makbeta reviewed Emotional first aid by Guy Winch
Review of 'Emotional first aid' on 'Goodreads'
2 stars
My true rating is 2.5 stars.
Overall the book is great guide for how to address the minor emotional scrapes and bruises in life. Most of the techniques describes are science based and I have heard about from other sources. I really enjoyed his presentation, he offers treatment plans for each malady. I liked that he cited research for each of the treatment.
The reason for a grading it down is that a few examples that the author puts into the book are far more complex and he uses them in attempt to illustrate a much simpler concept. He does stay on point with those examples, just focusing on issue at hand. But I feel like him ignoring the other much bigger and complex issues at hand.
Case in point is his patient who accidentally runs over mother's foot. In the situation the woman's argument with her mother escalates to …
My true rating is 2.5 stars.
Overall the book is great guide for how to address the minor emotional scrapes and bruises in life. Most of the techniques describes are science based and I have heard about from other sources. I really enjoyed his presentation, he offers treatment plans for each malady. I liked that he cited research for each of the treatment.
The reason for a grading it down is that a few examples that the author puts into the book are far more complex and he uses them in attempt to illustrate a much simpler concept. He does stay on point with those examples, just focusing on issue at hand. But I feel like him ignoring the other much bigger and complex issues at hand.
Case in point is his patient who accidentally runs over mother's foot. In the situation the woman's argument with her mother escalates to the boiling point, so she tries to leave the house to disengage. Her mother follows her & insists on carrying on an argument in public. In the heat of the argument the woman forgets to straighten the steering wheel before starting to drive & runs over her mother's foot. The author focuses only on guilt part of the situation and even draws a conclusion that the woman's mother will not be able to forgive her daughter until she offers her mother a recompense - a promise never to leave in a middle of an argument. I feel that in this specific case the guilt ties into much deeper feelings shame, blame in a relationship, history of emotional abuse, inability to set boundaries and deal with conflict in a healthy way. The author doesn't mention any of these factors, although I feel they apply in much greater degree in this case than simple guilt. The author also makes a statement, which sounds like he endorses the idea that the woman to offer mother her desired recompense just to alleviate her guilt. I strongly disagree with that statement and wished he used a much less complex case to illuminate his point.
