Improving Mental Health: Four Secrets in Plain Sight

by Lloyd I. Sederer

In Improving Mental Four Secrets in Plain Sight, Dr. Lloyd Sederer draws upon four decades of diverse clinical practice, mental health research and public health experience to create a memorable volume that is as elegant as it is instructive. The book aims to help clinicians improve the lives of their patients--and patients to improve their own lives--by identifying these secrets and taking action in ways that can work immediately, closing the science-to-practice gap. In addition to mental health and primary care clinicians, patients and their families will find the books many stories, clinical examples and cultural references fascinating and illuminating. The books four foundational truths, all hiding in plain sight and all eminently actionable, are - Behavior serves a purpose. The search for meaning and the identification and communication value of a behavior are too often overlooked aspects of mental health care and a lost opportunity with and for patients and their families.- The power of attachment. The force of attachment as a human need and drive must be harnessed if we are to change painful and problem behaviors. Relationships are the key to remedying human suffering -- both individual and collective. - As a rule, less is more. Mental health treatments, both medical and psychosocial, have often been aggressive, from high doses of drugs to intensive sessions and psychic confrontation in individual and group psychotherapy. Unfortunately, these high risk efforts infrequently provide help and often have unwanted and problematic effects. Primum non nocere -- first, do no harm -- is the first law of medicine.- Chronic stress is the enemy. From adverse childhood experiences to posttraumatic stress, chronic stress can be an underlying factor in the development of many mental disorders. However, chronic stress can be understood and contained, thereby reducing its damage. Dr. Sederer synthesizes the knowledge gained through his considerable experience as a psychiatrist with insights gleaned from history, research and literature to address the four truths in a systematic, yet lively, manner. The result is a book of rare grace. Improving Mental Four Secrets in Plain Sight will be a touchstone for the clinician and general reader alike. Lloyd Sederer has written this book to help laypeople and practitioners see whats right before their eyes, but often unnoticed. He explores four secrets that behaviors have meaning, that attachment is central to health (and recovery), that doing more often means doing more harm, and that chronic stress may be the most debilitating condition of life...This is well worth reading, digesting, and using as a foundation for interactions between clinicians and the people they aim to serve.--Paul Gionfriddo, President and CEO, Mental Health America There are secrets hiding in plain sight, so writes Dr. Lloyd Sederer in his new (10th!) book, which can make a real difference in the lives of people with mental and addictive disorders and their families. He is not only right; he reveals these secrets using stories, anecdotes, science, and history. This is a must and wonderful read for clinicians and for those affected by these all so common conditions. --Linda Rosenberg, MSW, President and CEO, National Council for Behavioral Health

Genres: Nonfiction, Mental Health

160 pages, Hardcover

Published November 1, 2016

Reviews

[Grady · Rating 5 out of 5]

‘We don’t see things as they are, we see things as we are.’ Anaïs Nin

New York’s Chief Psychiatrist Lloyd I. Sederer, M.D., is Chief Medical Officer of the New York State Office of Mental Health (OMH), the nation's largest state mental health system, an Adjunct Professor at the Columbia/Mailman School of Public Health, and has been Medical Director and Executive Vice President of McLean Hospital in Belmont, MA, a Harvard teaching hospital, and Director of the Division of Clinical Services for the American Psychiatric Association. His contributions to his field and to the community at large have been rewarded by the American Psychiatric Association (Psychiatric Administrator of the Year), Scholar-in-Residence grant by the Rockefeller Foundation and an Exemplary Psychiatrist award from the National Alliance on Mental Illness. He has published books for both professional and lay audiences in addition to many articles in medical journals and non-medical publications like TheAtlantic.com, The New York Times, The International Herald Tribune, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, Commonweal Magazine, and Psychology Today. He is Medical Editor for Mental Health for the Huffington Post and Contributing Writer to US News & World Report.

The title of this sensitive, thoughtful and wise little book – FOUR SECRETS IN PLAIN SIGHT – is defined on the Contents page – 1) Behavior serves a purpose, 2) The power of attachment, 3) As a rule, less is more, and 4) Chronic stress is the enemy – and as Dr. Sederer comfortably explains, ‘each one, unveiled and freed from constraints of the ineffective habits and behaviors, can change lives. Together, when revealed and acted upon, they can change the world.’

There are many ways to read this book – to better understand signs and manifestations of mental illness in our families, among friend and associates, in the public at large, and in reflecting on our own adaptation to the world and situations. But it is also a brilliantly clear guide to understanding global behavior, which at this particular time in our social history seems inexplicable. How to we explain senseless killings, bullying to the point of excluding sectors of society from the joy of quiet living, the growing disparity or polarization between the extremely wealthy and the dissolution of the middle class which is approaching the other extreme, the increased growth of the internet control of all aspects of our lives and the hackers and drones that accompany that expanding threat? By reading and absorbing Dr. Sederer’s book we come to a new level of understanding of how our own behavior and responses and these in tandem with the other secrets can help not only our personal experience but also effect the direction of global society. It is brilliant timing to release this book in the quaking anxiety of the new effect the new leaders of government will take us. Follow the four secrets…and breathe.

The concluding comments are poignant: ‘Failing to understand that a behavior is serving a purpose seems a habit worth changing because it has the power to distance us from those we serve and care about. Not appreciating that a human touch, a connection made, and attachment fostered, which are the greatest anodynes against isolation and despair, seems a sad habit that derives us all – caregivers and recipients alike.’ And that is only a small excerpt from a book that should be in the hands of us all.

[Lisa DeWaard · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was actually very near and dear to my heart. As someone who suffers from depression and anxiety, I am always looking for helpful solutions on how to deal with mental health issues. Dr. Sederer's book is a great tool to help explain the stigma about those of us that deal with mental health issues and those who don't understand it. This book is very insightful and easy to read, and the four secrets it addresses are very easy and practical. It's hard to believe that I haven't thought of a couple of them for myself. It's as simple as behavior, attachment, excess and stress. It's a great read for anyone who needs to understand more about mental health.

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I won this book through Goodreads. I really enjoyed this book. Lots of interesting concepts and new ways to think about things.

[Ginny Martinez · Rating 5 out of 5]

Glad I bought it. Reinforced ideas. Behavior serves a purpose, the power of attachment, less is more, chronic stress is the enemy. 6/2017