Title -- Contents -- Acknowledgments -- SECTION 1: The Basics of Talking to Crazy -- 1. Understanding Crazy -- 2. Recognizing How Crazy Happens -- 3. Spotting an Irrational Person's M.O. -- 4. Knowing When to Talk to Crazy and When to Walk Away -- SECTION 2: Facing Your Own Crazy First -- 5. Pinpointing Your Own Crazy -- 6. Keeping Your Own Crazy at Bay When You're Under Attack -- 7. Regrouping When Crazy Wins -- SECTION 3: Fourteen Tactics for Talking to Crazy -- 8. The Belly Roll: Putting the Irrational Person "in Charge" to Defuse a Tense Situation -- 9. The A-E-U Technique: Highly Effective-But Scary -- 10. Time Travel: Getting an Irrational Person to Stop Dwelling on the Past and Focus Instead on the Future -- 11. The Eye of the Hurricane: Finding the Sane Inside the Crazy -- 12. Digging Down to Disappointment: Dealing with Emotional People Who Don't Really Mean What They're Saying -- 13. The Fishbowl: Bringing an Irrational Person's Mirror Neurons into Play -- 14. The Split Second: How to Handle an Irrational Person Who's Playing You Against Someone Else -- 15. The Three L's: Helping an Irrational Person Cope with Extreme Fear -- 16. The Butter-Up: Getting a Know-It-All to Behave -- 17. Executive Order: Getting a Martyr to Accept Help -- 18. Coup Contrecoup: Turning an Irrational Person's M.O. to Your Own Advantage -- 19. The Kiss-Off (and the Gentle Kiss-Off): Saying No to a Manipulator -- 20. Frenemies: Handling a "Toxic Deflector" at Work -- 21. I Know What You're Hiding: Getting a Sociopath out of Your Life -- SECTION 4: Eight Ways to Deal with Crazy in Your Personal Life -- 22. You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling? Handling Your Mutual Crazy in a Relationship -- 23. Shock Absorber: Getting Through to an Emotional Partner -- 24. Copy Cat: Getting a Strong-and-Silent Partner to Talk.

25. Child A or Child B? Going Through a Divorce Without Wrecking Your Kids for Life -- 26. "What's the Worst Thing for You?" Being There for a Parent, Partner, or Child in Pain -- 27. The Reconnect: Healing a Broken Relationship with an Adult Child -- 28. The Assumptive Close: Getting an Aging Parent to Accept Help -- 29. The Four H's and Four R's: Rebuilding a Personal Relationship After an Irrational Person Breaks It -- SECTION 5: What to Do When Crazy Is Actually Mental Illness -- 30. Where to Turn When Crazy Is Above Your Pay Grade -- 31. How to Get the Person to Say Yes to Getting Help -- 32. What to Do if You Think Someone May Be Suicidal -- 33. Woulda, Coulda, Shoulda: Preventing the Next Sandy Hook -- Epilogue -- Index -- About the Author -- Free Sample Chapter from Just Listen by Mark Goulston -- Copyright.