SELF-HELP

Restart: Designing a Healthy Post-Pandemic Life

by Doreen Dodgen-Magee

Rowman & Littlefield. Oct. 2021. 224p. ISBN 9781538160275. $25. SELF-HELP

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Psychologist Dodgen-Magee (Deviced! Balancing Life and Technology in a Digital Age) comprehensively details all the things society has lost and reconfigured during the pandemic—neglect of physical activities, over-reliance on screens, and increased substance abuse—and offers steps to counteract these behaviors and build new healthy habits. She aptly describes this late-pandemic period as “running a marathon with a constantly moving finish line” and provides specific ways to support our own and others’ mental health, create new realities, and nurture healthy relationships with technology. Each problem is paired with a “Restart” set of guidelines geared to help readers do the work of adjusting to new realities. Special chapters deal with children’s issues and relations with those who have lost a loved one to COVID-19.

VERDICT Dodgen-Magee’s advice hits home at a vulnerable period in our lives.

Reviewed by Deborah Bigelow, Director Emerita, Leonia P.L., NJ , Dec 01, 2021

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