Can you imagine going to bed every night knowing you might wake up blind, deaf, paralyzed, or worse - not at all? Ellis Michaels doesn't have to imagine it. He's been living it for decades. And so have thousands of others diagnosed with Behcet's disease. Like Crohn's, Lupus, fibromialgia, chronic fatigue syndrome, MS, and dozens of other illnesses, Behcet's is an autoimmune disease. Though each is unique, they all cause the body to attack itself. And Ellis's body has been kicking the crap out of him for decades. Here are just a few of the horrible symptoms he's experienced: Massive blood clots (DVTs) in both legs A clot in his inferior vena cava (vein going to the heart) Deep, open ulcers in his mouth Quarter-sized open sores on his... On the last place a guy would want them Severe eye inflammation leading to blindness that literally happened overnight Golf-ball-sized cysts on his face, neck, and ears And that was all before Ellis had even turned 18. Living with Behcet's disease (sometimes called Behcet's syndrome) can be an everyday struggle filled with pain and suffering. And while Ellis's journey has been a bumpy one to say the least, filled with depression, anxiety, drug addiction, and at times utter despair, he's managed to live an awesome life in spite of his diagnosis. By learning to see the silver linings of his illness, by focusing on the positives instead of the negatives, Ellis transformed his mind, his body, and his entire life. This is the story of how Ellis Michaels managed to find happiness through the pain and embarrassment of living with Behcet's disease. *** Warning! This memoir contains language and subject matter that might not be suitable for sensitive readers. There are discussions about drug use, mental illness, sex, suicide, and certain below-the-belt body parts. If you find these topics or occasional profanity distasteful, this book won't be your cup of tea. But Behcet's is a distasteful disease and can't be discussed in an open and honest manner without including these things. ***

In the era of COVID-19, many people have suffered high levels of stress and mental health problems. To cope with the widespread of suffering (physical, psychological, social, and economical) the positive psychology of personal happiness is no longer the sole approach to examine personal wellbeing. Other approaches such as Viktor Frankl’s theory of self-transcendence provide a promising framework for research and intervention on how to achieve resilience, wellbeing, and happiness through overcoming suffering and self-transcendence. The existential positive psychology of suffering complements the positive psychology of happiness, which is championed by Martin Seligman, as two equal halves of the circle of wellbeing and optimal mental health. This Research Topic aims to examine the different approaches to Positive Psychology and their influence on individual wellbeing during the COVID-19 era. One of the exciting development in the positive psychology of wellbeing is the mounting research on the adaptive benefits of negative emotions, such as shame, guilt, and anger, as well as the dialectical process of balancing negative and positive emotions. As an example, based on all the empirical research and Frankl’s self-transcendence model, Wong has developed the existential positive psychology of suffering (PP2.0) as the foundation for flourishing. Here are a few main tenets of PP2.0: (1) Life is suffering and a constant struggle throughout every stage of development, (2) The search for self-transcendence is a primary motive guided by the meaning mindset and mindful mindset. (3) Wellbeing cannot be sustainable without overcoming and transforming suffering. In this Research Topic we welcome diverse approaches discussing the following points: • The dialectic process of overcoming the challenges of every stage of development as necessary for personal growth and self-transcendence; • The role of self-transcendence in resilience, virtue, meaning, and happiness; • The upside of negative emotions; • The new science of resilience based on cultivating the resilient mindset and character; • How to make the best use of suffering to achieve out potentials & mental health.

Realizing the potential you have to awaken to your power as an enlightened being is central to authentic healing. There is a significant distinction between superficially healing wounds and authentically healing. If you feel ready to surrender all pain and struggle, Divine Healing is a must read. Delivered as both a story and a practice, the author compassionately shares her journey to become whole after the suicide of her daughter in 2005. Though written in the context of the parental grief experience, Divine Healing is intended for anyone who desires authentic healing. Each chapter, a journey in itself, reminds us of the eternal truths that teach that all healing is possible, despite the origin of any pain. The lessons, while not confined to only one experience in pain, reach into the core root of all suffering and will guide anyone through any difficulty to find peace and joy. Not only will you develop a richer understanding of suffering and healing, including viewing loss and grief differently, but by learning to work with the angels, you will reclaim your power as the authentic being you already are. You will learn to honor all of your hurtful experiences and trust in your ability to become whole on your own terms. Realizing you are the catalyst for your own powerful transformation, Divine Healing inspires you to courageously want more for your life, and teaches you how to continually manifest the life you were meant to find and enjoy through a realistic, heartfelt practice.

American society is often characterized as a “guilt culture,” as opposed to non-Western “shame cultures.” But is this distinction still valid today? Through examples like shaming penalties in criminal law, “fat shaming,” and cyberbullying on the social media, The Rise of the Shame Society: America’s Change from a Guilt Culture into a Shame Culture shows how shame is increasingly invading our lives, leading to feelings of humiliation and depression. Marcel Van Herpen identifies three causes of this phenomenon: new childrearing methods, the advent of the social media, and a transformation of Western individualism. He weighs the arguments for and against a shame society and concludes that a guilt-centered approach remains preferable. Although shame increasingly permeates everyday life, the author argues that its rise is not a fatality. He emphasizes that shame is a dynamic phenomenon and that one can observe trends which lead to an increase of shame, as well as to its decrease. Examples of the latter are a growing sensitivity to the pain caused by anti-Black racism, the decrease of anti-LGBTQIA+ prejudices, and efforts to end the stigmatization of people with disabilities. Along with exploring its increase, The Rise of the Shame Society demonstrates that there are ways to overcome shame.

This is a revolutionary book about the nature of emotion, about the way emotions are triggered in our private moments, in our relations with others, and by our biology. Drawing on every theme of the modern life sciences, Donald Nathanson shows how nine basic affects—interest-excitement, enjoyment-joy, surprise-startle, fear-terror, distress-anguish, anger-rage, dissmell, disgust, and shame-humiliation—not only determine how we feel but shape our very sense of self. For too long those who explain emotional discomfort on the basis of lived experience and those who blame chemistry have been at loggerheads. As Dr. Nathanson shows, chemicals and illnesses can affect our mood just as surely as an uncomfortable memory or a stern rebuke. Linking for the first time the affect theory of the pioneering researcher Silvan S. Thomkins with the entire world of biology, medicine, psychology, psychotherapy, religion, and the social sciences, Dr. Nathanson presents a completely new understanding of all emotion.

Sandy McLean is training to be a doctor to follow in his father's footsteps - indeed, to surpass his father who is just a general practitioner: Sandy is to become a top surgeon. Or so his father insists. Sandy feels he has no choice, though knows he is not a natural and life is becoming miserable as he struggles through the exams. What he really wants to be is an artist. Every spare moment he paints and is especially good at people. He even gets a commission when a loyal pub bartender is retiring. And then a French girl, Sophie, offers to pose for him - which leads to his first love affair and the beginning of his rebellion against his father, leading to his running off to Montmartre. Meanwhile, left behind is his sister Laura. Her father believes she should wait about idly for a potential husband to turn up. But she wants to earn a living. She tells her parents she's working voluntarily for an orphan centre, but really she has a job working at the Marie Stopes Clinic. After a brutal assault leaves her traumatised, she follows in Sandy's footsteps to Montmartre . . . Praise for Emma Blair: 'An engaging novel and the characters are endearing - a good holiday read' Historical Novels Review 'All the tragedy and passion you could hope for . . . Brilliant' The Bookseller 'Romantic fiction pure and simple and the best sort - direct, warm and hugely readable. Women's fiction at an excellent level' Publishing News 'Emma Blair explores the complex and difficult nature of human emotions in this passionately written novel' Edinburgh Evening News 'Entertaining romantic fiction' Historical Novels Review '[Emma Blair] is well worth recommending' The Bookseller

In this revised edition Sandra D. Wilson explains the patterns of thinking and feeling common to adult children of dysfunctional families and helps them start on their own journey toward freedom and wholeness.

John Updike is one of the most prolific and important American authors of the contemporary period, with an acclaimed body of work that spans half a century and is inspired by everything from American exceptionalism to American popular culture. This Companion joins together a distinguished international team of contributors to address both the major themes in Updike's writing as well as the sources of controversy that Updike's writing has often provoked. It traces the ways in which historical and cultural changes in the second half of the twentieth century have shaped not just Updike's reassessment of America's heritage, but his reassessment of the literary devices by which that legacy is best portrayed. With a chronology and bibliography of Updike's published writings, this is the only guide students and scholars of Updike will need to understand this extraordinary writer.

Our powerful reactions to receiving criticism are linked to the innate emotions of shame and anger. Evolved for survival in primitive circumstances, these sometimes overwhelming reactions do not always serve us well in civilized situations. Extreme reactions to real or perceived criticism can lead to serious psychological illnesses such as depression, addiction and eating disorders. This book gives the reader an understanding of the evolutionary function of shame and anger and the destructive ways in which they can manifest themselves in criticism situations. To help with this problem, the author describes techniques as old as yoga and as new as neurofeedback for quieting powerful emotions and becoming more confident in the face of criticism. These techniques can be used by adults and taught to children to help avoid many of the painful and destructive emotional experiences that shape our self-image and often set the stage for depression and other emotional disorders.

This book, Addiction to Recovery: Unlocking Your Potential, is an accumulation of existential realization, many resources, years of recovery, education, insights, and years working in the field of addiction, with all adepts in the goal of personal transformation from addiction to recovery. This is an integrative approach to living in wellness of recovery. I vacated my own mind through deep personal process, my own form of meditation, and this book came about. My hope is this book unlocks the potential that advances new insight into the recovery process for each individual by reframing the process in such a way that the right interpretation by the reader will help recovery click into place. What we need to celebrate in recovery is the self-discovery of the individual. I offer my carefully considered overviews and assessments on the best-known treatments (theories) connected to recovery. I have provided a new outlook as a guide for the unwary who had failed at recovery in the past and those just coming into recovery for the first time. I count myself among the autodidacts, the self-taught perpetual student fueled by a passion for new answers and a sense of mission.