About the Author

Vincent Deary is professor of applied health psychology at Northumbria University, where his research focuses on the development of new psychosocial interventions for people with a variety of health complaints, including cancer survivors and fear of falling in older adults. As a clinician he works in the UK's first trans-diagnostic Fatigue Clinic, to help people for whom fatigue is a disabling symptom. He is the author of How We Are.

Reviews

A lyrical and ultimately uplifting examination of what happens when our minds and bodies are put under extreme stress or suffering
*The Financial Times*

Drawing on a wide range of sources about the human experience, Vincent Deary has written a warm and compassionate book about how we hurt and how we heal. A rich and humane work
*Gwen Adshead, forensic psychiatrist and author of THE DEVIL YOU KNOW*

From a deep mine of science, philosophy, art and personal experience, Vincent Deary has produced a treasure of a book. Every page of How We Break gleams with wisdom and insight. Nobody could fail to be enriched by it
*Matt Rowland Hill, author of ORIGINAL SINS*

A particular strength of the book is the way Deary weaves between different schools of thought within psychology, philosophy and religion. The result is not merely a discussion of abstract ideas, but a collection of valuable observations about what it means to be human in the modern world
*the Guardian*

Deary’s exhilarating new book mixes science, philosophy and memoir to argue that self-acceptance is our best defence against the stress of living… Deary’s writing is wise and compassionate, sometimes florid and always interesting – few writers could jump so nimbly between Proust and RuPaul, neuroscience and the occult. … Deary’s is the rare book that helps you see the world a little differently
*The New Statesman*

The psychologist and researcher’s persuasive inquiry into how life’s struggles take their toll is full of hard-won wisdom... There is a rawness to Deary’s analysis that gives a compelling human edge to his theorising
*Observer (Book of the Day)*

Deary offers a thought experiment that just might be a game-changer
*The Irish Times*

In How We Break, the health psychologist Vincent Deary suggests some answers for ­‘navigating the wear and tear of living’… This essential self-exploration underlines the deeply humane plea which is the heartbeat of the book: for more self-compassion… There is much wisdom in Deary’s regret that this society has neglected the idea of convalescence’
*The Daily Mail*