Saturday, December 16, 2006

Richard Carlson, Psychologist and Author, Dies Unexpectedly

Sadly, I just read that psychologist Richard Carlson, author of Don't Sweat the Small Stuff--and it's all small stuff has died, apparently from cardiac arrest while flying to New York on a book tour (Hat tip: Althouse blog ). I remember after my heart attack seven years ago that one of my sisters gave me one of his books to cheer me up. At the time, I felt that I didn't need some stupid self-help book to make me feel better--I just wanted to be well. But the book and my illness made me realize how futile it was to be upset over the little daily annoyances of life that made no difference at all. Richard Carlson understood that and he helped me to understand it too, not just at an intellectual level, but at an emotional one as well.

Here is more about Richard Carlson's work. My readers may find it too "fluffy" and pop psych for their taste, but I think Dr. Carlson had a good message that made the world a better place. We need more people like him in the world, not fewer.

14 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Excellent book, I picked it up a few years ago and it does put things in perspective.

Condolences...

9:31 AM, December 17, 2006  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

One of those books I always "mean to" read then forget once I get to the book store. I've put it on my list and won't forget next time.

My condolences to his family and friends.

12:15 PM, December 17, 2006  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

His work really cements the fact that we all go through the same stuff. Thoughts and prayers to his loved ones.

12:34 PM, December 17, 2006  
Blogger tomcal said...

How sad, and at age 45. I didn't realize he was so young. I'm 48 and feel as though I am just hitting my stride.

He did make the world a better place. It is tragic to see a man who had so much more to contribute cut off in his prime.

12:59 PM, December 17, 2006  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I am sorry to see that Carlson died at 45, for him and his family.

Most of us don't get a physical every 5 years, and I'm avoiding the scope up the rear since it's not in our family profile tho we're Scottish decent and love that beef.

Facts of "younger" men & women having heart attacks are due to generally two causes,

1) Bad luck in gene pool roulette -- a good friend of mine has an anomoly best described as "Sticky Blood" e.g. tendency to clott due to a missing blodd factor, and like his Father before him and Mickey Mantles Father before him, didn't expect to live past 50 (why the Mick abused himself so, he didn't expect to live long); my friend, he's 60 and doing O.K. and enjoying his family and Grandchildren, tho he just sold the red corvette, nice car but at $375 per tire,...

but I digress ...

2) Stress with attendant bad diet and lack of exercise

I Don't know what happened to cause Dr. Carlson his heart attack but #2 only exacerbates #1 and #2 you can absolutely change, and #1 with good treatment as in Dr. Helen's case, minimize some.

So pay attention when your body is talking to you. Your family needs you and needs you to be the best you can be.

Pension actuaries, you know, the guys with REAL death statistics, of people with a somewhat "normal" life, that are able to hold a job, therefore figure into the cost of a pension plan tell a sobering story for all of us here at the top of the Economic pyramid of history ...

15 % of men and 9% of Women in Pension plans won't reach age 65 ... all sources of "mortality"; from car wrecks, to cancer, to gun shots thru the shower curtain by an angry wife, to heart attack. (sorry to pick on Angry Wives, Angry Husbands are more devious, they hire a hit man) but I digress ...

"But it get's woise"

Life expectancy for working 30 year old men is 74, and for working 30 year old Women it's 79.

So doing the math --- "Life Expectancy means half are dead and half still alive"
15% of men are dead by age 65 AND 50% of em have died by Age 74, and 50% of the remainder by age 80
9% of women are dead by age 65 and 50% have died by age 79,

O.K. this is still the best yet in recorded human history, (all you Scientologists will argue about "Human History" but with out documentation beyond wackjob L. Ron ... I ain't buyin' what you're sellin) but I digress ....

So Beyond an ADHD comment post ....

Love your family, listen to your body, and take care of yourself.

Dr. Helen did and she's still here to see her family this Christmas and many more to come.

"Mortality statistics" are accused of being a "Glass half Empty" approach but they are not.

My Dad turned 80 last week ... he's in the top (last) 25% now and he know's it, he was head of his math department and taught me statistics, he was also a hell of a football coach.

So my wife and I made an enormous effort with two businesses and 4, count em FOUR kids in College/Grad School, to find the money and time we don't have, and spend four rainy days with them down on the South Padre Island "Texas Riviera" where they spend each winter.

We know he's cheated death more than 5 times, Mom twice.

We love you a lot Pops, you are the best. You were the best Dad two boys and two girls ever had, and you are the best Grandpa, and Great Grandpa to 13 kids.

And that's the truth.

Econ-Scott

5:43 PM, December 17, 2006  
Blogger E Buzz said...

Hey DH.

Ignoring self-help is fatal, IMO.

Nathaniel Branden changed my life completely. He still can pull me through a bad time, I've had some lately. My Nona was killed on Thanksgiving...

That really sucked. I still need her to talk to...

Merry Christmas, and you are simply ravishing.

Regards

6:03 PM, December 17, 2006  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

i wionder if his heart attack came frm stress and book promo tour all for money money money for his publishers and him>????

http://nevertoolatetobegin.blogspot.com

7:42 PM, December 17, 2006  
Blogger Maggie Goff said...

"Don't sweat the small stuff, and it's all small" is a saying that we Al-Anoners have used for years and years. Not fluff, many times simple is the best.

I had not realized Dr. Carlson was so young. My condolences to his family and friends.

8:59 PM, December 17, 2006  
Blogger Helen said...

Anonymous 7:42:

As much as people would like to believe that cardiac arrest is due to "stress," it is simply not true in the majority of cases. Cardiac arrest is caused generally by ventricular fibrillation--a severe abnormal heartbeat that causes sudden death. It can happen to anyone--usually after a heart attack due to the scarred heart tissue (this is what I have from a heart attack) but it can happen in a normal heart.

We all want to think that it is someone's "fault" if they die or get sick suddenly, but the body, and especially the heart is a complex organ and medical science is still at a loss as to why things happen, but blaming "stress" is just a way to distance yourself from the fact that sudden cardiac arrest can happen to anyone anytime and for a number of different reasons, none of which is necessarily related to stress.

6:03 AM, December 18, 2006  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

As someone who has assembled high pressure copper piping I found "don't sweat the small stuff" to be very bad advice.

9:32 AM, December 19, 2006  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Actually, I heard that it was not cardiac arrest but a pulmonary embolism.

David Bloom, an NBC news anchor, died of a similar thing while embedded with the troops during the Irag invasion.

Often these things can occur during long periods of cramped travel when you don't have a chance to walk around and bed your legs. Clots travel from your leg veins and lodge in one of your lungs arteries.

8:32 PM, March 08, 2007  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

So sad, enjoyed his books. So what if they were pop psychology, they had some simple truths about trying to be a better person.
I wanted to ask Richard about tough love for young adult children who wear parents out. Oh well one thing to read it in a book another to change entrenched ways of coping (or not.)

11:06 AM, April 30, 2007  
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