Book Review: This Is Your Brain In Love-Dr. Earl Henslin

A few months ago I ran across a blog while searching for a book. The woman that wrote this blog had stumbled upon a way to get FREE books! WOOHOO! I thought, sign me up!

Sign up I did and Thomas Nelson publishers quickly approved my request and sent me a link to check out several books they had up for grabs. To be honest, NONE of them looked appealing. The book about American history...drat! Too late to get that one. So I finally settled for This Is Your Brain In Love by Dr. Earl Henslin. My thoughts at the beginning? Ugh, maybe I can slug through this one and get a book I really want.

Immediately after receiving the book in the mail I did a quick glance over and realized this book might actually be something I was INTERESTED in. And it was.

I love this book. My copy (after only a month mind you) is completely dog-eared and covered in pink highlighter. Several passages not only have pink highlighter AND a dog-ear, but they also contain exclamation points. That's how much I enjoyed this book.

Let me start at the beginning. This Is Your Brain In Love is a book all about how brain disorders (no, stay with me here) affect our ability to have a full, loving, lasting and healthy marriage. By brain disorder I don't mean you were in a car accident and suddenly turn into ultra-aggressive spouse who wants to bludgeon evrything (although that actually is covered too). But by brain disorder I mean, your hormones have gone out of wack thanks to crazy periods, pregnancies or menopause or maybe you've dealt with so much stress in your life thanks to abuse or dealing with violence (think police or military) that your brain begins to function differently.

This struck head on (yes, pun intended) for me. After dealing with a traumatic pregnancy and subsequent delivery of our child I suffered from PPD, PTSD which eventually turned into OCD, brought in in part by being severely abused in childhood. My brain had dealt with so much stress that it wasn't functioning at it's optimum. And it was affecting my marriage. Prozac helped. But Dr. Henslin gave other ideas for people struggling with similiar situations.

There are suggestions for anxious lovers, agressive lovers, lovers who suffer from ADD, ADHD and severe depression (these are just a few). Suggestions for supplements, medications or simple life changes. AND suggestions for the spouse dealing with someone going through the aforementioned problems.

And even if you don't think you suffer from a brain 'malfunction'....reading the book might just surprise you. Most members of our society (a huge portion in fact) suffer from SOME SORT of brain imbalance--in fact even so called "healthy" individuals who didn't think they had any problems whatsoever, and submitted to brain scans in preparation for this book, were discovered to have some portion of their brain that was not functioning as properly as it should. Dr. Henslin's strategies can help even those who think they don't need it.

He uses years of therapy in his Christian practice, his own struggle with ADD and his time spent working with Dr. Amen of the Amen Clinic to lend credence to his words. But don't think this book is going to be full of clinical mumbo-jumbo that you'll have difficulty wading through trying to figure out exactly WHAT Dr. Henslin might be talking about. Luckily for us, Dr. Henslin has spilled everything out for us in laymans terms with tons of examples and stories to illustrate and hit home his suggestions. There are even quizzes, based on brain scans, to help pinpoint which suggestions would best help you in your relationship.

I can't tell you how exciting it was to read a book that gave you scientific explanations and suggestions in laymans terms and that dealt with a problem that hits close to home. I give this book two thumbs up...check it out at your local library first, but I promise you, you'll probably want your own copy to dog-ear!