Book Reviews

Perhaps it’s because the contributors and editors are all Hakomi specialists, perhaps it’s because they are not just practitioners of this methodology but have sincerely immersed themselves in Hakomi’s foundational precepts personally and professionally: mindfulness, presence, loving kindness, and nonviolence. I felt as if the material was written according to the core essence of Hakomi— “assisted self-study done in a state of mindfulness”.

Bessel van der Kolk’s, The Body Keeps The Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma, takes a detailed, well-researched, and multidisciplinary approach to discussing trauma and how it can be treated clinically.

Drs. Elizabeth Johnston and Leah Olson highlight the work of key researchers, describing their text as a “tasting menu that introduces the variety of delicacies available in the vibrant and growing field of emotion research” (xvi). Drawing from researchers dating back to Darwin, Johnston and Olson weave together a myriad of theories that seek to define emotion in various ways. The authors offer comprehensive coverage of what they view as the most profound contributions to affective neuroscience, hoping to engage their audience in a way that goes beyond a mere question-answer approach.

Dr. Norman Doidge, author of the New York Times Bestseller, The Brain That Changes Itself, provides an eloquent and fascinating synopsis of the current scientific understanding of the process of neuroplasticity. With lucid language, Dr. Doidge explains this complex concept with the goal of educating and enlightening patients, family, and clinicians of the many possibilities of recovery.

Relational Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy Integration details how psychoanalysis can be integrated with other forms of non-analytical psychotherapeutic techniques.

Eat What You Love, Love What You Eat, for Binge Eating: A Mindful Eating Program for Healing Your Relationship With Food and Your Body is designed to assist readers in altering their eating habits. As the title implies, the author incorporates mindfulness exercises for readers to practice at their own pace to increase their self-awareness of appetite and compulsive eating habits.

Less Medicine More Health: 7 Assumptions That Drive Too Much Medical Care comes at a time in medical history of great skepticism and distrust of previously lauded medical practices. In spite of this, I feel this book is a far cry from other less founded movements such as the anti-vaccination movement.

The primary concern of Simple Self-Care for Therapists is to break down Bush book for website effective methods to combat burnout and work-related stresses specific to practicing psychotherapists. In addressing this, Bush outlines myriad common scenarios coupled with personal anecdotes to illustrate what the scenarios might look like.

Anna Halprin: Dance, Process, Form details the life and work of dancer and artist Anna Halprin. Halprin was an early innovator in dance therapy, using the medium as a form of personal exploration through artistic and physical expression. Her work with groups of people, either for specific art pieces or in experimental workshops, was highly influential for the development of both dance therapy and avant-garde expressionism.

The million-dollar question is: how do we become more productive while reducing stress and anxiety? David Allen provides an answer to this question with a simple and yet efficient principle: write things down as you think of them. In a nutshell, Allen’s system of productivity focuses on getting things out of your head, organizing them, and getting them done.