It’s Not All in Your Head: Anxiety, Depression,
Mood Swings and Multiple Sclerosis
by Patricia Farrell, PhD
You know the mantra: Exercise and eat well.
But there’s more—
a lot more—to
conquering the
mental beasts that
emerge with MS.
Just as you learn
to manage your
external world,
you can learn to
manage your internal world, too.
According to Dr. Farrell, that
means staying on top of your
emotional needs and reorganizing your mental defenses.
Dr. Farrell, who is a clinical psychologist, researcher and
disability consultant, offers a
cognitive-behavioral approach
to MS-related depression and
the anxiety and stress that
many of us find so challenging. In the first four chapters of
the book, she explores cognitive symptoms and their social
consequences. In the chapters
that follow, from “Maximizing
Memory to Combat Depression” to “Handling Guilt and
Maintaining Resilience,” Dr.
Farrell outlines solutions in an
easy-to-understand self-help
format. Checklists, such as “ 5
Factors Involved in Memory,”
National MS Society volun-
teer, Gingold was inducted
into the Society’s 2010 Hall of
Fame.
Demos Health, 2011, 240
pp., $19.95. 11 West 42nd Street,
15th Fl., New York, NY 10036;
demoshealth.com. Use code
SSGINGOLD30 for a discount. Daily Exer-
cise Chart, c
demoshealth.comn
are included.
are included.
rience—to interact with.
I found the
“The 11 Most
Effective Self-
Help Techniques”
of particular
Effective Self-
Help Techniques”
of particular
value. Yes, exercise
and diet play key
parts here, but
so do relaxation,
breathing tech-
niques, guided
imagery, biofeed-
back, journaling
and even music.
This is a great book for both
newly diagnosed and for those
who have struggled with MS for
years. It’s a welcome addition to
my own in-print arsenal.
and diet play key
parts here, but
Demos Health New York,
2010, 240 pp., $16.95, 800-
532-8663,
demoshealth.com.
t
breathing techniques, guided
imagery, biofeedback, journaling
reviewed by Judi Hasson, a Virginia-based writer who was diagnosed
with MS in 2007.
In addition to
a generous list of
online and real-world resources,
the book also
includes three
checklists in the
back: A Social
Facing the Cognitive
Challenges of Multiple
Sclerosis 2nd Edition
by Jeffrey Gingold
Readjustment
Rating Scale, a
Quality of Life
Thoroughly revised and updated, the second edition of Gingold’s award-winning resource on this aggravating and sometimes
debilitating MS symptom includes a new
foreword by Dawn Langdon of the U.K. MS
Scale and a
Trust and four new chapters. An active
Daily Exercise Chart,
making
the book
a pleasure—as
well as a
learning
expe-
