Marna Swim 2008-10-08

0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:

To understand the "NOW" questions re addictions, therapist should be informed re "emotional life" and neurotransmitters--in the Limbic Brain System. Most health care is moving to the cellular level.

DNA information is increasing -- but not at the time this book was written.

E. Mohr 2008-09-28

0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:

As a mental health practitioner, I am constantly reminded that much of what people present as emotional difficulties are more accurately described as neurological difficulties. LeDoux's writing is articulate, timely, and extremely useful clinically. When I first heard about this work when I was in grad school, it literally changed the way I thought about such common mental illnesses as depression and (most of all) anxiety. I would be MUCH less successful in my treatment of these disorders now if I did not have this information. All mental health clinicians need to know about the neurology of emotion. I don't know how else you can help clients understand what is going on to create the emotions that they experience.

Taylor Ellwood 2008-06-19

0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:

Having read LeDoux's other work, I was pleased with this work, much as I enjoyed his previous work. In this book LeDoux explores the role of emotions in neuroscience. He does a fairly thorough job of explaining the history of the study of emotions through both psychology and neuroscience. I found his arguments about the limbic system persuasive, and his analysis of fear and also the memory intriguing.

If there's one complaint I have, it's that I wish he'd focused on other emotions besides fear. He never really explains, for instance, where the emotion of happiness might be located. There may not be studies focused on that, but while he makes some interesting arguments for multiple systems of emotions, since his focus is only on fear, it doesn't make his argument as persuasive as it could be.

Arpit 2008-05-08

0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:

What makes this book a good read? Primarily, the answer has to be that the subject is important and interesting for anybody who has for once wondered 'why was I not my real self when faced with fear/anxiety?' or 'Just if I could have held my emotions under control there?' Secondly, the area of work seems to be in its primitive stage. And accordingly, there are not many alternate books to be devoured if somebody is interested in this subject.

As far as the author - Joseph LeDoux -is concerned, I like his way of approaching the whole problem of making progress in understanding emotional brain. Not using the mental tools he has been handed by academics he had the intelligence to go where his research took him. Having said that, I would like to add, that the whole account could have been presented in a better way. Some could argue, he has done decent job at explaining complexities in simple terms for any layman to understand. I agree. Just that Daniel Gilbert's excellent work at that - in Stumbling on Happiness - has created an anchor in my mind.

Overall, I would not hesitate in recommending this book to anybody who wants to understand the emotional aspect of our mind.

L. Van Den Muyzenberg 2008-03-12

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

I have a special interest in training the mind to reduce negative thoughts and emotions with meditation exercises. I was therefore curious to find out if this book could give me some useful insights on this point.
It does. In emotions we depend on two competing systems. The "low road" or fast system that is very similar for all vertebrae animals and "high road" slow system that adds the Cortex for thinking into the circuit. That thinking capability is most strongly developed in the human species. The low road -slow systems follows the following steps:
Emotional stimulus -Sensory Thalamus - Amygdala -Emotional response
The competing parallel, slow system with half the speed has an additional link as follows:
Emotional stimulus- Sensory Thalamus-Sensory Cortex- Amygdala- Emotional response
The fast system is the best in case of real danger requiring instant reaction. But it can create trouble when a reaction is triggered by a false alarm leading to the wrong reaction. The slow system involving the Cortex evaluates the emotional stimulus, considers the context, and examines the options before deciding on the reaction and thus avoiding wrong reactions. It also has learning capability. Mistakes are not repeated. Training the mind will strengthen the influence the Cortex will have on the reaction. When I feel a sudden burst of anger, I now realise that it is probably the result of the fast road short-circuiting the Cortex circuit. So I pause to gain control of my anger.
The second useful idea is that memory of past experiences colour our views without us being aware of it. For example I had a bad experience working with a fast talker that turned out to be unreliable. The next time I met a fast talker I was instantly negative to that person without being aware why. I now ask myself before taking a position. Am I prejudiced?
The third point is awareness of the enormous advantage humans have of having a large fore brain that allows us instead of reacting automatically to emotional stimulus being able to make plans, analyse risk and analyse consequences. Analytical meditation strengthens this planning and evaluation capability.
The fourth point is that I understand better why it is so hard to reduce egocentric tendencies. The fast circuit is excellent for survival because it leads to instant action. But survival reactions without thinking only consider my survival without considering the consequences of my actions on others. Bringing the "primitive" system under control is therefore hard work.
The fifth point is the irreparable damage excessive continuous stress does to the memory system in the Hippocampus. That illustrates the merits of meditation to develop the ability to stay calm under high stress circumstances.
Complex systems are explained with excellent diagrams. The book may be a bit long for leaders in business, 300 pages. But, I think that the benefits make the effort to read it worthwhile. Understanding how your brain works helps you in training your mind