Emotional Inflammation: Discover Your Triggers and Reclaim Your Equilibrium During Anxious Times

by Lise Van Susteren MD, Stacey Colino

Overview

A Powerful Guide for Overcoming the Emotional Challenges of Our Turbulent Times.

A rising number of people today are troubled by a phenomenon for which they don’t know there’s a name. This condition is called emotional inflammation—a state not unlike post-traumatic stress disorder, but one that stems from simply living in today’s anxious, overwhelming, and tumultuous world. If you’ve suffered from sleep problems, hyperreactivity, persistent grief, or inescapable worry about the future—especially triggered by the nonstop news cycle—then you’re probably dealing with emotional inflammation.

The good news is: there’s something you can do about it.

With Emotional Inflammation, general and forensic psychiatrist Dr. Lise Van Susteren joins writer Stacey Colino to present a breakthrough guide to help you become grounded and resilient in these turbulent times. You’ll begin by determining your “reactor type” to better understand how your body and mind respond to stress overload. Then you’ll learn the vital steps of the powerful RESTORE program for recovering inner balance, personal effectiveness, and joy in your life:

• Recognize Your Feelings: how to identify, unpack, and learn from difficult emotions
• Evaluate Your Triggers: pinpoint what sets you off and how you can moderate your reactivity
• Steady Your Body’s Natural Rhythms: keys for restoring your natural, healthy internal equilibrium
• Think Yourself into a Safe Space: work with your mind to remain flexible, thoughtful, and adaptable
• Obey Your Body: essential self-care practices for diet, exercise, stress management, and more
• Reclaim the Gifts of Nature: revitalize your healing connection to the natural world and its awe-inspiring benefits
• Exercise Your Power: become an “upstander” who takes effective action from a place of compassion, hope, and love

Completing the basics of this method, the authors share key insights on how to personalize RESTORE to fit into your life based on which of the four reactor types you identify with—Nervous, Revved, Molten, or Retreating.

You can’t always control the crises and catastrophes that are swirling around you. But that does not mean you’re powerless against the status quo—nor do you need to be at the mercy of the physiological, psychological, and spiritual stress responses inside you. With Emotional Inflammation, you now have an invaluable guide to help you cope with the challenges of a turbulent world, calm your body and mind, and reclaim a sense of peace, purpose, and connection to others.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781683644552
Publisher:	Sounds True, Incorporated
Publication date:	04/28/2020
Pages:	296
Sales rank:	428,478
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.10(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

LISE VAN SUSTEREN, MD, previously served as a clinical professor of psychiatry at Georgetown University. She is a go-to commentator about anxiety and trauma for television (including CNN, Good Morning America, NBC, VOA, and Fox News), radio (NPR, Minnesota Public Radio, and others), print media (including the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal, Newsweek, the Huffington Post, and CQ Magazine), and online outlets (such as Live Science, U.S. News & World Report, Global Health NOW, and many others).

As a thought leader and activist, Dr. Van Susteren addresses issues related to trauma and emotional inflammation through her roles at the Earth Day Network and Physicians for Social Responsibility. She is considered an expert in the psychological effects of climate change.

STACEY COLINO is an award-winning writer specializing in health and psychology. In addition to her work as a book collaborator, she is a regular contributor to U.S. News & World Report and AARP.org. Her work has appeared in the Washington Post Health section, Newsweek, Parade, Cosmopolitan, Real Simple, Health, Prevention, Woman’s Day, Harper’s Bazaar, Parents, and Good Housekeeping, among other magazines and newspapers.

Table of Contents

Introduction: Living on High Alert 1

Part I The Age of Hyperreactivity

1 Emotional Inflammation: The Name for How You've Been Feeling 11

2 What Type of Reactor Are You? 31

3 The Inflammatory Cascade 47

Part II The RESTORE Plan: The Science and Solutions Behind Cooling Down

4 Recognize Your Feelings 67

5 Evaluate Your Triggers 87

6 Steady Your Body's Natural Rhythms 105

7 Think Yourself into a Safe Space 127

8 Obey Your Body 149

9 Reclaim the Gifts of Nature 171

10 Exercise Your Power 191

11 Personalize Your RESTORE Plan 211

Epilogue 221

Acknowledgments 225

Glossary 227

Resources 237

Selected Bibliography 241

Index 265

About the Authors 281

Editorial Reviews

03/16/2020

Psychiatrist Van Susteren (Emotional Resiliency in the Era of Climate Change) and health writer Colino (Count Down) deliver in this cogent guide a plan to help individuals recognize triggers, plan ways to overcome them, and reestablish emotional and physical equilibrium. The authors write that pressures—work stress, gun violence, climate change—put everyone at risk for “emotional inflammation,” or biological distress responses to changing demands. To deal with these pressures, the authors recommend the RESTORE plan: recognize feelings, evaluate triggers, steady innate rhythms, obey signals, reclaim the gifts of nature, and exercise one’s power. They also offer advice on getting enough quality sleep, stepping away from social media, scheduling downtime, and exploring the natural world. While none of the ideas are groundbreaking, the authors’ wide scope and reassuring tone stand out: “The unfortunate truth is this: We have been depriving ourselves of natural remedies that are readily available. While they’re not necessarily easy to make habitual, they are simple to initiate.” These restorative tactics are great self-care starting points. (May)

Publishers Weekly

This book, with its RESTORE program, maps out the perfect route to self-care via the gentle powers of self-influence. We need it now more than ever.” —Robert Cialdini, PhD, author of Influence and Pre-Suasion

“A powerful, comprehensive, and practical guide to cultivating resilience in the face of our contemporary global challenges to planetary and public health, Emotional Inflammation offers us the personal tools to maintain deep clarity and equilibrium while engaging in the important work of serving the world. Wise and science-based, our guides offer each of us a timely tool kit for strengthening our minds to create more well-being inside and out. Bravo!” —Daniel J. Siegel, MD, New York Times bestselling author of Aware: The Science and Practice of Presence

“This book is a riveting read. It not only empowers by putting a name to the anxiety so many of us feel these days, but it also provides real, practical solutions. I found myself nodding in agreement on almost every page.” —Celeste Headlee, journalist and author of Do Nothing and We Need to Talk

“Finally, there's a name and a remedy for the anxious way so many people are feeling: emotional inflammation. The book empowers readers to take control of their lifestyle habits and quench the flames. Everyone needs this information in these stressful times.” —Mallika Chopra, author of Just Breathe and Just Feel

“Emotional Inflammation sees our collective stressors and shows us how to navigate them, keeping us connected yet no longer overburdened. The authors deftly translate the science and physiology of emotional inflammation into why we feel what we do, while putting us back in the driver’s seat of our senses.” —Holly Phillips, MD, former medical reporter for CBS News

From the Publisher