Talking to 'Crazy': How to Deal with the Irrational and Impossible People in Your Life

I appreciate a lot of the Insights provided by this text, and the goal of the book is to be able to manage a lot of situations with difficult people or difficult conversations. I think even the last chapter can be life saving for many, I highly recommend people taking these approaches to consider helping the world be a better place for all

A Surprisingly informative and pertinent bookYes, I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised by Mark Goulston/s new book Talking to Crazy: How to deal with the irrational and impossible people in your life. I picked it up because I thought it would be a smile. I also thought I might just get something out of it because yes like the all of us I know some pretty crazy people. But I was stunned by how effective the advice in this book was and how much it pertained to my business life as a consultant.Okay we call know crazy, we all know people who are somewhat irrational or even more completely bonkers! But we don’t know how to deal with them right? Well put that in the past tense, we did not know how to deal with them until this new book came along.Author Goulston is a psychiatrist as well as business coach so he can write about both sides of an issue. He explains why people act the way they do and how to deal with them.I especially liked his case studies where he used real-life examples to show us how to act with certain people with specific disorders. There is an example of the “older” software developer who has to deal with a bunch of young Turks who start working with him and want to change everything he has worked on for 15 years. He finds himself getting madder and madder until he starts using a technique he learned from his wide who learned it from Dr. Goulston. Levels with them explains the way he feels apologizes and asks for their help in attaining middle ground where they all benefit from one another’s cooperation thus in the end producing a better product.This is just one many examples of how to deal with tough people in tough situations.I strongly recommend that you buy this book, read it and keep it handy because you will find it infinitely useful no matter what profession or life situation you are in; this is good book to have around

This book explains why giving advice usually worsens unwanted confrontations. It was overly redundant with numerous examples to comprehend that everyone is "crazy," and listening to others is more productive than giving "free advice." It advocated focusing upon others' feelings and, instead of getting upset about human behavior, realizing all humans are flawed. It mostly replicated the golden rule, i.e., treat others with respect because doing this makes our lives a lot less stressful.

I found some interesting descriptions of a variety of situations and ideas for dealing with the crazy ones in my life.

This is an interesting look at people's foibles, quirks, pet peeves, and everyday irrational behavior. Unfortunately, the advice it gives doesn't seem very practical. In fact, it seems rather confrontational and likely to escalate situations badly.I think the book has good info on *recognizing* "crazy" so you can avoid it when possible. But I don't think the strategies advocated are particularly helpful or applicable in daily interactions.Sadly for me, the book pointed out certain behaviors that were serious mental health issues or even pathological. Therefore the advice was: get a professional to deal with that person. Not really helpful counsel when that person lives in your household or you are otherwise somehow forced to deal with them and their crazy behavior.I was hoping for practical advice, but the suggestions on what to say, really do seem as if they would make any situation worse.

I have to admit that I steered clear of this book for a while because the title kind of threw me off.I'm glad, however, that I overcame that resistance. Dr. Goulston presents an array of easily-understood tools to deal with the people in our lives that have gone a little sideways (or a lot sideways) in different situations.Let's face it, we all have a little crazy in our lives, whether in terms of our own reactions to certain things or in terms of the people we have to deal with. Whether it's family, colleagues, clients, customers, kids, or the neighbor down the street, sometimes people are irrational.What Goulston points out is that there are certain common factors within this irrationality, and once you identify the direction any given situation is heading, you can take action using his well-laid-out step-by-step suggestions.And if you're at all introspective, you'll recognize yourself as well as your friends, family, and co-workers in the stories and examples Goulston uses. I found it refreshing to gain a better understanding of the neuroscience behind my and others' reactions along with the suggestions for how to make things better.As a communication professional myself, I have a great deal of respect for Goulson's work. Simply put, IT WORKS. What he suggests isn't always easy, and it's sometimes counter-intuitive, but it's inevitably a whole lot better than continuing to struggle!

Written by a psychiatrist for the average person, the suggestions, tips, approaches and caveats are well taken and easy to read - with stories and examples throughout. As a manager and a parent, the information and suggestions in the book will prove priceless. A great choice to learn the whys and how’s of dealing with personalities.

Marks' book "Talking to Crazy" has to be one of the best books out there on dealing with relationships. With a combination of thoughtful compassion, and straight to the point wisdom, he puts all the information out there in an organized, balanced, fun, and easy to use manner. Great work! Very thankful for all his years of labor and wisdom that went into this. It is so well written it could be used from high school to adult level of any age.

I've bought many books on how to deal with some of my work colleagues. We have had some bad management and unfortunately managers left only to be repllaced by bad managers.We also promote people up through a team and then up to manager without giving any management training at all.Years ago I worked for a UK company who had their own training centre and back then, in my twenties I got some of the most valuable training ever for which I am grateful and still use even though I am not a manager in my current role.I also, and due to that training (as well as an emotionally abusive brief relationship - I found a way to get out by saying just the right words) never wanted to stop learning about people, body language and communicating effectively with difficult colleagurs.An issue arose last week with a manager in my team who is not my boss. Two days later she came back at me again.I did not react at the time but I had a few ideas on how to and what to do.I read everything all about how my crazy affects me ( Mark is right, don't skip tghis part or you will really lose so much of the further info) all through all of the work situations and for one, one I am really pleased about is that the first step I had decided to take was the right one.What I didn't know was this colleague's MO, nor how to follow my first step up.I know how to now, or at least, have options to try which I believe will help but are also easy to remembet.This is an easy read with really good scenarios which are easy to follow.I heve given this five stars as it's fantastic for the one individual but also several more who I know I can use the guidance for.There is still one thing missing for me. I have a colleague who is a manager but whom I need to manage in two ateas of my role who does not let me finish any sentence. She will accept a meeting relating to a deadline and delay it by half an hour repetitively so that it can string out over two full days.I don't know hpw to deal with that yet. Perhaps the answer lies in Just Listen, Mark's other book.

So many work and home situations are covered with insight, examples and succinct re-caps. The clear and simple style belies the authors strong credentials- I wouldn’t ‘take it’ if he were not qualified both academically and by experience. After first read, I feel overloaded. I hope I will go back over some relevant sections, let it sink in and then use as a reference. But, I don’t know. I recommend it strongly, maybe because so many sections really resonate with old and recent memories of people I know - including that person who looks back at me in the mirror.

We all have to deal with a variety of levels of crazy in our lives. Mark Goulston is a psychiatrist and psychotherapist who has seen it all. In this invaluable book he shares the wisdom he has gleaned over a lifetime of medical practice. This book is stuffed full of examples and vignettes with step by step instructions on how best to approach each type of situation. This is a book that is equally valuable for regular people as well as health professionals. As a physician myself I believe it would a useful guide for every medical trainee, physician and even psychiatrist to carry around an electronic copy of.

I have not finished reading this book yet but already I wish I had read it a long time ago and it would so have helped me with situations that I have found very difficult in my life. Mark Goulston’s suggested strategies for dealing with ‘difficult’ persons make so much sense. Thoroughly recommend this book for anyone who wants to learn more about coping mechanisms in their personal and professional life.

Love the book with its engaging style, lack of fluff and practical and conceptual information. Recommended for anyone looking to address important emotional/irrational issues in ones personal or professional life.