Good Reads & Links

The Original Warm Fuzzy Tale by Claude Steiner
a cat sitting on grass
a cat sitting on grass

This book is billed as a TA fairy story. TA, for the uninitiated, stands for Transactional Analysis. It seems to be rather dated now and redolent of flip charts and felt-tip markers but it’s actually a really good way of conceptualising the mechanics of manipulative relationships and helping to come up with range of responses that will equip you to break the gamey cycle.


brown rabbit on white textile
brown rabbit on white textile
grayscale photography of hand sculpture on sad
grayscale photography of hand sculpture on sad
The Velveteen Rabbit by Marjorie Williams

This book is now out of copyright and available in some quite wonderful editions. It’s an extended metaphor about loving and being loved and about rabbits in the way that The Ugly Duckling is about ducks.


His thesis is that stress is neither good nor bad. Rock climbers can come back from a weekend of clinging to hand holds by their fingertips and be invigorated by the experience – they chose to go. Someone can be quite ill because of a situation that to others may seem no big deal; they feel that there’s nothing they can do about it – they feel impotent and helpless.


Helplessness by Martin Seligman
I only want what’s best for you by Judith Brown
boy in green t-shirt standing beside boy in green t-shirt
boy in green t-shirt standing beside boy in green t-shirt

Unfortunately; it’s billed as “A parent’s guide to raising well-adjusted children;” it’s much more than that. It’s an introduction to ideas as to how we may become stuck in responding to others by lessons learned in our own childhoods.

man in black shirt sitting on chair
man in black shirt sitting on chair
How to Understand and then Escape from Depression.

Saul Youssef, is a very intriguing take on depression. At first reading it may seem a bit glib. I know that estimating the worth of someone’s ideas on the basis that he pretty much agrees with me, isn’t the most reliable but in as much as it focuses on keeping your attention in the moment I thought it was a more useful approach than psychic archaeology.

Download here.