How We Break

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‘Exhilarating… Wise and compassionate’ New Statesman

An expert, empathetic guide to the science, psychology and physiology of breaking, from the acclaimed author of How We Are

What happens when our minds and bodies are pushed beyond their limits? Vincent Deary is a health psychologist who has spent years helping his patients cope with whatever life has thrown at them. In How We Break, he has written a book for all of us who sometimes feel we have reached our breaking point.

Drawing on clinical case studies, cutting-edge scientific research, intimate personal stories and references from philosophy, literature and film, How We Break offers a consoling new vision of everyday human struggle. The big traumas in life, Deary points out, are relatively rare. More common is when too many things go wrong at once, or we are exposed to prolonged periods of difficulty or precarity. When the world shrinks to nothing but our daily coping, we become unhappy, worried, hopeless, exhausted. In other words, we break. Breaking, he shows us, happens when the same systems that enable us to navigate through life become dysregulated. But if we understand how the wear and tear of life affects us, then we have a better chance of navigating through times of burnout, stress, fatigue and despair.

By equipping us with a better understanding of what happens to us when we’re struggling to cope, and making a bold case for the power of rest and recuperation, How We Break helps chart a path through difficult times.A lyrical and ultimately uplifting examination of what happens when our minds and bodies are put under extreme stress or suffering—Isabel Berwick, The Financial Times

Drawing on a wide range of sources about the human experience, Vincent Deary has written a warm and compassionate book about how we hurt and how we heal. A rich and humane work—Gwen Adshead, forensic psychiatrist and author of THE DEVIL YOU KNOW

From a deep mine of science, philosophy, art and personal experience, Vincent Deary has produced a treasure of a book. Every page of How We Break gleams with wisdom and insight. Nobody could fail to be enriched by it —Matt Rowland Hill, author of ORIGINAL SINS

A particular strength of the book is the way Deary weaves between different schools of thought within psychology, philosophy and religion. The result is not merely a discussion of abstract ideas, but a collection of valuable observations about what it means to be human in the modern world—the Guardian

Deary’s exhilarating new book mixes science, philosophy and memoir to argue that self-acceptance is our best defence against the stress of living… Deary’s writing is wise and compassionate, sometimes florid and always interesting – few writers could jump so nimbly between Proust and RuPaul, neuroscience and the occult. … Deary’s is the rare book that helps you see the world a little differently—Sophie McBain, The New Statesman

The psychologist and researcher’s persuasive inquiry into how life’s struggles take their toll is full of hard-won wisdom… There is a rawness to Deary’s analysis that gives a compelling human edge to his theorising—Tim Adams, Observer (Book of the Day)

Deary offers a thought experiment that just might be a game-changer—Niamh Jimenez, The Irish Times

In How We Break, the health psychologist Vincent Deary suggests some answers for ­‘navigating the wear and tear of living’… This essential self-exploration underlines the deeply humane plea which is the heartbeat of the book: for more self-compassion… There is much wisdom in Deary’s regret that this society has neglected the idea of convalescence’—Bel Mooney, The Daily MailVincent Deary is professor of applied health psychology at Northumbria University, where his research focuses on the development of new psychosocial interventions for people with a variety of health complaints, including cancer survivors and fear of falling in older adults. As a clinician he works in the UK’s first trans-diagnostic Fatigue Clinic, to help people for whom fatigue is a disabling symptom. He is the author of How We Are.GB

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