Essais et Documents Notre corps ses crises

The brutal apparition of the symptoms of an illness is a dreadful experience. The normal, silent functioning of the body is suddenly disrupted; everyday life is turned upside down with worry and our sole objective becomes finding out what is wrong. This sudden dysfunction of our body is the best and worst thing that can happen to us. The best, because it alerts a person that something is wrong. The worst, when the symptoms announce the beginning of a long and serious illness. The author de-dramatizes these crisis situations and teaches us how to manage them. As symptoms become chronic, they become the illness itself. Examples abound, whether it be a simple migraine headache that announces a life-time of debilitating pain, a panic attack foreshadowing a complete nervous breakdown or an epileptic fit that is the first manifestation of a cerebral lesion. The initial crisis is often a warning. For patients, the everyday management of post-crisis is essential. We must learn to be vigilant, apply preventive measures and, especially, not make the same mistakes again. Dr Henri Rubinstein specializes in the exploration of the human nervous system. He has written several books: Psychosomatique du rire (R. Laffont, 1983), Vivre sans fatigue (Payot, 1992) La Dépression masquée (Lattès, 2001), Les Handicaps invisibles (Seuil, 2008).