Book Reviews

Book offers personal stories about professional moments of failure. Fifteen psychotherapists define failure from their own perspective and courageously revisit client cases, some that occurred many years ago, to share intimate and revealing vignettes where the therapeutic bond was disrupted, where they were deeply wounded, and for some those wounds changed the course of their career. For all, these wounds remain as a tear in the fabric of their being.

“Can we bring the body closer to therapy and therapy closer to the body?”

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...

We're pleased to share our Summer Book Review Issue, volume 6, number 2, 2016 with our loyal community members and passersby--folks visiting our blog...

Can philosophers create change? Or do they merely entertain intellectual conversations, ask abstract questions about the nature of human thought, the nature of the universe, and the connections between them, and then ponder the possibilities? If you’re William Ferraiolo and you practice Stoicism, a philosophy of personal ethics, you are in fact learning “spiritual exercises” that lead to the development of “self-control and fortitude to overcome destructive emotions”.

You Die at the End consists of 180 “meditations”, Ferraiolo’s “ruminations” in response to Biblical scriptures, Old Testament writings. Early Stoics believed in a higher power (Zeus, God, the Universe) so Ferraiolo’s use of Christian scriptures was not surprising. Each scripture is followed by Ferraiolo’s interpretation of and implication in our lives today. His ‘ruminations’ typically start with a question—a guide to look within, to assess our self-perceptions and reasons for being— followed by startling reflections and revelations.

I sat down to read Contemplative Psychotherapy Essentials with an agenda in mind. I felt rushed to get through the chapter yet found myself slowing, breathing. I settled into the chair. The have-to-do’s vanished. I was simply and completely present with the text. Wegela offers quotes from other Buddhist teachers, case examples from clients and students. Terms are defined and demonstrated. The material is accessible, user-friendly. A true invitation to not only read about but to also personally experience it, try it out, let it flow within and through.

Feminist Therapy: Second Edition offers some insight into the beginnings of the feminist movement, educating the reader about the various political uprisings that spurred it into motion. Interestingly, there is no one founder of feminist therapy. Similar to a democracy, where the government is formed by and for the people, feminist therapy struggled with defining its boundaries and was left to the interpretation of the clinician practicing it.

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.

Morgan’s book, Addiction, Attachment, Trauma, And Recovery presents a progressive paradigm for the understanding of addiction and clinical practice of its treatment. Embodied firmly within the book and in Morgan’s own practice, is the principle of “consilience”. This is defined as the convergence of insights across a multitude of disciplines to form comprehensive knowledge. Thus, in Addiction, Attachment, Trauma, And Recovery, Morgan links together interpersonal neurobiology, attachment psychology, social ecology and trauma science into an articulate, humanistic analysis of addiction. Consilience is paramount: as we live in a world that is increasingly complex, we require a mode of thinking or framework that is both dynamic and integrative.