SELF-HELP BOOKS fall into two main categories. The first is usually the work of a self-appointed expert who claims to have the answer to many of our problems if we’d only follow this new – and often radical – approach to life. The second is often a more balanced look at how people can improve their lives if they take a serious look at diet, exercise, stress and their personal needs for balance between work, leisure and home life.
Dr Garvan Browne and Cathy Breslin's new book, Your Health and Welcome to It, falls into the second category. What makes it stand out in a quirky sort of way is its humorous tone and combined emphases on physical, emotional and mental health and how they influence each other.
Browne is a general practitioner and occupational physician who set up the Phoenix Medical Clinic in Naas, Co Kildare, two years ago. Breslin is a counsellor and hypnotherapist who works between the Phoenix Medical Clinic and another GP practice in Mount Merrion, Dublin.
Browne says that his patients mainly come from the housing estates nearby and know him from the 12 years he worked in as a GP in Naas prior to setting up on his own. “Many of them have families who have grown up with me as their doctor,” he says. One key aspect of his practise is that all patients get a 30-minute appointments.
So what prompted him to write such a book? “I find that people always assume the worst when they come to a doctor. They’ve a cough and they think they’ve lung cancer whereas a lot of healthcare is pure common sense. We wanted to write a book about how to be well not a book about different diseases,” he says.
Breslin brought a different perspective to the project. “A lot of health problems today are caused by lifestyle issues. I want people to become more aware of their own needs so that they can identify the triggers of stress and learn how to cope better,” she says.
There are fictional case histories throughout the book, which are exaggerated in the attempt to spring people into action. For example, there’s the story about an overworked separated mother whose hectic lifestyle and poor eating habits are storing up later health problems. Another about a factory worker who spends all his leisure time watching sport on television.
There are also workbook-style passages in which you can fill in your own details about your physical exercise, eating habits, emotional wellbeing and so on.
The cartoons drawn by Browne add a light note to the underlying serious message that your health is in your own hands. As does the humorous series of questions and answers to common problems at the end of the book.
Interestingly, Breslin and Browne are life partners as well as work partners. Engaged for the last three years, they met through work and the book itself has been “a labour of love” that took almost six years to complete.
During the interview they defer to each other’s expertise and appear to respect their knowledge boundaries. They say that they don’t see a lot of each other during the working day so personal boundaries are also kept. “What I like is being driven to work and being driven home again,” says Breslin with a laugh.
Breslin is a particular fan of Caroline Myss, the American journalist, author and so-called medical intuitive. “She talks about how your biography becomes your biology if you live your life with wounds, resentments, fears and bitterness,” explains Breslin.
There is a chapter in the book on the archetypes developed by Myss which Breslin hopes readers might identify with and use as a trigger for change. “It helps to become aware of different experiences that might keep you stuck at a certain point which then can interfere with your physical health,” she says.
Other chapters are given over to dealing with emotions and relationships, while specific sections draw attention to the positive impact of nurturing compassion, forgiveness and happiness.
Browne dedicates the book to his mother, Dr Orla Browne, the daughter of folk singer, Delia Murphy, whose musical influence pervades the family. Dr Browne plays the guitar, and a dilettante chapter on the value of music in our lives has been included.
When we discuss why the book was self-published, the authors seem a bit unfazed that it might not be taken as seriously. "We decided to go down this route because we would have much more control over the content and our deadlines," says Breslin, who previously co-wrote Your Life only a Gazillion Times Better,which was published by Random House.
With self-publishing, the authors pay a standard amount for the book which they then aim to recoup in direct sales. “We’ve sold a few hundred copies so far, so it will soon be profit-making,” says Browne. Originalwriting.ie also sells the book online as a hard copy and e-book, and looks for distribution deals with book wholesalers. In this case, Easons has bought 200 copies of the book to distribute to bookshops throughout Ireland.
Your Health and Welcome to Itby Cathy Breslin and Dr Garvan Browne, originalwriting.ie
