Details from Audible:
- Unf–k Your Brain
- Written by: Faith G. Harper PhD LPC-S ACS ACN
- Narrated by: Faith G. Harper PhD LPC-S ACS ACN
- Length: 3 hrs and 39 mins
- 3.7 out of 5 stars3.7 (605 ratings)
Written by: Faith G. Harper PhD LPC-S ACS ACN
Written by: Seth J. Gillihan PhD
Publisher’s Summary
A no-nonsense and helpful guide on how to cope with a slew of mental-health issues that are hell-bent on ruining the lives of millions of people worldwide
Our brains do their best to help us out, but every so often they can be real assholes – having meltdowns, getting addicted to things, or shutting down completely at the worst possible moments. Your brain knows it’s not good to do these things, but it can’t help it sometimes – especially if it’s obsessing about trauma it can’t overcome. That’s where this life-changing book comes in.
With humor, patience, science, and lots of good-ole swearing, Dr. Faith explains what’s going on in your skull, and talks you through the process of retraining your brain to respond appropriately to the non-emergencies of everyday life, and to deal effectively with old, or newly acquired, traumas (particularly post-traumatic stress disorder).
©2017 Faith G. Harper (P)2017 Microcosm Publishing
Initial Thoughts:
I’ve gotten into mental health and by that I mean I care about my own and I like to learn about ways I can improve/maintain and generally how the study of the human brain and human behavior is fascinating (whew! long sentence). I studied Sociology and Philosophy in university, so it has been an interest of mine for a long time. This book was recommended by a friend on FB and of course it was on Libby, so I gave it a listen.
Main Points:
What strikes you right away about this is that it has a very recorded at home sound/feel to it. It sounds like she recorded this at home and while that’s not a bad thing, it’s just very surprising for an audiobook. To be honest I find it does detract from the book, there are times where she makes mistakes, there are background noises or just poor editing, it’s quite odd for a book. Also while I know the title is “Unfuck Your Brain” why did Dr. Harper feel the need to swear so often? It’s distracting and really is unnecessary. The only reason I can come up with is that she wanted to make this book more approachable/hip/relatable but for most of the book it’s just annoying to me. I also felt that most of the useful advice is in the last few chapters and they (like most of the book) seems very rushed. I think this book should have been twice as long to give the author (and the listener) a chance to think about and really grasp the many concepts that are discussed.
Enough negativity though, she is an excellent therapist and makes lots of really good points. There is plenty of insight on how to deal with anxiety, trauma and grief, how your brain works and ultimately how to be happier person. Ideas like “you forgive people so you’re not carrying so much bullshit” (and I’m paraphrasing of course) is very interesting and helpful notion. The science behind how the brain functions in terms of your amygdala and prefrontal cortex (and how they work together) was really interesting.
Her attitude towards mental health, people and life is very refreshing and I agreed with 100% of what she says in this book. I think anyone who is suffering from anxiety, grief, depression or any other mental issue would benefit from listening to this, just keep in mind the concerns noted at the beginning. She does a good job explaining fairly complex ideas and she does use very down-to-earth and friendly vernacular, which is a good idea to invite people to explore and benefit from the study of mental health.
Final Thoughts:
I took away several helpful and interesting ideas from this book. I enjoyed it, I mainly just wish that it had been longer to better explain and develop the complex ideas/concepts here and that it had been recorded in a studio with better editing. The constant swearing is distracting at first but you do get used to it and I just ignored it after a while. I would give this a 7 out of 10 and would recommend it to anyone who is dealing with anxiety, depression, grief or who is just interested in being a happier person and understanding mental health better. Dr. Harper has a nice speaking voice and I think if it were recorded under better conditions (with a good editor), it would be a much better audiobook. Obviously not for kids due to constant swearing, ages 16+. I wanted to thank Dr. Harper for writing this book, it helped me and I’m sure it has also helped others.