The Art of Riding Stress Waves

How are we to live happy, healthy and satisfying lives? On top of life's usual challenges, we now face cascading social, political and environmental crises the likes of which humanity has never seen before. And the stress waves keep rolling in.

Like ocean swells, as one stress wave crashes over us, the next forms. Psychologists can no longer provide enough personalised support to meet the need for mental health services. In response to this challenge, clinical psychologist Dr Wayne Somerville draws on his 40 years of experience as a therapist and trauma specialist to give you the essential knowledge and skills you need to ride stress waves with style and joy.

The Art of Riding Stress Waves: Self-help psychology for an anxious age is an empowering, down-to-earth guide for dealing with all the challenges and threats - from the everyday to the lethally dangerous - that come our way.

Practising the art of riding stress waves is not about just managing stress; the goal is to use stress to improve our lives. Dr Somerville guides readers to new, more effective ways to think, act and live. You'll discover what stress and anxiety are good for and how our 'executive' and 'deep' minds work in sync to protect us. You'll learn how to harness your key mental processes to update old, problem-causing stress reactions.

The Art of Riding Stress Waves has three parts.

Part 1 sets out what you need to know in order to practise the art of riding stress waves. In a unique formulation, Dr Somerville explains the role that anxiety plays in ancient, evolved strategies that the human psyche draws upon to deal with stress. Anxiety is not a symptom; it's a protective emotion that alerts us to danger. When we know how to use them, the emotions of fear, anxiety, anger, guilt and depression help us ride stress waves.

Dr Somerville argues against the medicalisation of mental health problems, and he explains why many stress responses, including posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), are not a sign that there's anything wrong with an affected person's mind. In reality, many so-called 'mental disorders' are natural and healthy - though less than optimal - responses to stress.

In Part 2, Dr Somerville offers readers tools, tips and techniques for tapping into the creative power of our key mental processes of perception, attention, belief, thought, reason, imagination, memory, language, emotion, intuition and dreaming. He also reviews popular, evidence-based therapies for anxiety and trauma.

The case studies in Part 3 demonstrate the art of riding stress waves in action. Dr Somerville argues that we have solid grounds for hope and we can be optimistic about the future. He encourages us to engage with the great challenges of our time. He shows us how we can prepare for the coming stress tsunamis.

The Art of Riding Stress Waves is for everyone who wants to make their life and the world better. It's especially relevant for folk who suffer from anxiety, stress or trauma.