The basics of talking to crazy. Understanding crazy ; Recognizing how crazy happens ; Spotting an irrational person's M.O. ; Knowing when to talk to crazy and when to walk away
Facing your own crazy first. Pinpointing your own crazy ; Keeping your own crazy at bay when you're under attack ; Regrouping when crazy wins
Fourteen tactics for talking to crazy. The belly roll : putting the irrational person "in charge" to defuse a tense situation ; The A-E-U technique : highly effective
but scary ; Time travel : getting an irrational person to stop dwelling on the past and focus instead on the future ; The eye of the hurricane : finding the sane inside the crazy ; Digging down to disappointment : dealing with emotional people who don't really mean what they're saying ; The fishbowl : bringing an irrational person's mirror neurons into play ; The split second : how to handle an irrational person who's playing you against someone else ; The three L's : helping an irrational person cope with extreme fear ; The butter-up : getting a know-it-all to behave ; Executive order : getting a martyr to accept help ; Coup countrecoup : turning an irrational person's M.O. to your own advantage ; The kiss-off (and the gentle kiss-off) : saying no to a manipulator ; Frenemies : handling a "toxic deflector" at work ; I know what you're hiding : getting a sociopath out of your life
- Eight ways to deal with crazy in your personal life. You've lost that lovin' feeling? : handling your mutual crazy in a relationship ; Shock absorber : getting through to an emotional partner ; Copy cat : getting a strong-and-silent partner to talk ; Child A or child B? : going through a divorce without wrecking your kids for life ; "What's the worst thing for you?" : being there for a parent, partner, or child in pain ; The reconnect : healing a broken relationship with an adult child ; The assumptive close : getting an aging parent to accept help ; The four H's and four R's : rebuilding a personal relationship after an irrational person breaks it
What to do when crazy is actually mental illness. Where to turn when crazy is above your pay grade ; How to get the person to say yes to getting help ; What to do if you think someone may be suicidal ; Woulda, coulda, shoulda : preventing the next Sandy Hook.
The basics of talking to crazy
Facing your own crazy first
Fourteen tactics for talking to crazy
Eight ways to deal with crazy in your personal life
What to do when crazy is actually mental illness.