WHAT DO YOU DO WHEN BUCK FEVER HITS, BUT IT ISN'T EVEN HUNTING SEASON?

Author Zack Butterfield knows all about that.

After growing up in rural communities and learning to hunt with his family, Zack surprised everyone by becoming a therapist. But he isn't your average therapist with a tendency toward "new-age-speak." Instead, in Hunting for Happiness: The Outdoorsman's Guide to Getting Rid of Buck Fever, Cowboying Up, and Enjoying Life, he provides straight talk about what to do when life leaves you feeling like a deer in the headlights.

After all, we pay attention to our physical shape, but what about our mental shape?

Most of us recognize a soldier's PTSD as a valid reason to see a therapist, but it's harder to see our own emotional and social combat zones. We know if we don't physically prepare for hunting season, that will make the hiking more difficult. Similarly, when we ignore our mental shape, peace is hard to come by. We're likely to have lots of arguments and difficulties at home or at work. We might lose people we love or get down on ourselves a lot of the time. At the very least, ignoring our mental shape robs us of peace and enjoyment.

In Hunting for Happiness, Zack shows that there's nothing mystical or mythical about mental issues. It's all just nature. He sees the same issues in the natural world that he sees in people. With humor and comparisons to animal behavior, he writes about how our nervous system reacts when things don't go our way. When that happens, we have choices to make that can either help the situation or make it worse.

Through personal and client stories and practical explanations of the science behind our behaviors, Zack gives real-world advice for handling all sorts of life problems from relationship struggles to chronic anger, to parenting the "cubs," to finding our "herd," to "cowboying up," and more.

Hunting for Happiness is geared toward the outdoorsman or outdoorswoman who wants a no-nonsense guide to a happier, calmer life.