed for 1000 years. However, it annoyed me to no end.

So, the content is solid, but the presentation grated on me. I'd love to find a similar book with a different tone/feel.… (plus d'informations)