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Saturday, October 5, 2024

Press

TV:

 

Fox and Friends, Forget Feelings

 

 

Fuck Feelings, CBS News

 

RADIO/PODCASTS:

ONLINE:

 “F*ck Feelings is the ultimate anti-self-help book…We spoke with Michael and Sarah about how you can distance yourself from your feelings in several difficult areas of everyday life. Check out what they had to say about fairness, self-esteem, assholes, and more below — and start telling your feelings to fuck off every once in a while.”
 “It’s called F*ck Feelings, which is about as near perfect a title as I can imagine. The New York Post carried a piece on the tome day before yesterday and, generally, when the New York Post tells me the sun will rise in the east tomorrow morning, I’ll assume the paper’s got it all wrong. This time, though, the rag is spot-on.”

“The elder Bennett is a psychiatrist and American Psychiatric Association distinguished fellow. His daughter is a comedy writer. Together, they provide a tough-love, irreverent take on “life’s impossible problems.” The crux of their approach is that life is hard and negative emotions are part of it. The key is to see your “bullshit wishes” for just what they are (bullshit), and instead to pursue real, achievable goals.”

“7 Reasons Telling Your Feelings To Take A Hike Might Be The Best Therapy Of All” “The duo take a tough-love approach to figuring out life, emphasizing the importance of focusing on realistic goals and acceptance, with a healthy does of humor thrown in.”

“While its ideas run counter to most of the cliched drivel you’ll find from books with guru’s faces plastered all over them, it’s still about understanding yourself… The book’s best suited for people who are sick of longing for impossible wishes, complaining about things they can’t control, and who’re sick of everyone telling them that the only thing in life worth striving for is happiness. The book is also riddled with pop culture references, profanity, and humor, so if that’s what you’re looking for in advice, then F*ck Feelings will find a happy place on your bookshelf. F*ck Feelings is written for the more the pragmatic amongst us. It’s simple, direct, and to the point with actionable suggestions. This is refreshing considering the copious amounts of extraneous crap that usually comes packed into self-help books… F*ck Feelings feels like a breath of fresh air from the self-help section of the bookstore… Along with that simplicity comes a readjustment of expectations, which is my favorite part of the book as a whole. Instead of shooting for the sky and being constantly disappointed, F*ck Feelings wants you to always remember that life sucks sometimes, but that’s okay.”

“Through chapters on self-improvement, self-esteem, fairness, helpfulness, serenity, love, communication, parenthood, assholes and treatment, Dr. Michael Bennett and his comedy writer daughter Sarah Bennett approach this topics using honesty, humor and sensible solutions. They provide examples. They list what you want and can’t have, what you can actually aim to achieve and how to get it done. Quite useful tips. This is the most refreshing and useful self-help book I’ve read in some time.

“With that in mind, I tapped Michael Bennett, M.D., a psychiatrist who co-authored the book F*ck Feelings, along with his daughter, Sarah Bennett, for suggestions on healthier ways to recover from job loss. They offered a few tough-love tips on how to get back at it—and gain more than a hangover in the process.

“a profanity-laced takedown of the happiness-oriented self-help movement, its moralizing “one-name healers” (Oprah, Phil and Laura) and books that promise to make us brighter, shinier and happier.”

The piece for WeWork’s blog, Creator: “Don’t Trust Your Gut and More”

Holiday Book Recommendation: “Holiday books: Don’t be so serious — 12 books that are just for fun”

“I came across this book at the intersection of a job change, my grandmother’s passing and the onset of the holidays – high season for an emotional crash of one sort or another. And underneath that mountain of upheaval runs a steady current of anxiety, perpetuated by the day-to-day stress of marriage, parenthood, work, the household and did I mention parenthood?… “F*ck Feelings” is a self-help mantra that on the surface, appears to be the antithesis to self-help. But it’s probably one of the most honest advice books I’ve read in a long while… The authors, a father/daughter duo, offer up advice by breaking down what we wish for and can’t have, what we can aim for and actually achieve, and how to do it… If you’re looking for a humorous check on life’s challenges that’ll reframe your mindset heading into the new year, “F*ck Feelings” is definitely worth a read.”

“And remember: When hosting a family party and feast, give yourself credit for what you’ve provided for your family without giving yourself grief for their possible unhappiness or bad behavior.”

“Depression and anxiety may never allow certain people to feel strong. But if they can come to know and practice their strength, and recognize the difference between feelings and actions, they need not fear their therapist’s unavailability.”

“Brookline therapist Michael Bennett got sick of his patients expecting a cure for their problems. Lousy parents, painful breakups, their own flawed personalities — he’s heard it all. … the book’s brash humor carries a serious message, an antidote to self-help clichés.”

“Obviously, ours is a close-knit family with many of the typical trappings of a tight clan, along with some atypical ones, like a father-daughter professional partnership that recently produced a book of unsentimental relationship advice called F*ck Love. It’s not that we have daily gab sessions about our relationship problems — if anything, our whole family has more respect for boundaries than most and are as interested in sharing secrets as we are in sharing a bathroom — but sharing a sense of humor and set of basic values always makes it easier to discuss big issues without taking anything personally or too seriously, whether you’re related or not.”

“Their mantra: If something goes wrong, it doesn’t mean you failed. Instead, understand that life is hard and sometimes unfair. Know what you can’t change and manage expectations, and don’t let your feelings get the better of you.”

“It’s helpful. And, unlike most self-help guides on love and dating, purposefully funny.”

Dr. Bennett and Sarah Bennett, F*ck Love authors, where on The Social in February 2017. A VPN blocker is required to view the video.

 

PRINT:

“First, a word about the invectives here: they are legion. “Given life’s cruelty and unfairness,” the Bennetts believe that “profanity is a source of comfort, clarity, and strength.” They may be on to something, for the liberal sprinkling of profanities is not only pointed, but they ring loudly in your head so as not to ring loudly at those with whom you have issues, which rarely improves matters. The authors show us how to stop reaching for the moon, to read the situation, keep cool, and effect what you can…. Throughout the book, the Bennetts tender positive suggestions to manage all the “shit” of life via established methods for making the best of things. They provide scenarios aplenty, charts to map helpful behavior, a solid measure of humor, and abundant graciousness, acting as Sherpas through the crevasse fields of life. The Bennetts administer a highly informative and entertaining smack down to get your head on straight.”

“One shrink has a novel solution: “F–k happy. F–k self-improvement, self-esteem, fairness, helpfulness and everything in between…authors combine different skill sets for what amounts to the Ice Bucket Challenge of self-help books. The writers who would like to dump a gallon of ice chunks all over your confused little skull are Dr. Michael Bennett, a Harvard Medical School-trained psychiatrist, and his comedy-writer daughter Sarah Bennett, who used to contribute to the improv act the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre. So if the book doesn’t fix your life, at least you may get a laugh out of it… That is sound advice when it comes to your personal life.”

“The elder Bennett is a psychiatrist and American Psychiatric Association distinguished fellow. His daughter is a comedy writer. Together, they provide a tough-love, irreverent take on “life’s impossible problems.” The crux of their approach is that life is hard and negative emotions are part of it. The key is to see your “bullshit wishes” for just what they are (bullshit), and instead to pursue real, achievable goals.”

  • 10/16: GOOD HOUSE KEEPING

“It’s hard to argue with the book’s advice: The duo offer practical ways to deal with emotionally charged situations, such as finding oneself stuck speaking to an annoying relative (the solution: “Prepare to live with pent-up irritation, regardless of the number of people who tell you it isn’t good for you.… You won’t be out of the woods, but you’ll be out of the depths of the emotional waterboarding you’re in now”) or failing at an attempt to curb one’s drinking habits (the solution: Reframe thoughts to “Never stop working hard to resist delicious alcohol.

“Self-help skeptics often dismiss the genre for leaving readers feeling good, rather than helping them solve personal issues. It’s just this reputation that psychologist Michael Bennett and his daughter, comedy writer Sarah Bennett, seek to rebut with the recently published F*ck Feelings(Simon & Schuster), which has sold nearly 11,000 print units since its September release, according to Nielsen BookScan. In both style and substance, F*ck Feelings aims to get away from anything touchy-feely and instead offers such nuggets as “closure is an emotional unicorn” and “God created hard times so we can find out who the assholes are.”

“a profanity-laced takedown of the happiness-oriented self-help movement, its moralizing “one-name healers” (Oprah, Phil and Laura) and books that promise to make us brighter, shinier and happier.”

“I’d rather credit its provocative cover than whatever heartache my resting reading face betrays, but either way, it turns out one way to get love is indeed to say “f*ck it” in plain sight.”

“The book’s advice — to listen to logic, not just feelings — reflects the tough-minded realism the Bennetts advocated in “[Expletive] Feelings.” In “[Expletive] Love,” daters are advised to have high standards, while the advice for married people tends to be tougher: accepting that their spouses will change slowly, if they change at all.”

“…good people can and often do come from complicated, or even actively awful, families; likewise, just because a person has a good family, that isn’t a guarantee that they will make a good partner. For me, this was the most insightful part of F*ck Love, so I recently spoke with Sarah Bennett about it.”

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