MSI Press Blog

                                Today's Publisher's Pride is  Depression Anonymous  by Dennis Ortman, which recently reached #79 on Amazon in emotional self-help. Book Description: When you feel depressed, suffering from a deep sadness, do you feel powerless over your mood? Does your life feel unmanageable because of it? Does your preoccupation with past hurts and regrets interfere with your life? Do you feel hopeless about finding a cure for your depression? If you answer "yes" to these questions, you may be addicted to your mood. It acts like a drug that sedates, numbs, and possesses you, causing you to sleepwalk through life. Viewing your depressed mood as an addiction, Dr. Ortman guides you through the time-tested Twelve Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous to find healing and growth. He shows how the Steps offer practical wisdom to awaken your spirit deadened by your depression. The Steps p...

  Excerpt from  Anxiety Anonymous  by  Dr. Dennis Ortman  --  Introduction (continued from earlier post)  A Personal Note  Many strands of my life tie together in writing this book.  I have been working as a psychologist in private practice for over twenty years. Each day I sit and listen to my patients tell me stories of their suffering and their efforts to find happiness. Their stories are always unique, heart-breaking and heart-warming. Over the years, I observed how many of my patients suffer a variety of addictions, some acknowledged and others overlooked. Most come for relief from emotional and mental pain and hardly recognize the many ways they self-medicate with drugs and activities. I also noticed the increasing number of patients who complain of being in the grip of intolerable anxiety. Since 9/11 it seems fear has taken hold of our society and found residence in many of my patients. That fear possesses many like an addiction...

  excerpt from  Anger Anonymous  -  CHAPTER ONE ANGER STYLES: TENDING THE FIRE “Anger’s my meat. I sup upon myself and so shall starve with feeding.” —William Shakespeare   Everybody gets angry. “But not me,” I told myself.  In my father’s drunken rages, I witnessed the devastating effects of uncontrolled anger. I saw dealing with anger as playing with fire. I could easily get burned. I decided at a young age, without really mak bing a conscious choice, to smother any smoking tinders of irritation I felt. In remaining calm and controlled, I found safety and, I believed, acceptance and admiration from others. It was only many years later that I began to recognize the awful price I paid for my pseudo-tranquility. ANGER, A POWERFUL ENERGY Anger is a natural energy, like fire. Our earliest ancestors witnessed the power of fire in lightning storms and raging forest fires. They also enjoyed the light and warmth it provided in their cold, dark world. It was like a...