Category: BookReview

  • Go on: hug yourself!

    Go on: hug yourself!

    Now that I had graduated from my PhD studies and can call myself Dr Linda, I have no need to read technical books anymore… and yet… some habits are hard to break. As such, I’m still reading a lot of non-fiction works, but now their topic tends to be all…

  • “Not tonight honey – I have a headache”

    “Not tonight honey – I have a headache”

    What a cliche! And yet… where there’s smoke there’s fire… or is there? Today’s post is a little bit long (it went places I wasn’t expecting) and it is also potentially a little bit tricky as it initially treads into an area many people might consider taboo for public conversation.…

  • Bibliotherapy and migraines

    Bibliotherapy and migraines

    As someone who has had a lot of migraines, I can tell you that there is a sliding scale of functionality that is attached to a life lived with pain. On some days, the pain is manageable or nearly missing, so you can do most things, even perform something as…

  • “No mud, no lotus”

    “No mud, no lotus”

    Today’s blog post is a book review for Thích Nhất Hạnh’s book “No Mud, No Lotus” which is a practical self-help guide published over 10 years ago in 2014. Before I started to read it, I knew nothing about the book or the author, other than I had heard the…

  • “Unlearn your pain”

    “Unlearn your pain”

    I’m always on the lookout for information that will change the way I relate to and understand my chronic pain.  In my search, I came across a book online called “Unlearn your pain” by Dr. Howard Schubiner.  (The book is on his website here).  The title alone made me optimistic……

  • “The neuroscience of mindfulness”

    “The neuroscience of mindfulness”

    A while ago I posted about “Mindfulness and its discontents”, a book I picked up from the university library.  In the same visit I also picked up another book, titled “The neuroscience of mindfulness” by Australian neuroscientist Stan Rodski (2019). The book starts straight out with why we need mindfulness;…

  • “Hidden from View”

    “Hidden from View”

    A doctor I met on LinkedIn sent me a PDF of a book suggesting it might help me with my migraines; “Hidden from view: a clinician’s guide to psychophysiologic disorders” by doctors Allan Abbass and Howard Schubiner (2018).  As the title suggests, I think it was designed for people who…

  • “How to change minds”

    “How to change minds”

    When my neurologist told me that “more medicine doesn’t equal less pain”, I didn’t want to listen.  When he told me that to heal, I needed to adjust my lifestyle and mindset, I became as prickly as a cactus.  When he suggested that I should start doing meditation, yoga and…

  • “In bed” by Joan Didion

    “In bed” by Joan Didion

    Joan Didon (1934-2021) is an American writer and journalist. Her obituary in Vogue casually mentions: “She was afflicted by migraines and was frequently depressed, even wearing dark glasses through the wedding ceremony.” I found a picture on Joan’s website, and sunglasses indoors does appear to confirm she is a person…