Dr. Rick Norris
Clear, compelling and uplifting, The Promised Land is a simple, guide for sufferers of stress, anxiety and depression. The book is written by Chartered Psychologist Dr Rick Norris who has helped hundreds of people to think more positively by using the easily understood models, techniques and stories described in the book.
The Promised Land explains why stress, anxiety and depression are more common today than ever. The book shows how the mind works when we succumb to psychological distress before explaning how we can successfully combat the causes by thinking more positively.
Rick uses real life case studies to illustrate the stories of people who have succesfully turned their lives around by adopting a more positive approach to life.
Rick is a Chartered Psychologist who works as a consultant for a range of organisations in both clinical and occupational environments. His clients include the Manor Hospital Walsall, Compaq, Nokia, Unisys, Hewlett-Packard, the Terrance Higgins Trust and a number of SMEs. He is also a visiting lecturer at the Department of Occupational Health at Warwick University. Professionally his main interest is helping people to live more fulfilled lives.
Born in 1959 in Portsmouth, Rick is divorced with three children, Sam, Jack and Martha. Apart from his family, his main interests are running and keeping fit; reggae music, horse-racing and warm climates. He is also a long-suffering Pompey fan.
If you, or someone you care about, is experiencing some form of psychological distress then hopefully this book will be able to help. ‘The Promised Land’ is about providing a framework for understanding the causes of psychological distress as well as a practical means of overcoming it. By assisting individuals to overcome psychological distress we can help them to become more fulfilled in every aspect of their lives. The aim of this book is to try to lead people on a journey to their own Promised Land.
Before we start the journey, I’d like to explain a little more about this book. At the beginning of my favourite film, "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid", the following statement is made: "Most of what follows is true……" It’s the same with this book. It explains how I’ve tried to help people who have been suffering from anxiety, stress and depression. I’ve spent many years as a psychologist counselling people suffering from various forms of emotional distress and some of their stories are recorded in the book. Although the details have been changed to protect their identities, all the stories are based on real life experiences. This isn’t an academic textbook, although there are some references to follow up if you want more information on certain subjects. This is a book which is aimed at giving people a simple understanding of how we all experience negative emotions which have the potential to be seriously debilitating to both our physical and psychological well-being. The book is my best attempt at explaining, in simple everyday terms, what sometimes happens in our minds that can lead us to suffer from psychological distress. However, it’s only my explanation. Feel free to challenge my thoughts and beliefs and maybe you’ll develop a better theory that helps you to understand these problems.
Whenever I’ve worked with people during counselling I’ve tried to explain things in straightforward terms: I use stories and analogies that people can relate to and I’ve reproduced these in this book. I also find that using diagrams can help clients see things visually, so I’ve jotted down the diagrams in this book too. In all my sessions I give people homework. I always tell clients that we can only achieve so much in one hour, but if they do their homework between sessions we can achieve so much more. I’ve reproduced some of the homework exercises, and there are blank sheets at the end of the book to write down your own thoughts. Be bold; don’t be afraid of writing all over the pages of this book. Underline the bits that strike a chord; make notes on the subjects that you want to reflect on later; capture your own thoughts as you go along.
The main thrust of the book is about the relationship between self-doubt and negative self-fulfilling prophecies whereby people fail in various aspects of their life simply because they believe that they will fail. In my experience of counselling, self-doubt is the biggest problem that most of the people I’ve worked with suffer from. In this book we will look at the links between self-doubt, lack of confidence, low levels of self-esteem, pessimism, negative thought patterns and self-fulfilling prophecies. If we can overcome our self-doubt and develop our confidence and self-esteem then we will be able to live more fulfilled lives.
Most of the help in this book is actually pretty simple. However, that doesn’t mean it’s easy to put into practice. My job is to help people re-train their minds to think more positively, but improvements only come with practice. To succeed we have to work hard. To change our thinking patterns requires a big effort, but if we keep making the effort the outcome will be worth it.
Many of the people I’ve worked with have said that experiencing anxiety, stress or depression is far worse than having a physical ailment like a broken arm. Everyone can see a broken arm and most people are very sympathetic. No one says, "Pull yourself together". Once the broken arm has been re-set, and the initial pain has subsided, we can get on with life reasonably well until it heals. Because a broken arm is very tangible, it would never occur to anyone that we might be ‘swinging the lead’ whilst we’re off sick. It doesn’t take a lot of mental, or physical, effort to heal a broken arm: the body heals itself, and with some physiotherapy, we’re soon back to normal.
Unfortunately, most forms of psychological ailment are more complex than physical problems and many people unsympathetically believe that we bring these problems on ourselves. In a sense we do, but it isn’t a conscious choice to become stressed, anxious or depressed. William Glasser (1) uses depression as a verb. He suggests that we subconsciously choose to depress. This may be a slight over simplification, but, as we will see later, emotional distress occurs because of our thought patterns, and ultimately we are responsible for our own thoughts. We can either let our mind control us, or we can choose to control our mind. The idea that we sub-consciously choose our psychological and emotional distress is a challenging thought for many sufferers. However, by accepting the view that we can control our thought patterns we give ourselves the power to combat the negative thoughts that can be so destructive. This book isn’t intended to replace face to face counselling. However, not everyone feels able to work with a counsellor, and even if they do, it can be expensive and difficult to get an appointment. At the risk of sounding over confident, I know that the theories and exercises in this book have worked for most of my clients. They work for three reasons. Firstly, because the explanations give my clients the clarity they need to understand what is going on in their minds. Secondly, because the practical exercises and techniques are not difficult to complete. Lastly, and most importantly, because my clients keep practising the techniques.
