Customer Reviews

The Human Side of Human Beings: The Theory of Re-Evaluation Counseling

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This theory, at first, seemed to wrap up too neatly the complexity of human emotional distress and its relation to irrational thinking and acting. It's a small book and I've re-read it a few times, and I have a very, very hard time coming up with specific criticisms.

This book was recommended to me by a practicing re-evaluation counselor and very likely the most intelligent AND most genuinely happy person I've ever known--as well as a dear and trusted friend. My limited experience with co-counseling in my own life and his decades of positive, life changing experience with the theory have grown on me and turned me into a supporter.

Another reviewer mentioned similarities to L. Ron Hubbard's Dianetics/Scientology. Not coincidentally, Jackins and Hubbard worked together on this theory (allegedly), and Hubbard saw an opportunity to spice the theory up at the expense of its integrity and package it for the marketplace.

In short, the book is a 30-minute read that offers an interesting theory on the human mind and what separates us from other living creatures. It promotes tolerance, listening, the building of strong interpersonal relationships, and offers hope for drastically improving your life by making reasonable efforts and self-bettering sacrifices. And unlike Hubbard's theory, it doesn't claim to be able to remedy all of your current and potential psychological and emotional problems.

Come into reading it with an intelligent, critical, and open mind and it can only help. Needless to say, this is only my own humble, yet genuine and informed, opinion.

I happened upon this book about 25 years ago, after reading lots and lots of psychology books. The ideas presented here are simple, but profound. I've used the idea that rigid behavior results from moments of distress, and that the emotional damage done to people can be healed by listening to them, in a wide range of ways since then. Jackins takes a refreshing departure from psychobabble, and I use his perspective daily in my work with parents and children, to explain why we parents have to make such an effort not to repeat the behavior of our parents when we're under stress, and why children seem to get upset over the smallest things over and over again. Overall, it's a generous attitude toward human nature that is taken, one that offers hope and simple things one can do to help oneself and to help others in a practical yet significant way. It's worth a read!

This is a little book that packs a big punch, in terms of important information. Describing the underpinnings of what developed into Re-evaluation Co-Counseling, this book provides clear information about how early childhood experiences can get locked into place in our psyches, influencing our reactions to situations far into our future, long after we've forgotten the original event. Jackins' politics and ideas may not be for everyone in the end, but this book provides a great deal of food for thought packed into a very small package. Well worth the time of any counselor or coach to read, for sure, and probably worth the time of nearly everyone else as well.

The Human Side of Human Beings is one of those rare books which deserves more than five stars. Give it six. Harvey Jackins deftly outlines what we've always known, deep down, to be true about people. And does it in a way where you realize you've always known these things.

There are things each of us has a tough time remembering. This book takes universal truths that are often submerged in cultures and individuals and brings them back up where we can use them.

Jackins also adds some insights to the human pot of knowledge. His concept of a "distress pattern" makes it easier to picture how fear and sadness get stored, and how greatly they can interfere with every good goal. And he shows how recovering from distress, a process every baby fully understands, can be readily accomplished by adults, even while that same distress is trying to run our lives.

I've given this book to about forty friends. I once took a copy to my brother in prison. The guards in the lobby had to look at everything I intended to take inside. While I waited for him to be brought up to the visiting area, they established that the gifts were safe, then spent the rest of time reading the small book with the plain blue cover. When my name was called, I walked over to get my stuff. "This is really good," one guard said. "I'm going to get a copy." His co-worker smiled. "Me too."

If you're interested in a better world, great friendships, teaching, parenting, addictions, genius, learning processes, global peace, or good science, this is a must-read.

In this engagingly written little book, you will learn that Jackins' theory of distress patterns is, in his words, the sole explanation of "what is wrong with people." You will also learn that Jackins has discovered the solution to "what is wrong with people" in what he calls "discharge" which includes such cathartic processes as crying and laughing.

This book is misleading because of what it does not say. What you will not learn from this book is that Jackins' theory is practically identical to L. Ron Hubbard's Dianetics theory, the precursor to Scientology. Much of the criticism of Dianetics could equally be applied to Jackins' theory. You will also not learn that Jackins' concept of "discharge", which is commonly called catharsis or abreaction in the psychotherapy world, is a well-known but controversial technique and is considered to have limited usefulness in and of itself by the three most widely used psychotherapies: cognitive therapy, psychodynamic therapy and behavior therapy. Finally, absolutely no references are given in this book to related work, making it quite difficult to evaluate its claims. Despite the impression one might get from the introduction, the theory espoused in this book is not a scientific one. You will search in vain throughout the literature of Re-evaluation Counseling for any scientific research that supports or validates the methods or theories described in this book.

If you are looking for some good "self-help" books based on solid empirical evidence and scientifically tested principles, I would recommend "Feeling Good" by David Burns or "A Guide to Rational Living" by Albert Ellis as good places to start.

This book leads you into a method of revealing the peaceful, joyful and intelligent person underneath old patterns of distress. It's simple truths are refreshing and empowering. The impact on my life, my friends and family is beyond astonishing.

I found this book many years ago. And I am glad that it is still out there. It was the first book on selfhelp I ever found. It helped me in uderstanding my own and human unnecessary suffering. It explains that we, as human beings have an inherent nature to be happy, intelligent creatures with inbuilt natural healing mechanisms for stress and trauma. Namely, the process of tears and uninterrupted crying. It also explains how, when this mechanism is not utilized, information taken in by our senses is miss-stored and miss-classified (this taking place all the way since childhood) and that that is why we cannot make sense of things from there own. If you are looking for self-understandind about the unsensible things in your psychology, this book is a must.

Jackins's book gives a sound basic description of the conditioning process. He contrasts conditioned behaviors versus intelligent behaviors. He correctly notes that conditioned behaviors are installed during experiences of what the behaviorists call "aversive stimulus". That is, people are vulnerable to being conditioned when being hurt. Jackins says that our best selves are reflected via our intelligence. Conditioned behaviors result in rigid behaviors or "stimulus-response" sets. In contrast, intelligent thought and response is defined as behavior that responds to the specific demands of each new moment in time. Intelligence attempts to create a flexible response that continually improves upon past efforts made in similar situations. This is the essence of all skill building. Go ahead. Ask Michael Jordan or any top athelete about how he or she refine their skills. Watch a baby learn how to talk or walk.

Jackins' book is sound basic psychology. He did not need to cite past research or create verifible studies. His main audience are the people learning the theory and practice of Re-Evaluation Counseling. Not the general public. Proof of the theory's validity comes with succesfull practice of co-counseling.

This book is a simplistic rehash of Dianetics. Jackins comtribution to Dianetics was the two-way co-counseling relationship whereby 2 people exchange help by taking turns counseling eachother rather than Dianetics one-way counseling style. While this uncritical listening can be helpful, the sometimes coercive directions given by co-counseling leaders to their clients has been misused in the past to create false memories, deflect criticism and undermine the client's thinking and integrity. Jackins tries to have it both ways; RC is scientifically based but doesn't need scientific testing to guage its validity. And he maintains that mainstream psychiatric science is abusive and unscientific because it doesn't acknowledge RC's theories and practice.