Book Reviews

While clinical supervision is collectively considered a necessary and critical process in producing quality psychotherapy, there seems to be a dearth of consolidated instruction for those educating or practicing it. Noticing this, editors Hanna Levenson and Arpana G. Iman have produced a series organizing what they call a “dream team” of eleven experts in their respected fields. The two have created a multi volume Clinical Supervision Essentials, allowing for direct and concise reference for educators and practitioners. In this volume, John C. Norcross and Leah M. Popple tackle a matter near and deep to their hearts and professional work—the supervision of integrative psychotherapy.

Turow begins her book by introducing mindfulness. Turow thoroughly goes over each aspect of mindfulness, explaining everything from its core concepts to the proper time and setting for practices. Included is ‘Resolving misconceptions and overcoming stumbling blocks’ to encourage further practice and ability, but perhaps the most significant portions of this chapter are the parts of “Special Considerations for Practicing Mindfulness After Trauma” and “Choosing a Specific Practice.” The parts begin a trend that moves throughout the book, encouraging careful and safe practice for survivors especially and consideration that not all practices work for everyone; indeed, she has her reader explore specially for themselves, rather than a prescribed program.

Kelly’s passion is writing. He’s a clinical psychologist, a husband, father, family member and friend. His time was wrapped around responsibility and at the end of the day, writing lacked priority. But words came to him and eventually he started blogging. He shares his “writing” story –his first blog, the move to a smaller town giving his wife space to do what she loved and he space to write . . . his passion and his purpose, his art and his voice, his grace on the page: “The book was what fanned the embers of spark within me, but there was not time to write it” (163). So, they made time. And his words reach audiences in amazing ways.

The authors call for “a dramatic shift in the way we, as adults, and as a culture, view infants. Already, by four months, infants notice, remember, and come to expect every little thing” (pg. 232). Their hope is to influence our view of infants so that we learn to appreciate infants’ extraordinary social capacities. Infants already let us know what they are feeling and we, without consciousness, communicate our feelings to them as well.

Edited by Stella Acquarone Reviewed by Nancy Eichhorn Editing an anthology isn’t easy. Theme-based anthologies are not simply a random collection of professional essays; the contributions...

Meeting the Needs of Parents Pregnant and Parenting After Perinatal Loss offers a supportive framework that integrates continuing bonds and attachment theories to support prenatal parenting at each stage of pregnancy. Giving insight into how a parent’s world view of a pregnancy may have changed following a loss, readers are provided with tools to assist parents as they explore pregnancy (conception, gestation, labor and birth) once again.

Ardea writes with bodily expression, with movement in color, in text, in breath: “My pelvis feels inflamed, wobbly, twisted. It’s heavy like an overloaded water balloon. When I breathe and pay attention to my pelvis, I feel sadness well up, as though there’s an artesian well bursting up from my lower abdomen to fill my heart with sad, sad, waters. My hands feel prickly as all these waters overflow from my heart. They gust out in shaky waves down my arms and hands”.

I struggle to sit still (unless I’m sitting outside in nature, but I’m talking about everyday life here). Ask me to sit and be silent? Well my mental chatter loves to make me nuts. I focus on the breath. I focus on sensation. I focus on the fact that I am not focusing, with a touch of loving kindness and compassion. I am kind to myself no doubt there; I accept that my mind loves to whirl and twirl, to take facts and create stories, to take a fleeting image or sensation and create a long-winded tale. Even here, on the page, the words keep flowing when the point has most likely already been made. I’ve read countless books (reviewed many, done the practices). I’ve attended webinars and workshops and meditation groups, all with the same frustration. Silence while sitting escapes me. I thought I was hopeless until now.

Tea with Winnicott does seem like a real conversation with the acclaimed psychoanalyst, and allows the reader to develop a personal understanding of Winnicott as not just a figure of modern psychoanalysis, but as a regular person. Often funny and charming, Winnicott ends up capturing your attention and perhaps even your heart, creating a valuable place on the shelf to reflect on the importance and value of Winnicott.

In Breakthrough Moments in Arts-Based Psychotherapy Aileen Webber shares her personal journey to discover what might be happening during pivotal "break through" moments in psychotherapy and demonstrates their importance for clients' change processes.