Book Reviews

Did you know that thiamine (vitamin B1) deficiency can lead to weakness, irritability and depression? That folate (vitamin B9) deficiency can result in depression, apathy, fatigue, poor sleep, and poor concentration? That people with chronic digestion problems are often anxious and depressed? And believe it or not, that pure maple syrup has the potential to prevent Alzheimer’s and other brain disease? Nutritional neuroscience is validating the reality that nutritional factors are intertwined with human cognition, behavior and emotions (Sathyanarayana, Asha, Ramesh, & Rao, 2008). In our current milieu of treating the ‘whole’ person— soma, psyche, and spirit—food has finally claimed its well deserved acclaim for its role in the development, management and prevention of our overall health and for specific mental health problems such as depression, schizophrenia, ADHD, and Alzheimer’s disease (Sathyanarayana et al., 2008).

Embodied Being is an interweave of contemplation, Zen practice, and philosophy to inform the art of manual therapy (Rolfing in particular), with each thread representing a solid thread of Jeffrey Maitland’s internalized fabric.

Healing Body, Self and Soul is a statement of a therapeutic process Dr. Perlmutter developed by integrating Reichian character structures, psychoanalysis, touch, breath, awareness and more. ISP is an amalgam of numerous concepts and interventions (e.g., inner child work, expressive movement, psychotherapy, hypnotherapy) that focuses on bodily events and processes necessary to shape the client’s mind and soul in an oscillatory process moving from body experiences to verbal reflection in order to cognitively integrate “new awareness, new experience of the deeper self and to foster behavior that is congruent with the deeper self”

Gill Westland’s 2015 release entitled, Verbal and Non-Verbal Communication in Psychotherapy, merits mention. Her voice felt personable, reachable, while professional, informative. There’s something for anyone involved in mental health care as Gill draws on current findings from: infant development studies; neuroscience; various schools and approaches; and mindfulness/Buddhist practices.

There’s always this sense of anticipation when I read a book by editors and authors I personally know. My belly churns; there's an involuntarily pause before I exhale and my heart adds a beat to its rhythmic song because a resonance exists that translates from colleague to text. I hear their voice while reading as if we are together, in person, having an amicable chat. When I heard that Halko Weiss, Courtenay Young and Michael Soth were part of The Handbook of Body Psychotherapy and Somatic Psychology, when I heard that many colleagues had contributed chapters, I immediately had to read it and share my thoughts with SPT Magazine’s readers.

Kamalamani invites you to join her in celebrating the arrival of her newly-born book, Other Than Mother: Choosing Childlessness with Life in Mind, at her book launch, April 15, 2016 in Bristol, UK. Readers' comments include: "a truly beautiful book," "touching on issues close to the heart", "a timely, compassionate, skillful guide."

The book represents a step toward more effective standards and practices and it might prove it to be, even for those professionals who feel they don’t need overt tools for self-diagnosis, an important entry in the contemporary discourse about psychotherapeutic practice.

In the United States, ruled by an unsustainable culture of big businesses, politics, and greed, we are insatiable. Constantly searching for more nourishment, we are never full. Everyone is living in this perpetual state of emergency, but we still feel alone in the struggle. In the United States, ruled by an unsustainable culture of big businesses, politics, and greed, we are insatiable. Constantly searching for more nourishment, we are never full. Everyone is living in this perpetual state of emergency, but we still feel alone in the struggle. In The Smell of Rain on Dust: Grief and Praise, Martín Prechtel coalesces ancient wisdom and modern life. We seem to be far from our ancient roots, but Prechtel reconnects us by exploring issues such as war, money, and politics through the lens of a shaman and offers an invitation to heal our distressed souls through grief and praise.

Transforming Emotional Pain in Psychotherapy: An Emotion-Focused Approach presents a review of EFT with well-informed categorization of the many sub-components of emotional pain coupled with real case transcripts and the reasoning behind both the client’s and therapist’s advances.

Modern Psychology and Ancient Wisdom, 2nd edition, brings together experts who explore the use of ancient healing techniques from Buddhism, Christianity, Goddess, Shamanism, Taoism, and Yogic traditions as well as the mystical practices of Judaism and Islam and their application to modern counseling and therapy professions.