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Beyond Fear by Rowe, Dorothy (2007) Paperback Paperback

by Dorothy Rowe (Author)

4.2 51 ratings

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Dorothy Rowe shows us how to have the courage to acknowledge and face our fears – only through courage can we find a sustaining happiness. ‘Beyond Fear’, first published in 1987, has changed the lives of thousands of people. In this edition, the renowned psychologist Dorothy Rowe examines the changes in the psychiatric system since 1987 in the context of showing how most of our suffering comes from our greatest fear, that of being annihilated as a person, when we shall disappear like a puff of smoke in the wind, never to have existed. We feel this fear whenever others humiliate or belittle us, or whenever we discover a serious discrepancy between what we thought our life was and what it actually is. The greater our fear, the more desperate our defence against it, the most desperate of defences being what psychiatrists call mental disorders. Yet, by knowing ourselves we can go beyond our fear and face life with courage.

Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B00IJ0CACE
Language ‏ : ‎ English

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4.2 51 ratings

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4.2 out of 5

51 global ratings

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Susan

excellent book - bad title

Reviewed in the United States on February 22, 2014

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excellent read for anyone trying to understand themselves. In readable, common sense language.
recommend any of her books. Timeless and re-readable.

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Angela, ACT, Australia

Now fear free

Reviewed in the United States on September 27, 2011

I'd been suffering from depression, severe anxiety attacks, an eating disorder and self harm on and off for 14 years when I first picked up one of Dorothy's books after a referral from a friend.
The way Dorothy explains how and why you've construed your desperate defences, is like turning on the light in a dark room. She explained how I'd built my defences in order to protect myself from my fears, defences I didn't even know were there.
She KNEW the lies I'd told myself in order to keep myself safe, she KNEW that I felt as though these matters were life and death and she KNEW how to make it clear so that I could work my way out of the darkness.
I had tried countless times over the years to have someone really understand what I was trying to say, to really understand what I meant when I described how I felt and for someone to really understand how helpless I felt. Dorothy knew it all, all my lies, all my fears, even how I justified my routine purging day after day.
Her book showed me why I was afraid and how that filtered down into all my beliefs and ideals.
On one occasion I remember throwing the book at the wall, not because it was wrong but because she had hit a nerve that I'd never wanted to admit was true. How could she know this if she didn't know me? She made me confront why I was who I was and how'd I'd gotten there. She shows you that by being truly honest you give yourself the choice to heal and to free yourself from the feelings of powerlessness.
Her book conveys astonishing insight.

4 people found this helpful

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Ross Taylor

Personality formation through a fear framework

Reviewed in the United States on September 25, 2010

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This is an important and thorough exposition of the affects of fear (and other factors) in early childhood in the development of the self. It is hard to fault much of the theory of the book (679 pages) but it is still a book of its time. Rowe apparently dislikes psychiatrists and seems to feel they are basically superficial and too ready to classify diagnoses using the DSM and then prescribing harmful drugs. She probably takes the fear concept too far when she talks about schizophrenia and bipolar disorder in light of the recent discoveries of brain research. She also seems to believe ADHD is more a new fashionable diagnosis than a very useful concept of the way some brains function.
There is much more to this book to do it justice here. Thoroughly recommended.

4 people found this helpful

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Maryanne Campbell

This it it! Don't Bother with any other book. Dynamite Wisdom!!!!!!!!!!

Reviewed in the United States on September 3, 2005

After 15 years in the therapy business, and several hundred books on psychology later, (most of them unforgettable except for one or two points) I can state with some authority, that Dorothy Rowe's wisdom is indisputable. She guides you into understanding your deepest fears and deepest secrets and learning to truly love yourself. Not in the 10 easy steps false positive way that is so popular in current psychology, but in ironically both the most simplest way - in appreciating how important understanding whether we feel good or bad as humans is, and in also the most complex as she builds on our belief systems inherited from childhood to the desperate defences we use in order to survive.

Every American should read how she explains "so-called" mental illnesses and truly changes lives by helping others to remember how much they know or how to take control of their lives out of the hands of 'experts', and back into the person who really knows best if only they get support and trust in their own thinking.

Power to you

Maryanne Campbell

10 people found this helpful

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Billy

If only I had found this book earlier,

Reviewed in the United States on September 3, 2005

After all the psycho babble and clap trap of therapists and experts over the last 15 years, I now finally understand my own behaviour and can use my own knowledge to continue to learn and grow. Dorothy Rowe cuts to the chase and allows us to develop our own thinking as she gives us invaluable insights on the human condition. The depth of this woman's knowledge is extraordinary. This 75 year Aussie got voted one of the sixth wisest people in the UK, so the secret is out.

Run and get this book

10 people found this helpful

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faire

So you want to get serious?

Reviewed in the United States on September 11, 2005

This is the book for anyone who wants to seriously understand why we operate the way we do in our culture and for anyone battling through any kind of depression or life-angst. It helped me to understand my relationships with everyone in my life, most importantly myself and that unmentionable fear that makes life all too hard to live sometimes. It really is a gift to the world.

8 people found this helpful

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Misty

Great!

Reviewed in the United States on June 11, 2000

I think this book is a great asset to the people living day to day with Schizophrenia. I live with it every day and it is very hard to cope with it and having a brother with it.

5 people found this helpful

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Top reviews from other countries

VENKATARATNAM GAREKAPATI

Three Stars

Reviewed in India on July 15, 2017

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ok

Copper

THIS BOOK BRINGS HOPE

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 15, 2008

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If you've been told that depression or associated mental disorders are something you "just have to live with" - think again. This book brings hope that there IS a way through and out of it all. I cannot receommend it highly enough. There is only one reservation - it's not a quick fix, you have to be prepared to examine some places in your past that maybe you would wish to forget, and you have to want to change. Dorothy Rowe doesn't promise an esy ride, but what she says makes so much sense and rings so true that you cannot help but be encouraged to believe there is hope. Don't let anyone tell there isn't. Depression is all in the mind? Well, in a sense, yes - but the good news is that you can use your mind to do something about it, and you're not dependant on our desperately lacking health service to put you straight! I read this book with a senes of overwhelming relief.

17 people found this helpful

Mrs G

Excellent book, but...

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 28, 2021

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Excellent book. Certainly makes you think about your motivation for doing things and why you carry the attitudes that you do. However, you need to be aware that, in thinking through the past, it can stir up uncomfortable emotions. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but be aware that you may need to go through this. Overall an extremely good read.

Topher

not for me

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 1, 2020

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rambling, full of over generalisations and black and white thinking.

Amazon Customer

Dorothy Rowe tells it like it is!

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on December 15, 2012

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This is a brilliant book about mental health. It is for people who suffer from their own mental distress or those who would like to help them. It is written in an easy style and makes so much sense. In it Dorothy explores why people become mentally distressed. She explains that it is not a chemical imbalance or genetic, rather a troubled life and experiences we are not equipped to deal with distressing us. Dorothy has written several books around depression all of which are worth a read. If you have always suspected that the chemical imbalance explanation of mental distress is pure pseudo science this is the book for you.

2 people found this helpful

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