Guy Winch

Imagine if we treated broken hearts with the same respect and concern we have for broken arms? Psychologist Guy Winch urges us to rethink the way we deal with emotional pain, offering warm, wise, and witty advice for the broken-hearted.Real heartbreak is unmistakable. We think of nothing else. We feel nothing else. We care about nothing else. Yet while we wouldn’t expect someone to return to daily activities immediately after suffering a broken limb, heartbroken people are expected to function normally in their lives, despite the emotional pain they feel. Now psychologist Guy Winch imagines how different things would be if we paid more attention to this unique emotion—if only we can understand how heartbreak works, we can begin to fix it.Through compelling research and new scientific studies, Winch reveals how and why heartbreak impacts our brain and our behavior in dramatic and unexpected ways, regardless of our age. Emotional pain lowers our ability to reason, to think creatively, to problem solve, and to function at our best. In How to Fix a Broken Heart he focuses on two types of emotional pain—romantic heartbreak and the heartbreak that results from the loss of a cherished pet. These experiences are both accompanied by severe grief responses, yet they are not deemed as important as, for example, a formal divorce or the loss of a close relative. As a result, we are often deprived of the recognition, support, and compassion afforded to those whose heartbreak is considered more significant.Our heart might be broken, but we do not have to break with it. Winch reveals that recovering from heartbreak always starts with a decision, a determination to move on when our mind is fighting to keep us stuck. We can take control of our lives and our minds and put ourselves on the path to healing. Winch offers a toolkit on how to handle and cope with a broken heart and how to, eventually, move on.

First aid for failure Although we have bandages for cuts, chicken soup for colds, and ice packs for bruises, most of us have no idea how to treat day-to-day emotional injuries such as failure, rejection, and loss. But, as Guy Winch, Ph.D., points out, these kinds of emotional injuries often get worse when left untreated and can significantly impact our quality of life. In this fascinating and highly practical book he provides the emotional first aid treatments we have been lacking. Explaining the long-term fallout that can result from seemingly minor emotional and psychological injuries, Dr. Winch offers concrete, easy-to-use exercises backed up by hard cutting-edge science to aid in recovery. He uses relatable anecdotes about real patients he has treated over the years and often gives us a much needed dose of humor as well. Prescriptive, programmatic, and unique, this first-aid kit for battered emotions will appeal to readers of Unstuck by James S. Gordon and Self-Compassion by Kristin Neff.

Although life was physically more difficult in the days of the horse and carriage, we complained much less back then, and when we did, our complaints were more likely to get results. Today we complain about everything--yet do so with remarkable ineffectiveness. Most of us grumble, vent, and kvetch, neither expecting nor getting meaningful resolutions. Wasting prodigious amounts of time and energy on unproductive complaints can take an emotional and psychological toll on our moods and well-being. We desperately need to relearn the art of complaining effectively.Psychotherapist Guy Winch offers practical and psychologically grounded advice on how to determine what to complain about and what to let slide. He demonstrates how to convey our complaints in ways that encourage cooperation and increase the likelihood of getting resolutions to our dissatisfactions. The principles he spells out apply whether we're dealing with a rude store clerk, a bureaucrat, a coworker, our teenager, or a spouse or partner who's driving us crazy.Complaining constructively can be extremely empowering and it can significantly strengthen our personal, familial, and work relationships. Applying our new-found complaining skills to customer service representatives, corporate leaders, and elected officials increases the odds that our comments will be taken seriously. If we all complained more effectively, squeaky wheels could change our own lives as well as the world for the better.

"“Just Best Friends” is an ‘autobiography’ written, (with a little help from his Master), by a Golden Retriever, who has enjoyed a wonderful life that has been divided between what he considers “ a very respectable address” in West Vancouver in British Columbia, and the family cottage on Gabriola Island. In spite of his distinguished ancestry, he very early on declines to be interested in becoming a “gun dog”, or doing the “retriever thing”; nor does he have any ambition to be “shown”, to win ribbons, or to win any glittering prizes. All he really wants out of life is to become a family “pooch”; but in the right family of course, which he chooses with great care.The book is a light hearted romp, written in a breezy, entertaining, and chatty style, in which he describes his life and adventures growing up in a family of five girls, and providing the very necessary male support for his Master in this company of women.It is also written entirely from a dog’s point of view, from which we learn some important aspects of “dog Psychology”, which should be welcomed by all dog owners.Other than a few references to sex, (without which a book won’t sell), it is a read designed for all ages, but only for dog lovers, and especially for owners of Golden Retrievers!"

Whether we like it or not, work is central to our lives. Most of us define ourselves by our work; it gives us a purpose, it enables us to maintain our lives, our homes, our nourishment, our recreational pursuits and it puts us often among like-minded people who share and appreciate our skills and achievements. No wonder we feel it is so important!But work can intrude on our lives and unconsciously take over our thoughts, our priorities, and even our coping mechanisms. Especially in recent years, the separation between work and home is more blurry than ever, and we struggle to maintain healthy boundaries, to restore ourselves and recover our attention and energy, to give due focus to our loved ones, and to nourish other parts of our self in more than just a transactional way. We do more 'work' and emotional labour around work outside of the workday than we actually spend at the workplace.In Mind Over Grind, psychologist Guy Winch explains how being so thoroughly enmeshed with work allows these unconscious tendencies to take root and opens our eyes to the damage they do to our careers and personal lives, as well as to our emotional health. He offers a battle plan by which we can actually change the way we think, bringing intentionality back to our lives, and restoring the balance we crave.