General Books - Page 5

Psychosynthesis: A Psychology of the Spirit (Suny Series in Transpersonal and Humanistic Psychology)

John Firman, Ann Gila

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 3 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

A clear, comprehensive introduction 5 out of 5 stars.
24 of 24 people found this review helpful.

Psychosynthesis may not be as popularly known as psychoanalysis, depth psychology, etc., but it holds some tremendously powerful keys for self-understanding, self-renewal, and emotional healing that in turn lead to more empathetic and authentic relationships with others. This book is a clear and comprehensive introduction to psychosynthesis, outling such fundamental concepts as primal wounding, lower and higher unconscious, and subpersonalities within a developmental framework. It has stimulated my own growth and I have been recommending this book widely.

Finally! 5 out of 5 stars.
4 of 4 people found this review helpful.

I have been searching since adolescence for theories in psychology that would actually be helpful to me. Though there have been many ideas that have helped, it seemed that I had reached a plateau where I felt I was quite self-aware but that just didn't seem to be enough - it didn't heal what was making my life difficult.

Reading this book has helped me see what I need beyond awareness and has also helped me to better understand the people in my life. The concepts of primal wounding, survival personality, subpersonalities, the healing power of empathic connections and a non-linear view of our development
that recognizes that our earlier experiences are not far away and insignificant, are profoundly helpful ideas.

The wounding we have suffered and the subpersonalities that have developed within us, need more than recognition, they need acceptance, inclusion and synthesis which can only happen in an atmosphere of empathy. Then, and only then, can we become authentic, fully conscious people who do not need addictions and compulsions as crutches. No wonder self-awareness is not enough!

This is not my field and I may not be able to clearly convey all the concepts in this book. I may not even understand all of them. There are stories in the book of different people as they go through psychosynthesis therapy that clarify these concepts and how they work in real people. Even though some of the expressions can be a little intimidating for lay people like myself (unifying center, the difference between "I" and "Self"), I truly believe this book can be helpful to anyone who is seeking to understand how to help heal oneself or others.

Thank you, thank you, thank you Assagioli, Gila and Firman!

Just one thing, where can I find a good psychosynthesis therapist? (-:

Editorial Review:

A comprehensive account of Robert Assagioli's psychosynthesis, a type of therapy that seeks to address both spiritual development and psychological healing and growth.

Meditation-The Complete Guide

Patricia Monaghan, Eleanor G. Viereck

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 2 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

There is no doubt that meditation is good for us. In fact, for Westerners who live in the midst of stress and information and sensory overload, meditation is probably crucial to mental and physical health. Yet for many people it is still a mysterious, esoteric practice. Confusion abounds. Do I need to follow a certain religion in order to meditate? Must I believe in God? Do I have to close my eyes and meditate every day for half an hour in order for it to be effective?

Authors Patricia Monaghan and Eleanor Viereck have done a great service in helping readers understand the many forms and effects of meditation. By dividing the book into nine sections--Shamanism, Yoga, Buddhism, Taoism, Islam, Western Traditions, Creative Meditations, Meditations in Life, and Active Imagination--readers can see the ideology behind the many forms of meditation. Each brief chapter then describes a specific meditation, such as sketching from nature, walking a labyrinth, needlecraft, trance dancing, taking a pilgrimage, and practicing breath awareness. Within every chapter the authors offer specific instructions and suggestions as well as a comprehensive list of resources. Meditation: The Complete Guide is a well-written book that blends comfortable narration with extensive research--a valuable resource for beginners and even old pros. --Gail Hudson

Open to Desire: Embracing a Lust for LifeInsights from Buddhism and Psychotherapy

Mark Epstein

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Total reviews: 8 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

Bringing wisdom to a fresh and compelling topic, Mark Epstein shows how desire can be a teacher in its own right, helping us to reconcile our conflicting thoughts about it from both a Buddhist and a psychological point of view.

It is common in both Buddhism and Freudian psychoanalysis to treat desire as the root of all suffering and problems, but psychiatrist Mark Epstein believes this to be a grave misunderstanding. In his defense of desire, he makes clear that it is the key to deepening intimacy with ourselves, one another, and our world. An enlightening tapestry of psychotherapeutic practice, contemporary case studies, Buddhist insight, and narratives as diverse as the Ramayana and Sufi parables, Open to Desire brings a refreshing new perspective to humanity’s most paradoxical emotion.

Proposing that spiritual attainment does not have to be detached from intimacy or eroticism, Open to Desire begins with an exploration of the dissatisfaction that causes us to both cling to, and fear, desire. Offering a new path for traversing this ambivalence, Dr. Epstein shows us how we can overcome these obstacles, not by indulgence or suppression, but by learning a new way to be with desire. Full of practical advice, this is a lasting guide for finding peace both in ourselves and in our most highly charged interactions.

BACKCOVER: Advance Praise for OPEN TO DESIRE

"Mark Epstein's Open to Desire is a masterpiece in his unique genre of combined Buddhist, psychological, and poetical insight. It teaches us how not just to fear and repress, but to re-channel and harness the most powerful energies of life toward freedom and bliss. I heartily recommend this work."--Robert Thurman, Jey Tsong Khapa Professor of Buddhist studies, Columbia University; President, Tibet House, US; author of Infinite Life

“Open to Desire shines a bright beam of wisdom into an ever-confusing, ever- seductive realm. Mark Epstein, using his rare gifts of insight, brilliantly shows us a way through the confusion of craving to the treasures of intimacy and clarity hidden within our yearnings. The Buddha and Freud meet the Kama Sutra in this essential guidebook for anyone with a healthy lust for life."-- Daniel Goleman, author, Destructive Emotions: A Scientific Dialogue with the Dalai Lama

“Mark Epstein writes with the keen insight of a skilled psychotherapist, the compassion of a long-term meditator, and the gift of a compelling storyteller. He courageously explores the true nature and potential of desire, which we depend on for our very connection to life. This book is an outstanding new view of an emotion at the core of our being..”--Sharon Salzberg, author of Faith: Trusting Your Own Deepest Experience

“At last a book that doesn’t shy away from the troubled topic of desire. Mark Epstein has written a beautifully crafted, intimate account of the struggle to come to terms with the contradictory yearnings within us. An illuminating, original and provocative work.” -- Stephen Batchelor, author of Living with the Devil

"A beautiful book. Heals the split between psychotherapy and spirituality by showing positive aspects of desire common to both. Mark Epstein's portrayals of the goodness of desire and its gaps move us in ways that heal and enlighten, always sensitive to who we are and who we can be."--Michael Eigen, author of The Sensitive Self and Emotional Storm

Pathways to Change: Brief Therapy Solutions with Difficult Adolescents

Matthew D. Selekman

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Total reviews: 2 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

Few therapists dispute the difficulties in treating "troublesome" or "reluctant" adolescents. Filling a gap in the literature, this volume specifically addresses the clinician's needs for working with this difficult population. Matthew D. Selekman presents a Solution-Oriented Brief Family Therapy approach, a highly pragmatic and innovative therapy model for working with these challenging cases. Encouraging therapeutic improvisation and incorporating the use of humor, Selekman demonstrates how the clinician can capitalize on the strengths and resources of family members, peers, and other involved mental health professionals to resolve the client's presenting problems rapidly. His approach artfully integrates cutting edge therapeutic ideas from Steve de Shazer, Michael White, Tom Andersen, and the Galveston group.

Dispelling the notion that the Solution-Oriented Brief Therapy model is merely a "band-aid" approach, the author demonstrates powerful methods for facilitating systemic, lasting change. PATHWAYS TO CHANGE includes many helpful features that enable mental health and addiction professionals to conduct effective brief therapy successfully with difficult adolescents and their families. Selekman provides detailed guidelines for therapeutic task design and selection, purposeful systemic interviewing, and empirically based strategies for engaging difficult adolescents, and ways to collaborate with involved helping professionals from larger systems. He also presents a blueprint for how to conduct his Solution-Oriented Parenting group, which can be utilized as an alternative to regular family therapy or when therapists are unable to engage the adolescents in treatment.

Incorporating case examples and actual interview transcripts to highlight key therapeutic techniques, Selekman presents a comprehensive, ecosystemic therapeutic approach that provides useful therapeutic options for working with a challenging population. PATHWAYS TO CHANGE is an important resource for psychologists, psychotherapists, social workers, addiction professionals, family therapists, and anyone working with difficult adolescents and their families.

Adlerian Therapy: Theory And Practice

Jon Carlson, Richard E. Watts, Michael Maniacci

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 1 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

comperhensive but hard to read 4 out of 5 stars.
1 of 2 people found this review helpful.

It's so typical textbook style of writing. I was so excited to learn about Adlerian writing but after a few pages of it, I felt a less enthusiastic. I'll still try to finish it because the authors are very knowledgeable, but they could try to make it more readable and more personal to the reader.

Editorial Review:

Introduces the reader to Alfred Adler?s (1870 ? 1937) influential approach to psychotherapy, that human behavior is goal oriented and socially embedded, and emphasizing understanding individuals? characteristic ways of moving through life?the life style?before working toward change. Illustrates how Adler?s ideas have influenced current practice and highlights the short-term nature of its interventions with individuals, couples, families, and groups, as well as in educational settings. Readers will find a model of diagnosis that can be used to complement DSM diagnoses, many case examples to illustrate important Adlerian concepts, and helpful therapist-client dialogues with interpretive comments that show the counselor?s active approach to assessment and collaborative problem-solving.

Brief Group Treatment: Practical Training for Therapists and Counselors

Jerrold Lee Shapiro, Lawrence S. Peltz, Susan Bernadett-Shapiro

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Editorial Review:

This one-of-a-kind road map for students and new group leaders combines a unique developmental model of brief group process--based on the generic chronological processes of a group--with modifications for specific clinical populations. The chronological-process model was developed and researched in the authors’ own laboratories, empirically tested for more than a decade, and employed successfully for years. This clearly identifiable process underlies all small groups, making it appropriate in all settings, serving all populations.

Spirits in Rebellion: The Rise and Development of New Thought

Charles Samuel Braden

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 5 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Origins and History of New Thought 4 out of 5 stars.
37 of 37 people found this review helpful.

This 1963 book provides an invaluable glimpse into the mid-nineteenth century origins, beginning with Phineas P. Quimby, of the New Thought movement in the United States. It describes the careers of the most influential teachers and writers in the various schools and movements, with the exception of the well-known Christian Science church.

It is most successful in uncritically informing the reader of the roots of modern New-Age ideas, most of which were expressed more than a hundred years earlier. It is endlessly surprising to discover how little credit most spiritual leaders give to their ideological forbears and how, because of the lack of any coherent organization, a widespread unawareness of earlier discoveries persists.

Although the author supplies an apparently comprehensive bibliography to the grateful student, the reader wishes that the text delineated more precisely the specific differences in philosophy among the several teachings, for it is those differences that produced the individual schools and distinct spiritual communities.

On the History of the Psychoanalytic Movement (Standard Edition of the Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud)

Sigmund Freud

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Total reviews: 1 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

A worthy overview 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

This engaging little memoir charts the ascent of psychoanalysis as seen through the eyes of its world-famous originator. Beginning with the youthful Freud's days with pioneer Josef Breuer in late 19th Century Vienna, it charts the burgeoning movement through the psychoanalysis organization that Freud founded in 1908--and which nearly went to pieces a few years later due to some nasty internecine battles. These were obviously trying times for Freud, and the book sometimes lapses into an acrimonious tone (he calls one detractor an "evil genius"); he also shoots a few poisoned arrows at former colleagues Jung and Adler. For the most part, though, it's a very readable, revealing look back at the days when psychoanalysis was young and had far more enemies than allies: "Occasionally a colleague would make some reference to me in one of his publications; it would be very short and not at all flattering--words such as 'eccentric', 'extreme', or 'very peculiar' would be used."

Doing Brief Psychotherapy

Michael Franz Basch

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Total reviews: 2 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

In the spirit of his classic text Doing Psychotherapy, this book from master clinician Michael Franz Basch illustrates a powerful new way of conduction brief therapy.Open-ended therapy is no longer an option for most patients, and the therapists must learn to achieve therapeutic goals in much shorter periods. this practical and highly readable book spells out an effective treatment approach designed to work successfully with most patients in fewer than twenty sessions.For his technique, Basch relies on his “developmental model” for psychotherapy, which emphasizes the central role of affect and affective development in treatment. This model builds on the advances made by dynamic psychotherapy, without involving the patient in a lengthy uncovering and reconstruction of childhood trauma. Instead, Basch describes how the therapist can reframe each patient’s dynamics and then use the strengths revealed to offset the patient’s difficulties. This approach allows each patient to confront life’s problems not as a hapless victim of circumstance, past or present, but as a proactive agent for change.To illustrate his new approach, Basch includes several absorbing case examples throughout the book. His straightforward explanation of the principles that govern effective intervention allow the method to be readily adapted by both the beginner and the experienced clinician.

Handbook of Solution-Focused Brief Therapy (Jossey-Bass Psychology)

Scott D. Miller, Mark Hubble, Barry L. Duncan

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 1 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Great Resource 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

If you are looking for a single source that looks at all the various ways that SFBT can be applied, look no further. This work not only helps to define SFBT, but also gives good, practical ways to apply SFBT to your counseling situations.

This book is a must have for any clinician, hospital chaplain, or minister. NOTE: This is more of a textbook than a coffee table book. Great tool, but also technical in nature.

Editorial Review:

The definitive guide for succeeding in an era of managed care

This state-of-the-art resource?a compilation of works from the nation's leading practitioners?offers mental health practitioners the tools for applying solution-focused brief therapy (SFBT) techniques.

Filled with the most current research information, illustrative case examples, and practical suggestions, it uses a framework that integrates the solution-focused model with the problem-focused approach, and offers specific guidance for applying methods across treatment settings. Proven to be effective across economic, gAnder, and racial lines, this guide will lead to an increased number of therapeutic options for success in an era of managed care.