What happens when our minds and bodies are pushed beyond their limits? Vincent Deary is a
health psychologist who has spent years helping his patients cope with whatever life has thrown
at them. In How We Break he has written a book for all of us who sometimes feel we have
reached our breaking point. Drawing on clinical case studies cutting-edge scientific research
intimate personal stories and references from philosophy literature and film How We Break
offers a consoling new vision of everyday human struggle. The big traumas in life Deary points
out are relatively rare. More common is when too many things go wrong at once or we are
exposed to prolonged periods of difficulty or precarity. When the world shrinks to nothing but
our daily coping we become unhappy worried hopeless exhausted. In other words we break.
Breaking he shows us happens when the same systems that enable us to navigate through life
become dysregulated. But if we understand how the wear and tear of life affects us then we
have a better chance of navigating through times of burnout stress fatigue and despair. By
equipping us with a better understanding of what happens to us when we're struggling to cope
and making a bold case for the power of rest and recuperation How We Break helps chart a path
through difficult times.
