Allen Elkin - Stress Management For Dummies

Stress Management For Dummies , 2nd Edition

Published by
John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
111 River St.
Hoboken, NJ 07030-5774
www.wiley.com

Copyright 2013 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey

Published simultaneously in Canada

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning or otherwise, except as permitted under Sections 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without the prior written permission of the Publisher. Requests to the Publisher for permission should be addressed to the Permissions Department, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030, (201) 748-6011, fax (201) 748-6008, or online at http://www.wiley.com/go/permissions .

Trademarks: Wiley, the Wiley logo, For Dummies, the Dummies Man logo, A Reference for the Rest of Us!, The Dummies Way, Dummies Daily, The Fun and Easy Way, Dummies.com, Making Everything Easier, and related trade dress are trademarks or registered trademarks of John Wiley & Sons, Inc., and/or its affiliates in the United States and other countries, and may not be used without written permission. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. John Wiley & Sons, Inc., is not associated with any product or vendor mentioned in this book.

Limit of Liability/Disclaimer of Warranty: The publisher and the author make no representations or warranties with respect to the accuracy or completeness of the contents of this work and specifically disclaim all warranties, including without limitation warranties of fitness for a particular purpose. No warranty may be created or extended by sales or promotional materials. The advice and strategies contained herein may not be suitable for every situation. This work is sold with the understanding that the publisher is not engaged in rendering legal, accounting, or other professional services. If professional assistance is required, the services of a competent professional person should be sought. Neither the publisher nor the author shall be liable for damages arising herefrom. The fact that an organization or Website is referred to in this work as a citation and/or a potential source of further information does not mean that the author or the publisher endorses the information the organization or Website may provide or recommendations it may make. Further, readers should be aware that Internet Websites listed in this work may have changed or disappeared between when this work was written and when it is read.

For general information on our other products and services, please contact our Customer Care Department within the U.S. at 877-762-2974, outside the U.S. at 317-572-3993, or fax 317-572-4002.

For technical support, please visit www.wiley.com/techsupport .

Wiley publishes in a variety of print and electronic formats and by print-on-demand. Some material included with standard print versions of this book may not be included in e-books or in print-on-demand. If this book refers to media such as a CD or DVD that is not included in the version you purchased, you may download this material at http://booksupport.wiley.com . For more information about Wiley products, visit www.wiley.com .

Library of Congress Control Number: 2013934912

ISBN 978-1-118-52392-6 (pbk); ISBN 978-1-118-61251-4 (ebk); ISBN 978-1-118-61255-2 (ebk); ISBN 978-1-118-61259-0 (ebk)

Manufactured in the United States of America

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

About the Author

Allen Elkin, PhD, is a clinical psychologist, a certified sex therapist, and the director of the Stress Management & Counseling Center in New York City. Nationally known for his expertise in the field of stress and emotional disorders, he has appeared frequently on Today, Good Morning America, and Good Day New York , as well as programs on PBS, CNN, FNN, Fox 5, and National Public Radio. He has been quoted in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, Newsweek, Mens Health, Fitness, Cosmopolitan, Glamour, Redbook, Womans Day, Self, Mademoiselle, McCalls, Parents , and other publications. Dr. Elkin holds workshops and presentations for professional organizations and corporations, including the American Society of Contemporary Medicine, Surgery, and Ophthalmology; the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration; Morgan Stanley; IBM; PepsiCo; and the New York Stock Exchange.

He is the author of two other books on stress, Urban Ease: Stress-Free Living in the Big City (Penguin Books), and Relax in the City Week by Week, (Duncan Baird). He is also a coauthor of Thriving in the Workplace All-in-One For Dummies (Wiley).

When hes not talking about stress, you can probably find him at his home on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, where he lives with his wife, Beth, their two children, Josh and Katy, and their cat, Smokey.

Dedication

To my wife, Beth, my best friend, and our children, Josh and Katy, who bring us great joy.

Acknowledgments

First, and certainly foremost, I would like to thank my wife, Beth, who not only tolerated all the stress and tension that came with writing this book but also helped me edit the manuscript and kept me on track when I got lost. Her caring patience and sense of humor made writing this book much less stressful than it might have been.

I would also like to thank the many wonderful people at Wiley for their attention and care in turning an idea into a book. Special thanks are due to my editors, Lindsay Lefevere, Chrissy Guthrie, and Ashley Petry, and technical reviewer Matthew Grant for their support and encouragement and enormous help in making this a much better book than it might have been.

Finally, thank you to all my teachers and mentors whose thoughts, ideas, and insights are blended in these pages. I owe a special debt to my patients, who daily show me that there is still much more to learn.

Publishers Acknowledgments

We're proud of this book; please send us your comments at http://dummies.custhelp.com . For other comments, please contact our Customer Care Department within the U.S. at 877-762-2974, outside the U.S. at 317-572-3993, or fax 317-572-4002.

Some of the people who helped bring this book to market include the following:

Acquisitions, Editorial, and Vertical Websites

Senior Project Editor: Christina Guthrie

(Previous Edition: Tim Gallan, Brian Kramer)

Executive Editor: Lindsay Sandman Lefevere

Copy Editor: Ashley Petry

Assistant Editor: David Lutton

Editorial Program Coordinator: Joe Niesen

Technical Editor: Matthew Grant, PsyD, HSPP

Vertical Websites: Rachel Mills

Editorial Manager: Christine Meloy Beck

Editorial Assistants: Rachelle Amick, Alexa Koschier

Cover Photos: TommL / iStockphoto.com

Art Coordinator: Alicia B. South

Composition Services

Project Coordinator: Patrick Redmond

Layout and Graphics: Jennifer Creasey, Joyce Haughey

Proofreaders: Jessica Kramer, Evelyn C. Welborn

Indexer: Potomac Indexing, LLC

Illustrator: Pam Tanzey

Special Help: Megan Knoll

Publishing and Editorial for Consumer Dummies

Kathleen Nebenhaus, Vice President and Executive Publisher

David Palmer, Associate Publisher

Kristin Ferguson-Wagstaffe, Product Development Director

Publishing for Technology Dummies

Andy Cummings, Vice President and Publisher

Composition Services