Come join Tom and Zach as they travel to and from work in the old truck and learn to apply common sense approaches to managing life's social and emotional puzzles. The Emotional Developmental Age (EDA) System is a common-sense approach to working with people. "Energy Theory," "Emotional Developmental Age," "Communication Rules," are terms that are woven into "marvelous and often hysterically funny stories" of real patients including "Kluck," the Chicken Man, Freida/Fred, a man with a split personality disorder, and Mourtisha, who shot her refrigerator because it had no cold beer. These patients, and many more, present challenges for Mr. Atwood, his nephew, Zach, and the staff of a small mental health clinic in central Texas. How do you help seriously mentally ill patients and their families to function within the mores of society with respect and acceptance? How do you guide fledgling social work students and staff to help their clients overcome barriers of culture, prejudice, language and distrust? Mr. Atwood has developed a system filled with tools that can help identify a person's ability to handle social and emotional issues based on normal development and suggests ways to help people in terms and behaviors that they understand, thus expediting not only treatment in therapeutic settings but even foster the development of problem solving abilities in relationships in all aspects of life in general. "You don't expect a book that is based on the treatment of people with mental illness to be entertaining, especially if you are warned that a theory will be introduced.

Treatment and protocols and theories tend to be pretty dry and boring reading. Tom Atwood, MSW, has changed all that with his unique approach to therapy, education, and life in general as illustrated in this delightful book." (PatriciaD. Rye, Ph.D. SocialPsychologist).