The Super-Helper Syndrome
A Survival Guide for Compassionate People
Jess Baker author Rod Vincent author
Format:Hardback
Publisher:The History Press Ltd
Published:29th Sep '22
Should be back in stock very soon
This hardback is available in another edition too:
- Paperback£12.99(9781803996523)
There’s a type of person out there who is better at helping others than they are at looking after themselves. Maybe you’re one of them. Maybe you know someone who is. They are the backbone of the caring professions, giving strength to our schools, clinics, care homes and hospitals. But you will also find them in offices, gyms, community groups and charities – everywhere you look. There’s usually one in every family. But these people, who do so much to help others, are struggling. In their efforts to help wherever they can they typically overstretch themselves. Some face traumatic and distressing situations. Those in long-term caring relationships have no time to care for themselves. Those who are professional carers work prolonged hours with inadequate resources. Deeper down, beneath all of this, there is something else that causes helpers to suffer. It lurks unnoticed. It dwells in the psychology of the helper. Where people feel compelled to help others and don’t look after their own needs, that’s the Super-Helper Syndrome. Until recently this phenomenon has gone unnoticed and unnamed, but it has now been highlighted by chartered psychologists Jess Baker and Rod Vincent.
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The Super-Helper Syndrome* offers a new perspective on the psychology of helping. It sets out how helping works and why it sometimes goes wrong. It brings to life psychological and neuroscientific research to explain the roots of compassion and empathy. It goes deep into the belief system of helpers and reveals what really motivates them. It illustrates all this with excerpts from a broad spectrum of interviews with paid and unpaid helpers, from ICU nurses to lawyers, volunteers to live-in carers. The book provides activities for the reader to profile and analyse their own helping relationships. It offers support for people who want to adopt a Healthy Helper Mindset, including meeting their own needs, building assertiveness and setting helping boundaries. It guides the reader towards countering the inner critic with mindful self-compassion. It’s only by doing these things that compassionate people can be most effective at helping others.
This book is for anyone who helps to the detriment of their own wellbeing. It’s for anyone who wants to support the helpers in their life: colleagues, employees, family members or friends....
"I was hooked right from the authors' note; there was such beautiful humanity to it. This book is a powerful catalyst in showing helpers how to help themselves. I loved the prompts bringing deep insight, expertly yet tenderly unpicking the core beliefs that keep us stuck in unhealthy helping habits, followed up with the practical tools to actually do things differently. This book is a game changer"
-- Suzy Reading * author of The Self-Care Revolution *'Spend any time around most teachers and it probably won’t be long before you start seeing some visible signs of what co-authors Baker and Vincent, both chartered psychologists identify as Super-Helper Syndrome.'
* Teach Secondary Magazine *'If you have ever felt totally exhausted from relentlessly helping other people and putting their needs before yours then this book is a must-read. It's packed with fascinating insights as to why you're helping everyone except yourself and feeling burn out as a result. Read this if you want to redress the balance!'
* Motherhood The Real Deal (UK Parenting Blogger) *'It offers carers tools to set boundaries, realise their own limitations and understand why they often have an unrealistic and overwhelming need to help others.'
* The Lady *'That book is now on my Christmas list…'
-- Kaye Adams * BBC RADIO SCOTLAND *'This book is an essential read for anyone working in health or social care. It can help reveal why people respond in the way they do to the situations of others, the personal cost of doing so and how they can help without paying a high emotional price.'
-- Prof Alison Leary PhD FRCN FQNI,- Highly Commended in Wellness & Wellbeing
ISBN: 9780750998864
Dimensions: 234mm x 156mm x 22mm
Weight: unknown
256 pages