Author Biography John L. O'Brien was born in Lafayette, Indiana, where his parents attended Purdue University, but he calls South Bend, Indiana, home.
He was an Irish kid growing up in a Jewish neighborhood within blocks of the University of Notre Dame, only in America!
Married for more than 29 years, he has four children and five grandchildren.
John and his wife Alice enjoy their "usually empty nest" status, and have lived in the southwest Denver area for almost three decades.
The only thing Dr.O'Brien has ever won in his life was the number five (5) pick for the Vietnam draft lottery in 1969. He served for almost 6 years.
He used his GI Bill benefits to earn his B.A., M.A., and Ph.D. in studies related to business and human resources.
John has studied human emotions and psychological functioning for more than three decades, searching for a path to achieve lasting happiness and contentment in life.
Dr. O'Brien has founded an entirely new and exciting field of study to achieve and continually refine each individual's path to healthy psychological functioning and happiness each day, called Thinkiatry®.
Book Review Reviewed by Alice H. for Readers Favorite
In How Emotionally Damaged Are We?, author John Lindsay O'Brien tells the reader that most all major problems and disorders of life can be corrected by using principles he calls "Thinkiatry." He contends that "Stress does not really exist, but stressful thinking does..." and the reader is hard pressed NOT to think that when one has just had a home foreclosed, a child has died or one has found out he/she has an inoperable brain tumor, that there is not, indeed, a substantial stress directed toward that individual. However, the idea of "thinkiatry" is something that will appeal to people who may have unsuccessfully tried other means of avoiding negative thinking.
The author suggests that positive thinking will lead to positive emotions and moods. He then advocates that people naturally have separate realities (different perceptions of a particular event) and that it oftentimes creates unnecessary interpersonal conflict. The fifth principle of living in the moment can also be a contributor to negative thinking and feeling. It is difficult for many readers to conclude that such major disorders as chronic depression, obesity and addictions can be treated by simply adopting a positive thinking approach, but the author contends that this type of mental processing is generally a precursor to bad feelings which then lead to poor choices.
Carnegie put forth the idea of positive thinking quite some time ago, as did Albert Ellis in his theory of rational-emotive thinking. I did not find anything profound in this book which would encourage me to take the author's advice over that written by time-tested experts. However, I did feel that the chapter on how failing to attend to different realities in marriage and other interpersonal relationships can lead to unnecessary conflict and severing of relationships was well worth the read. |
Become an Affiliate...
