A Year to Change Your Mind Ideas from the Therapy Room to Help You Live Better

Psychology underpins everything we do, determining the decisions we make, the relationships we build, the roles we play and the places we live, and our behaviour is further influenced by the changing seasons, encouraging many of us to fall into unhelpful patterns again and again each year. In A YEAR TO CHANGE YOUR MIND, consultant clinical psychologist Dr Lucy Maddox explains how psychological processes thread through our lives, pinpointing those issues most frequently encountered in each month, and shows us how by reflecting upon past experiences, both joyful and painful, and considering evidence-based ideas from the realm of psychology, we can learn to live a more thoughtful, positive life that better prepares us for the future. From the tendency to lack motivation in January and to experience red-hot anger in the heat of August, to the weight of expectation associated with that back-to-school feeling in September and the pressure to enjoy the December holiday season, we're shown recognisable features of behaviour over the course of the year. In sharing with us the most useful psychology ideas the author has learned in her 15 years as a clinical psychologist - ones she uses i

Dr Lucy Maddox is a consultant clinical psychologist with many years' experience of working in mental health, mostly in NHS and charity settings. She is an experienced lecturer, writer and podcaster, and has written for publications including The Guardian, The Times and Prospect magazine.

Introduction
January: Which Way Next? - Decisions, Making Changes and Sticking to Them
February: Inching Forwards - Getting Going When We Feel Stuck
March: Spring Cleaning - Creating Spaces That Help Us to Feel Better
April: Nourishing to Flourish - How to Stop Having a Go at Ourselves
May: The Art of Talking (and Listening) - Using Therapy Skills to Improve Conversations
June: Summer Socializing - Feeling Connected
July: 3 a.m. Worries - Coping with Uncertainty and Existential Angst
August: Hot Under the Collar - Managing Anger
September: That Sunday Night Feeling - Making the Most of Work
October: Falling Leaves - Coping with Loss
November: The Joy of Missing Out - Valuing Rest
December: It’s Christmas - Negotiating Families and Managing Expectations
Epilogue
Acknowledgements
Notes
Index