Synopses & Reviews
Back to Life is a feel-good approach to overcoming that lets you try on the skills of the heroes you most admire. From icons of survival like Rosa Parks and Nelson Mandela to contemporary heroes like Michael J. Fox and Elizabeth Edwards, this book allows you to see what resilient survivors actually do when they feel lousy.
This is a revolutionary approach to feeling better, rooted in the science of positive psychology and resilience theory, and would help anyone get a dose of soul food into their emotional diet; but these techniques are specially tailored to those trying to overcome traumas big and small—from Big-T Traumas, such as combat, abuse, and bereavement, to challenges one might think of as little-t traumas, like breakups, betrayals, job loss, health problems, and financial hardships.
After years of working in the trenches of psychiatry, it became clear to Dr. Alicia Salzer that we needed some new methods to help people overcome, since the old methods often proved too painful for many to bear. It's all about being in the present and focusing on the future—no retelling and revisiting the past, no opening Pandora's box, no picking at old scabs.
Back to Life is a creative and empowering way to learn the habits of resilient survivors while getting to know what you stand for, what makes you happy, and what emotions you need in your diet in order to thrive. In this book you will create a "holistic pillbox" of ten stones—each symbolizing a healthy new way of coping—that you can utilize when your past rears its head.
The truth is, there have always been people in our midst who remain positive and passionate despite enormous challenges while others just get stuck. This is the secret playbook of those people, and it's full of accessible and fun exercises to help you try on the rose-colored glasses of those survivors we so admire.
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“A sensible escort to identifying and deploying signature strengths buried by traumatic emotional paralysis.” Kirkus Reviews
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“...[W]ritten from the heart and with sound psychology to provide help to readers . . . Salzer gives a road map for how to get there.” Library Journal
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“[Salzers] resilience skills will benefit any reader, whether dealing with trauma or not . . . full of humanity, humor, and respect. . . . Salzer explains clinical concepts in a straightforward yet interesting way.” Publishers Weekly
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“Dr. Alicia Salzers book is a gift for our times. There is hardly a soul out there in these jaded and trying times who wouldnt benefit from refreshing their outlook and their will to live with what I call, a dose of the Doc.” Montel Williams, Host & Executive Producer of "The Montel Williams Show" and New York Times Bestselling Author
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“BACK TO LIFE offers a revolutionary program to help you get through the small stuff AND the big stuff in your life. Dr. Alicia shares practical wisdom gleaned from her work with the hundreds of trauma survivors she has helped over the years.” Marci Shimoff, #1 < i=""> NY Times <> bestselling author, < i=""> Happy for No Reason <> and <> Chicken Soup for the Woman's Soul <> , featured teacher in < i=""> The Secret <> <>
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“Finally! Someone who truly understands how to help victims get ‘back on track after Trauma. Dr. Salzers positive, upbeat and realistic approach to overcoming PTSD is not only extremely resfreshing...it works.” Kathleen Baty, Stalking Victim/Survivor and author of < i=""> A Girl's Gotta Do What A Girl's Gotta Do: The Ultimate Guide To Living Safe and Smart <> <>
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“BACK TO LIFE is a new and revolutionary book for victims and survivors to reclaim their lives with techniques, insight and step by step help. This book gives trauma victims and survivors hope for a renewed future.” Sheryl Cates, CEO Texas Council on Family Violence, National Domestic Violence Hotline
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“Dr. Salzer offers an empowering new approach to trying on the coping skills and outlooks of heroic overcomers. These are life skills we all should have learned as kids.” < b=""> -- Dr. Mehmet Oz, bestselling author of < i=""> YOU: The Owner's Manual <> <> , host of The Dr. Oz Show
Synopsis
Virtually every American will experience an event in their lifetime that will in some way qualify as traumatic. "Back to Life" will show readers how to overcome these setbacks, and live a normal, happy life, without being a victim.
Synopsis
“Dr. Salzer offers an empowering new approach to trying on the coping skills and outlooks of heroic overcomers. These are life skills we all should have learned as kids.”
—Dr. Mehmet Oz, bestselling author of YOU: The Owners Manual, host of The Dr. Oz Show
Back to Life by Alicia Salzer, M.D. is a wise, sympathetic, and practical guide for overcoming traumatic setbacks, and living a normal, happy life without being a victim. The former resident psychiatrist on the Montel Williams show, Dr. Salzer offers a fresh new take on trauma treatment, a method for “getting past your past with resilience, strength, and optimism” designed for anyone who has experienced catastrophe. Destined to become a classic work on emotional recovery, this remarkable volume points the way down the path Back to Life, and belongs on every bookshelf next to When Bad Things Happen to Good People.
About the Author
Alicia Salzer, M.D., completed her B.A. at the University of Pennsylvania and obtained her M.D. from Cornell University. She has held posts at UCLA, Columbia University, and the Mount Sinai School of Medicine. An advocate for victims of psychological trauma, she has served on the Speaker's Bureau of the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network (RAINN) and has volunteered for Disaster Psychiatry Outreach, an organization that provides free mental health staffing and treatment following disasters such as 9/11. After volunteering at Ground Zero and at the family assistance center after the 9/11 attacks, Dr. Salzer worked for three years at a clinic that exclusively served Ground Zero rescue workers and volunteers.