Overwhelmed: Coping with Life's Ups and Downs

by Nancy Schlossbereg

Overwhelmed is a helpful, positive guide to dealing with the challenges-both expected and unexpected-that accompany change. More than a discussion of turning points and transitions, it offers real-life examples and specific guidelines for responding constructively to all kinds of changes, welcome and unwelcome. Nancy K. Schlossberg shows readers how to evaluate each change and determine its affects, how to assess personal strengths and the support systems brought to the change, and how to pinpoint the best coping strategies for the situation.

Genres: Self Help, Nonfiction

172 pages, Paperback

First published August 1, 1989

Reviews

[Eve · Rating 3 out of 5]

Yet another book on life's transitions, Overwhelmed: Coping with Life's Ups and Downs by Nancy Schlossberg would best be used as a textbook for a course on transitions. That's not a bad thing, it's just that the material lends itself to be read in small doses (one chapter at a time), followed by a discussion of the material, and actually doing the exercises that she incorporates into each chapter. This way, I think the book can be very helpful. I like her real life examples of people going through a wide variety of transitions. She states them succinctly, and their situations illustrate the point(s) that she is trying to make. The exercises are easy to do, and don't take a lot of time - which is positive, as many readers are intimated by a bunch of self-help exercises. The author has a highly readable style, good information, and it's well put together - best used for a workshop/course, or in conjunction with psychotherapy and/or a support group for any of the given transitions she explores.