SEMRAD: The Heart of a Therapist [Paperback]

Susan Rako (Author), Harvey Mazer (Author), Elvin V. Semrad (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 18, 2003

For the past half-century, Harvard trained psychiatrists who learned their art and skill from a genius have quoted his observations about life in their work with patients and in teaching others the practice of psychotherapy.Here is the unique and heralded collection of remarks by this extraordinary teacher, Dr. Elvin Semrad, originally recorded by Susan Rako and Harvey Mazer during residency-training at Harvard's Massachusetts Mental Health Center in the 1960's."The book brings the reader a sense of closeness to the personal, informal aspects of this man who combined knowledge, gentleness, and strength in a most unusual way."-Otto Will, M.D.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Susan Rako practices psychiatry in Newton, Massachusetts. She is the author of two groundbreaking books, The Hormone of Desire and The Blessings of the Curse: No More Periods? and of the memoir, That's How the Light Gets In: Memoir of a Psychiatrist.Harvey Mazer has an office in Harvard Square. He practices psychoanalysis, psychotherapy, and psychopharmacology. He is basically an optimist, and believes that someday the Red Sox once again will win the World Series.

Product Details

• Paperback: 208 pages
• Publisher: IUniverse (December 18, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0595304117
• ISBN-13: 978-0595304110
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #629,524 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Quiet Wisdom, July 9, 2011

By 

Kent T. Hoffman (Spokane, WA, US) - See all my reviews

This review is from: SEMRAD: The Heart of a Therapist (Paperback)

Elvin Semrad clearly taught with wisdom to spare. The simplicity, presence, and quiet empathy with which this man speaks is all too often missing in the learning process for psychotherapists. Too much focus lands on technique and knowledge; not enough where the action is most required: "being with." Semrad was a master at "being with" - a clinician focused on providing the unspoken structure and confidence in change that allows psychotherapy to actually happen. Long after our prized techniques have fallen by the wayside, years after our clients forget our words and our insights, they will remember what Semrad continued to base the psychotherapeutic encounter upon: one real person in the presence of another real person unwilling to impose answers, fully willing to respect the gradual process of transformation. This can't be taught, but it can be shared. This volume comes as close as a book can to offering that sharing.

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Semrad by those who knew him, April 2, 2011

By 

Susan Winters Smith - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: SEMRAD: The Heart of a Therapist (Paperback)

I learned about Semrad from a friend of mine who was a Psychiatrist trained under Semrad. Everything he said about him was verified by these authors who also knew him and studied with him. Everyone considering being a therapist should read this book. Anyone who wants to help a fellow human being through their trials and sorrows could benefit from reading this book. Semrad was the master. The authors have captured well his philosophies, his methods, his heart. If you read this you might get an understanding of what it is to "sit with" another person and to hear them out, to empathize. That is everything. Semrad invented 'empathy'.

0 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Incomprehensible, June 25, 2011

By 

Michael D. Zentman - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Semrad : The Heart of a Therapist (Hardcover)

I have been a trained psychoanalyst for the past 22 years and find this book of Dr. Semrad's thoughts to be utterly incomprehensible. I feel like I am reading a psychoanalytic version of the 1979 film Being There and that Dr. Semrad's followers were as mesmerized as the characters were by Chauncey Gardener. The ideas published in this book are, at best, obvious and self-evident and, at worst, meaningless and insulting to women . I am shocked that this would be published for public consumption.