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Book Review- The Gift of Fear by Gavin de Becker

You are here: Home / Topics / Book Review- The Gift of Fear by Gavin de Becker

How to recognize and recover from the sociopaths – narcissists in your life › Forums › Lovefraud Community Forum – General › Book Review- The Gift of Fear by Gavin de Becker

  • This topic has 24 replies, 2 voices, and was last updated 4 years, 9 months ago by nosp.
Viewing 23 reply threads
  • Author
    Posts
    • August 12, 2019 at 5:27 pm #53641
      Sunnygal
      Participant

      The book is The Gift of Fear- and other survival signals that protect us from violence. It has 15 chapters:

      1. In the presence of danger
      2. The technology of intuition
      3. The academy of predictions
      4. Survival signals
      5. Imperfect strangers
      6. High-stakes predictions
      7. Promises to kill- understanding threats
      8. Persistence, persistence- people who refuse to let go
      9. Occupational hazards
      10. Intimate enemies- domestic violence
      11. I was trying to let him down easy- date stalking
      12. Fear of children
      13. Better to be wanted by the police than not to be wanted at all- attacks against public figures’
      14. Extreme hazards
      15. The gift of fear

      In chapter 8 he says when dealing with harassment, appearing to do nothing is the best plan. It really isn’t doing nothing: it is a reasoned management plan. It takes patience but is often the fastest way to end harassment. I have experienced this.

      • This topic was modified 5 years, 10 months ago by Sunnygal.
    • August 14, 2019 at 8:19 pm #53691
      Sunnygal
      Participant

      There is a youtube interview of De Becker by Oprah. He says women are trained to be nice but being nice to someone who makes you uncomfortable can result in harm.

    • August 15, 2019 at 8:53 am #53697
      hope4me
      Participant

      I read the book and saw that interview too, Sunnygal. So many women I know have struggled with that conditioning to “be nice”, even when they feel threatened. In psychology, they depict the response to stress/danger as “fight, flight, or freeze”. In recent years, they have also added “tend and befriend”~ a common response among people who think if they are friendly and do their best to please an abuser, they will avoid harm. This is particularly risky for women in abusive relationships, who often become so hyper-vigilant that they disconnect from their own internal warning system.

      • May 8, 2020 at 7:42 pm #62208
        Sunnygal
        Participant

        hope4me- again, yes a good message,

        SG

    • August 15, 2019 at 11:13 am #53699
      Sunnygal
      Participant

      hope4me- Yes, De Becker has a very important message, trust your intuition.

      SG

    • August 29, 2019 at 11:28 am #54023
      Sunnygal
      Participant

      In the Oprah interview, he says men are afraid of being laughed at. Women are afraid of being killed.

    • September 10, 2019 at 12:20 pm #54175
      Sunnygal
      Participant

      Very good book.

    • September 14, 2019 at 2:30 pm #54246
      Sunnygal
      Participant

      Good to have on hand.

    • September 18, 2019 at 11:31 am #54305
      Sunnygal
      Participant

      I reread this.

    • September 21, 2019 at 1:34 pm #54407
      Sunnygal
      Participant

      This is good advice.

    • September 25, 2019 at 6:23 pm #54472
      Sunnygal
      Participant

      De Becker is an expert.

    • October 23, 2019 at 8:04 am #54860
      Sunnygal
      Participant

      Expert advce.

    • October 31, 2019 at 1:57 pm #54943
      Sunnygal
      Participant

      This is so valueable.

    • November 8, 2019 at 7:49 pm #55037
      Sunnygal
      Participant

      Wonderful insghts.

    • November 16, 2019 at 2:11 pm #55135
      Sunnygal
      Participant

      Great chapters.

    • November 19, 2019 at 4:26 pm #55160
      Sunnygal
      Participant

      Really terrific advice.

    • December 23, 2019 at 11:30 am #55535
      Sunnygal
      Participant

      I listen again to the interview.

    • January 3, 2020 at 6:18 pm #55653
      Sunnygal
      Participant

      Good information.

    • January 17, 2020 at 6:25 pm #55774
      Sunnygal
      Participant

      Reread again and again.

    • February 3, 2020 at 2:29 am #55974
      Sunnygal
      Participant

      I’ll bring this up again.

    • February 6, 2020 at 1:02 pm #56010
      Sunnygal
      Participant

      Absolutely terrific.

    • April 28, 2020 at 11:30 am #59008
      Sunnygal
      Participant

      the very best.

    • July 12, 2020 at 10:45 pm #63339
      Sunnygal
      Participant

      very tremendous

    • August 20, 2020 at 11:12 pm #63753
      Sunnygal
      Participant

      really terrific

    • September 25, 2020 at 9:59 am #63955
      nosp
      Participant

      Bumping this to the top because it’s interesting to run any romantic relationships through DeBecker’s free MOSAIC threat assessment tool (it’s designed for law enforcement officials but you can figure out how to use it yourself)

      https://www.mosaicmethod.com

      This is from the Oprah interview (it might be triggering if you’re a domestic abuse survivor though)

      http://www.oprah.com/oprahs-lifeclass/lessons-learned-from-gavin-de-beckers-gift-of-fear-video

      • This reply was modified 4 years, 9 months ago by nosp.
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