Showing posts with label counseling. Show all posts
Showing posts with label counseling. Show all posts

Sunday, August 1, 2010

Moving On: Life When Your Lover Walks Out

Life After Your Lover Walks Out: A Practical Guide
Author: Lynda Bevan
Publisher: Loving Healing Press
ISBN: 978-1-932690-26-2

Loving Healing Press is definitely the go-to publisher for all things relationship, family, personal motivation, psychology, metapsychology, trauma intervention and self help. Life After Your Lover Walks Out is the first book in the Loving Healing Press 10 Step Empowerment Series. Like all other Loving Healing Press books, this guide does not disappoint.

Lynda Bevan has written what may be the ultimate guide to moving forward when a long term relationship ends. Regardless of whether you or your mate instigated the breakup, you'll be left with numerous unresolved issues and feelings, which can include anger, fear, jealousy and regret, among others. How you resolve these issues is largely dependent on knowing the steps to a healthy resolution and taking these often tough steps forward. This book breaks it down for people of all walks of life and levels of experience.

Step by step, the reader is led through a well planned and comprehensive series of processes. Realistic and practical exercises take the reader through an introspective process, leading from the negative impact of a breakup to figuring out what your expectations really are, what is healthiest for you, and what your real emotions are telling you. The reader will understand what motivates us into healthy/unhealthy relationships, making expectations realistic and giving a sense of closure to the terminated relationship.

Purposely written in a compact style, the book can easily be read from cover to cover in just a couple of hours. It has a workable, non-overwhelming style that can be used by anyone, and would make a great therapeutic tool in any counseling practice. Highly recommended.

Sunday, June 27, 2010

Life Without Jealousy A Practical Guide

Life Without Jealousy: A Practical Guide
Author: Lynda Bevan
Publisher: Loving Healing Press
ISBN: 978-1-932690-85-9

Anyone who has ever been involved in a relationship, whether it's friendship or romance, has probably experienced jealousy. There are many forms of jealousy, all of them unwanted and uncomfortable, regardless of the cause. The author, Lynda Bevan discusses the various type of jealousy, where they come from and how to handle them; whether you are the jealous person or the one who is the reciepent of jealousy.

This book is part of an excellent ongoing series from Loving Healing Press; the 10 Step Empowerment Series, practical guides written by experienced therapists for solving life's problems.

The book is written in a style that is both interesting and easy to understand. Regardless of the reader's knowledge of psychology, it is user friendly and educational. From the broadest definitions of jealousy and envy, the book then delves more deeply into the many forms jealousy takes: sexual, romantic, possessive, emotional, financial and material among others. The psychology of jealousy is explained, as well the differences of the sexes in how they feel and handle jealousy, and the damage caused by jealous behavior. Causes are discussed in detail, and real workable solutions are offered to repair the damages.

Regardless of which side of jealousy you find yourself on, help is available in this book. Highly recommended by this reviewer.

Sunday, January 24, 2010

Emotional Black Holes by Grant J. Hallstrom

Emotional Black Holes
written by Grant J. Hallstrom
publisher: ClearStone Publishing

Think about your social circle, your family, neighbors, co-workers, etc. How many of those people are suffering from depression, addiction, and self damaging behaviors? For most of us, probably at least five to ten people we know, at any given time, are finding themselves in that emotional black hole, that void, the sadness that doesn't go away. Maybe you are suffering yourself.

Recognizing the problem is the first step. Then comes finding the way out, and fighting for the life that is valuable and worth living. The journey out can begin with the book by Grant J. Hallstrom, Emotional Black Holes.

The author has written a moving and thought provoking account of his own journey from his own "black hole". By using this book as a guide, you will see that you are not alone in the journey; and will glean helpful ideas for yourself or others. Chapters include dealing with lust, temptation, addiction, even the addiction of religion. You may know someone who is a control freak, or by reading this book you may realize that you are the control freak. There is hope for healing and help for everyone suffering from any form of depression and emotional emptiness or vacuum.

Today's world brings trials and problems for all of us. Getting the help we need to deal with our trials and problems can be daunting; by reading this book you can and will be helping yourself or someone you know find the way out of that black hole. There is hope on the other side. Hallstrom has given us a valuable help in finding the way up and out.

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Therapists: Add To Your Professional Reference Shelf

Essentials of Premarital Counseling: Creating Compatible Couples (New Horizons in Therapy)
Author: Sandra L. Ceren
Publisher: Loving Healing Press

We all know that a large percentage of American marriages end in divorce. These numbers are even higher for subsequent marriages. No one gets married planning to have it fail. However, many couples put more emphasis on planning the wedding than they do on planning the actual marriage. As a Therapist, you have a wonderful opportunity to assist couples in learning how to make the marriage work after the actual wedding ceremony and honeymoon end. Dr. Sandra Ceren has put together a remarkably easy to follow and understand counseling blueprint for couples considering marriage.

Real life case studies and examples will lead the therapist through a series of ten meetings and discussions with couples. Using her ideas and proven methods, the therapist can assist couples in finding areas of probable conflict, work through them, and emerge a stronger team after counseling sessions.

Dr. Ceren combines education and experence to assist couples in the "art of gracious compromise", lessons that would serve most of us in both our personal and professional relationships. The author writes frankly and honestly about the need to actually know a partner before marriage, and offers quizzes that can help your clients explore each other's personality, personal history and thought processes.

I found the entire book well written, excellently presented and very well organized. It's obvious Dr. Ceren has put much work into this guide. I firmly believe that any therapist hoping to include marital/premarital counseling in their practice should keep a copy of this book close by........it will be referred to again and again.

Wednesday, October 7, 2009

A Ground Breaking Work, But Not For Beginners

Humanizing Madness: Psychiatry and the Cognitive Neurosciences

Author: Niall McLaren M.D.
Publisher: Future Psychiatry Press

There seem to be as many schools of thought on psychiatry as there are individuals in the practice of psychiatry. This excellent work by Niall McLaren M.D. takes a comprehensive and concise look at the major theories of the practice of psychiatry.

The book is well done, set up in a very easy to follow format. Each theory is explained in detail, and the author offers his opinion on the flaws and fallacies of each. It's obvious that much research and study has gone into each review, as well as into the problem areas and better working models. Will everyone agree with every opinion delivered by McLaren? Of course not. However, the review and research does lead to a rethinking of each theory; and many excellent and thought-provoking statements are made. I was particularly interested in the way the author viewed the theory regarding panic and anxiety attacks. It offered me an interesting perspective I had never considered before, and one that actually makes a lot of sense and is practical. I have suffered from panic and anxiety attacks personally for many years, and found much to ponder in his ideas and views.

This is not a book for beginners in psychology/psychiatry/neuroscience. I believe that to really understand and appreciate the depth of work that went into this publication, a reader would need a somewhat more intense understanding than just the basics of the science. I would recommend it to anyone with a working background in the field, and believe that they would find it as thought-provoking as I have.

It will definitely remain on my shelves as a future reference. I fully expect that at some point it will be recognized as a groundbreaking work in the field.