How do we break?

Vincent Dery

What happens when our minds and bodies are pushed beyond their limits? Vincent Dery, a health psychologist, has spent years helping his patients cope with whatever life throws their way. In his book, "How We Break," he wrote a book for anyone who sometimes feels like they've reached their breaking point.

Drawing on clinical case studies, cutting-edge scientific research, intimate personal stories, and cues from philosophy, literature, and film, How We Break offers a comforting new perspective on everyday human suffering. Dery points out that major shocks in life are relatively rare. More common, Dery notes, is when things go wrong a lot at once, or we experience prolonged periods of difficulty or instability. When the world shrinks to nothing but our daily encounters, we become unhappy, anxious, hopeless, and exhausted. In other words, we break down. He shows us that breakdown occurs when the very systems that enable us to get through life go haywire. But if we understand how life's hardships affect us, we will be better able to navigate times of exhaustion, stress, fatigue, and despair. By giving us a better understanding of what happens to us when we struggle to cope, and making a powerful case for the power of rest and recuperation, How We Break helps us chart our course through difficult times.