Book Reviews – John Arden, PhD
Mind-Brain-Gene
“Mind-Brain-Gene is a classic in the making, a tour de force that bridges mental and physical health in a fresh and compelling integration. Bringing together the latest advances in attachment theory, trauma, neuroscience, epigenetics, human development, and mind training, John Arden presents a powerful model of transformative psychotherapy. Detailed, while accessible and fascinating, this book will upgrade your operating system as a human being and also as a therapist. I simply couldn’t put it down. ”
— Joan Borysenko, Ph.D., New York Times bestselling author of Minding the Body, Mending the Mind
“Kudos to John Arden for providing an integrative approach to the diverse fields of genetics, neuroscience and psychotherapy. This book is filled with scholarship, practical self-care clinical interventions and hope. It will challenge both the ways you view psychopathology and behavior change.”
– Donald Meichenbaum, Ph.D., Research Director of the Melissa Institute for Violence Prevention, Miami
“This book provides a quantum leap into understanding how the interactions of brain, mind, and body, in an ever-changing environment, determine the meaning and quality of our existence. The inevitable results of contemplating this mind-altering synthesis is to live life more fully while positively affecting the lives of others. Everyone who cares about mental and physical health owes a huge debt of gratitude to John Arden for this brilliant contribution to the science of well-being.”
– Harvey Milkman, PhD, Professor Emeritus, Metropolitan State University of Denver, author of Craving for Ecstasy and Natural Highs
“The discovery of interactions between the mind, brain and our genes is constantly being developed. It is critical for health professionals to have a complete overview of the current research within this field. John Arden’s book is an excellent source of scientific summaries and therapeutic implications. It leads towards the psychotherapy of the 21st Century.”
– Anna Leybina, PhD, Moscow State University
“John Arden has cast a huge net, drawing in all that is fascinating and wonderful about being human. From neuroscience to genetics to psychoneuroimmunology, Arden builds a grand picture of who we are and who we can be. He shows how systemic dynamics create positive feedback loops to enhance and improve, but also the damaging effect of negative feedback. If you want to know more about the myriad of elements that make up our brain-body, then read this book!”
– Richard Hill, Director, The Mindscience Institute, Managing Editor, The Neuropsychotherapist
“John Arden has very creatively in simple language represented the complex multi-directional causal relationships that explain the vast field of psychoneuroimmunology and epigentics along with cognitive dynamics that provide an integrated psychotherapy approach. the simple language of the book makes it easy to comprehend and apply the information in the field of therapy. Each student of health psychology and practitioners of psychotherapy must read this book to get this holistic perspective.”
– Dr. Sanjeev Sahni, India
“The youth and adults today are stressed that affects their psychological health. John Arden’s books explains very well the complex interconnections between body (neurological and immunology) and mind (psychological). The book is a must read for psychotherapists to understand the biological, psychological and social causal relationships that actually make an individual who he or she is.
– Dr. Mohita Junnarkar, India
“The evolution of psychotherapy points toward integration, and this book leads the way.”
– Bill O’Hanlon, author of Do One Thing Different
The Brain Bible
“Dr. John Arden provides an uplifting read for those of us who look forward to aging actively and enjoyably. This book is as scientifically rigorous as it is readable, accessible and peppered with fascinating stories about real people and the things they do or do not do which are contributing to their health and longevity. Building on the latest biomedical and psychosocial research, he beautifully describes the lifestyle factors that we can control and which have enormous effects on the length and quality of our lives. This is a must read.”
– Ian Robertson, PhD Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland, Author of The Winner Effect
“John Arden’s new book is an important contribution to the health literature particularly for the focus on applying neuroplasticity principles in conjunction with preventative positive health behavior. His command of the scientific literature across a broad range of areas is impressive, as is his ability to communicate findings in a clear and accessible way for both professionals and individuals interested in this topic. In essence John Arden has provided a systematic approach to enhancing neurological functioning as we age as well as optimizing our health. If everyone followed this book as a guide there would be dramatic reductions in cognitive decline, mental health problems and health problems saving the health care system billions of dollars a year. I commend this book to health care providers and people interested in caring for our most important organ, the brain, which embodies the sum total of who we are in life.”
– Dr Matthew Bambling. University of Queensland, Department of Psychiatry; School of Medicine, Australia
”If you want to redefine the aging process to be what you want instead of what you have observed, read this book, to have ample guidance for healthy longevity.”
– Charlotte A Tomaino, PhD, author of Awakening the Brain: The Neuropsychology of Grace
“This book translates the latest developments from the abstruse world of the neurological sciences into accessible, real-world guidance for those who are sharp enough to choose to remain sharp. Essential reading for helping professionals and their clients.”
– John Soderlund Publishing Editor, New Therapist South Africa
”Meet your brain–and get to know it! Dr. Arden introduces us to this wondrous part of who we are as humans and in the process provides superb advice on how to optimize our brain’s longevity and abilities. He writes clearly with an energetic, engaging style, using many examples, real-life analogies, and copious amounts of research-based input. The material is effectively presented via a five factor, user-friendly grid—SEEDS—which emphasizes understanding brain basics and practicing life skills for well being. I want to highly commend Dr. Arden for his skillfully integration of research, clinical practice, and behavioral health into a highly readable, relevant guide for nurturing “mature” brains and for aging well. Remember you are never “over the hill” in life, he reminds us, but rather there are many more hills to explore. And this book is a great guide for exploring these hills as we enrich our lives with a more fully functioning brain.”
– Kelly O’Donnell, PsyD, CEO/Consulting Psychologist, Member Care Associates, Inc., Geneva, Switzerland
”Successful aging just doesn’t happen, it takes knowledge, wisdom, and action. Read this book and let John Arden take you on a fascinating and very human journey through the science and steps to healthy aging.”
– Louis Cozolino Ph.D, Pepperdine University
Author of The Healthy Aging Brain
”Dr. Arden’s The Brain Bible is the companion to his well- received book Rewire Your Brain. Dr. Arden lucidly cuts through the cacophony of confusing advice found in the media on the important topic of how to protect your brain and live longer. He distills the scientific literature on brain function and shows how we can make step-by-step improvements in those lifestyle factors which most influence our aging brains – healthy relationships, education, exercise, diet and sleep. This is an important and inspiring book for anyone interested in healthy aging.”
– Mark Thorpe, PhD, Head of Psychology, AUT University, New Zealand
”The Brain Bible is the ultimate guide book for living healthy and happy. Dr Arden suggests simple behaviors, supported by the latest science, to maintain and improve brain’s wellness. They constitute modern commandments for an achieved life!”
– Marcel Bernier, M. Ps. Psychologist, Laval University, Québec, Canada. Author of La Rupture Amoureuse
Rewire Your Brain
“Translates fascinating developments in neuroscience into a powerful and practical guide to lasting change in our lives.”
– Liz Sheean, Editor, Psychotherapy in Australia.
“At last, a practical book that not only brings us up to date with the latest developments in neuroscience but also gives tools and techniques to help ‘rewire the brain’ and maximize the brain’s potential. A fascinating and inspirational book. “
— Jane Stephenson, JSA Seminars Dublin, Ireland
“Dr. Arden paved the way for brain-based therapy and what the brain can do. It’s refreshing, practical and innovative.”
— Kit S. Ng, PhD, Director, Asia Institute of Professional Psychology, Singapore
“In Rewire Your Brain Dr. John Arden goes on an exciting quest for your mind. If you would like to learn more about Mindful Attitudes and Brain-based therapies, you definitely need to read this book.”
— George Dinchev, Owner of http://psychology-bg.com – the psychology in Bulgaria and SEE Region
“Concomitantly with growing professional recognition of the importance of integrating advancements in neuroscience into clinical practice, books such as Rewire Your Brain make this innovative information accessible to the general public, thereby providing readers with practical guidelines to enhancing their wellbeing. It is a valuable contribution indeed.”
— Avigail Moor Ph.D., Clinical Psychologist, Tel Hai College, Israel
“Once I started to read Rewire Your Brain, it was hard to stop. John Arden has a gift for making complicated and advanced scientific findings interesting and easy to understand. I have not been reading much about brain structures, processes, and neurotransmitters since studying first year psychology almost 30 years ago, a time when the knowledge in this field was quite rudimentary. Rewire Your Brain presents ‘old’ knowledge and concepts together with results of new research in at way that gives you an updated insight in ‘how we are wired.’ Even more important, it gives hope and practical advice for both therapists and their patients, but also for healthy individuals who want to improve their memory, mood, or bad habits!”
— Per A Straumsheim, Ph.D. Special Advisor, Norwegian Psychological Association
“Dr. Arden tells us all about the brain in an accessible way, he even animates it in some way, in contrast to brain researchers who investigate the brain like an lifeless mechanism. In order to maintain an active and flexible brain, the author shows practical ways of neuropsychologically-competent mastery of brain. Therefore the book is free of theoretical abstractions, scientific dryness, and haughtiness.”
— Gayane Shaverdian, Ph.D. Chair and Professor of the Department of Applied Psychology, Yerevan State University, Armenia
“This book speaks of a universal language that breaks cultural borders . People from the West will have a better understanding of early Asian therapies and why it is effective; while those from the East will appreciate the contribution of modern Western health perspectives . It gives a scientific explanation of how therapies like meditation, chi-gong, exercise, hypnosis and other non-traditional healing interventions can affect health and longevity. It will certainly rewire the mindsets of many public readers.”
— Isabel Echanis-Melgar, PhD., Chair, Committee on Clinical Psychology, Psychological Association of the Philippines
Brain-Based Therapy for Adults, Brain-Based Therapy for Children and Adolescents
John B. Arden and Lloyd Linford
“These authors in this new volume see the value in integrating the biological and psychological in a more seamless way, to both inform and drive the integrated approach further.”
– (Metapsychology, May 2009)
Heal Your Anxiety Workbook
“You will understand your anxiety and learn how to overcome it. Dr. Arden will be your friend along the way to your recovery.”
– Elke Zuercher-White, PhD, ABPP, author of The End to Panic.
Conquering Post Traumatic Stress Disorder
John B. Arden, Ph.D. and Victoria Lemle Beckner, Ph.D.
“Beckner and Arden, both of whom have extensive clinical and academic research experience, profile six diverse individuals (a firefighter and survivors of mugging, war, childhood abuse, an automobile accident, and Hurricane Katrina) who struggle with PTSD, identifying their triggers and a clear path to recovery. The authors present a treatment modality focused on cognitive behavioral techniques, evidence-based relationship strategies and techniques to work through traumatic memory, and a holistic approach that provides support on each step of the journey to growth.”
— Melody Ballard, Pima Cty. P.L., Tucson –Library Journal Xpress Review
Heal Your OCD Workbook
“If you or a loved one suffers from OCD, read this book! The Heal Your OCD Workbook presents the latest scientifically-based approaches to overcome OCD. These principles are illustrated with clear examples of the newest techniques and simple, effective tools with needed monitoring forms that will help you conquer OCD!”
– Eric L. Ryan, Ph.D., Chair of the Anxiety Disorders Best Practices for Psychiatry and Chemical Dependency, Northern California Kaiser-Permanente
“The Heal-Your-OCD Workbook is easy to read, encouraging, full of vivid examples and up-to-date, and very practical. If you want help with OCD, this book is excellent!”
– Michael Hoyt, PhD, author of Brief Psychotherapies and the Present is the Gift.
Consciousness, Dreams, and Self: A Transdisplinary Approach
Winner of the Outstanding Academic Book Award (1997-Choice, the American Library Association)
“In Consciousness, Dreams, and Self, Dr. J.B. Arden has produced a masterful synthesis of biological, philosophical, and psychophysiological perspectives on human consciousness. Arden has deliberately proposed a paradigm shift that would accommodate his views on consciousness as a contextual, fluid process—one that is especially well illustrated in his chapters on dreaming. Although consciousness was neglected by mainstream science for many decades, there is now a plethora of books on the topic. Arden’s contribution is unique, and his readers will find their ideas about consciousness both challenged and expanded.”
– Stanley Krippner, PhD, Professor of Psychology, Saybrook Institute
“An interesting overview of current knowledge and speculation in consciousness research.”
– Karl Pribram, MD, Professor, Radford University, Professor Emeritus, Stanford University
“In this bold extension of the biopsychosocial model of mind-body/body-mind using now necessary concepts of nonlinear dynamics, Dr. Arden impressively approaches an integration between the objective body of science and the phenomenological body of experienced meaning.”
– George Solomon, MD, Professor Emeritus of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, University of California, Los Angeles
Science, Theology, and Consciousness
“Arden’s book is an excellent attempt to help us move beyond an overdependence on the science of the past century and broaden our focus, methodology, and explanatory power by moving into the much larger framework of contemporary science and the developing science of the 21st century….Arden’s book is an excellent way to get started in expanding our personal and professional horizons and in expanding the future of psychology.”
– Charles Tart, PhD in the Journal of Contemporary Psychology
“Arden’s scholarship is important because it informs us so clearly in this day of over-specialization that the human experience is not a creature of specialization, but grows from a wealth of influences that can only be understood by standing at the nexus of many disciplinary perspectives.”
– Allan Combs, PhD University of North Carolina Author, Radiance of Being
“As we enter a new millennium, the relationships between spirituality, science, and the concept of consciousness are being redefined. This is one of the clearest and most inspiring visions of what the new picture may be.”
– Larry Dossey, MD, Executive Editor, Alternative Therapies Author, Healing Words and Space, Time, and Medicine
America’s Meltdown
“Written in a trenchant style yet employing vernacular befitting a pop psychologist, this is a scathing critique of the rampant vulgarity, violence, and voyeurism in contemporary US mass culture, rooted in the cash nexus of corporate capitalism….Highly recommended. All levels and libraries.”
– Choice
“None of Arden’s observations is new, but he presents them coherently and convincingly, and thoughtful readers will find little to disagree with.”
– ForeWord Magazine
“Arden addresses problems that are at least worrisome, perhaps ominous, and that we ignore at our peril.”
– Noam Chomsky
“A damning indictment of our mass media’s cynical exploitation of the crudest impulses in the human psyche.”
– Ben H. Bagdikian author, The Media Monopoly
“Arden is one of the millions who doesn’t want what’s oozing out of our TV screens. Fortunately for all of us, he’s taken the time to explain why the system isn’t working for all of us–and that we can do something about it.”
– Danny Schechter Executive Editor, The Media Channel
“Nothing short of an urgent wake-up call to sit up, take notice of and do something about the morally, intellectually and emotionally corrosive effect unchecked corporate power, operating overtly and covertly, has had over every aspect of our lives.”
– Montague Ullman, M.D.