The Zen of Therapy
Uncovering a Hidden Kindness in Life
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4.6 • 9 Ratings
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- $12.99
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- $12.99
Publisher Description
“A warm, profound and cleareyed memoir. . . this wise and sympathetic book’s lingering effect is as a reminder that a deeper and more companionable way of life lurks behind our self-serious stories."—Oliver Burkeman, New York Times Book Review
Drawing on decades of personal and professional experience, Dr. Mark Epstein considers how his practice of psychotherapy and meditation can be used in tandem to lead his patients, and himself, to greater awareness and fulfillment.
For much of his career, Dr. Mark Epstein kept his beliefs as a Buddhist separate from his work as a psychiatrist. But as he became more forthcoming with his patients about his personal spiritual leanings, he was surprised to find how many of them were eager to learn more. The divisions between the psychological, emotional, and the spiritual, he soon realized, were not as distinct as one might think.
In The Zen of Therapy, Dr. Epstein reflects on a year’s worth of selected sessions with his patients and observes how, in a given hour, his Buddhist background influences his work. He emphasizes how Western therapy can be considered a two-person meditation, and how mindfulness, much like a good therapist, can “hold” awareness, creating the necessary conditions for inner peace. Throughout this deeply personal and wise inquiry, Dr. Epstein illuminates the therapy relationship as a spiritual friendship, and reveals how a therapist can help us realize that there is something magical running through our fraught lives. For when we understand how readily we have misinterpreted ourselves, when we touch the ground of our own being, we come home.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Psychiatrist Epstein (Advice Not Given) explains in this thought-provoking account how and why he integrates his Buddhist beliefs into his psychotherapy practice, sharing vignettes about his patients and connecting the dots between Buddhism, Winnicott's theories, and Freudian psychoanalysis. As he writes, "I believe in the power of awareness to heal. I want my patients to see how and when and where their egos, or superegos, are getting the best of them." This gets explored in stories of such patients as Jack, a child of Holocaust survivors, who "wants to know if he will ever be healed," and April, an anxious executive "longing... to be known, to be reached, and to be seen." Moving through a year's worth of sessions, Epstein demonstrates how Buddhist thought allows him to connect to patients and can be a tool to help them manage their suffering. Indeed, he writes of having seen patients' attachments toward themselves shift, with Buddhism as the primary vector for change. Epstein's voice is compassionate (though sometimes his own ego is on more prominent display) and he helpfully employs a variety of therapeutic theories, as well as Buddhist poems, metaphors, and imagery. Both clients and practitioners of therapy will appreciate Epstein's take on the complex interplay of spiritual and psychological teachings.
