The Mindful Therapist: A Clinician's Guide to Mindsight and Neural Integration (Norton Series on Interpersonal Neurobiology) [Hardcover]

Daniel J. Siegel (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 3, 2010 | ISBN-10: 0393706451 | ISBN-13: 978-0393706451 | Edition: 1

Bringing mindfulness techniques to your psychotherapeutic work with clients.

An integrated state of mindful awareness is crucial to achieving mental health. Daniel J. Siegel, an internationally recognized expert on mindfulness and therapy, reveals practical techniques that enable readers to harness their energies to promote healthy minds within themselves and their clients. He charts the nine integrative functions that emerge from the profoundly interconnecting circuits of the brain, including bodily regulation, attunement, emotional balance, response flexibility, fear extinction, insight, empathy, morality, and intuition.

A practical, direct-immersion, high-emotion, low-techno-speak book, The Mindful Therapist engages readers in a personal and professional journey into the ideas and process of mindful integration that lie at the heart of health and nurturing relationships.

Editorial Reviews

Review

“

[A]n excellent synthesis of a variety of complex fields, providing space for reflection and the cultivation of the clinicians' own mindfulness skills. . . . [C]an be read by any clinician, at any stage of their career.

” (Journal of Mental Health )

“A brilliant look at what it means to do psychotherapy 'with the brain in mind.' Daniel Siegel's bold vision of integration—mind, brain, and relationships—has the power to heal. Take it in slowly and therapy will never seem the same again.” (Christopher K. Germer, PhD, Clinical Instructor in Psychology, Harvard Medical School )

“In my 40 years of practice, I can count on one hand the number of books I would call seminal. After reading The Mindful Therapist, that number just increased by one. Scientifically grounded, evidence-based, compassionate, and exquisitely human, this approach will fundamentally change the way we do psychotherapy. I hope everyone who practices our craft reads this book, and I hope they read it often.” (Daniel Gottlieb, PhD, Host, "Voices in the Family," WHYY FM Radio )

“Dr. Dan Siegel absolutely gets it—the synthesis of psychotherapy and neuroscience—and translates it into engaging prose, pithy acronyms, and compelling practices. The Mindful Therapist is an irresistible, inspiring guide to cultivating our healing presence.” (John C. Norcross, PhD, ABPP, President, APA Society of Clinical Psychology )

“The internationally renowned Dan Siegel has written a truly wonderful book on the essence and process of psychotherapy. Developing his unique neurophysiological approach to empathy, mindfulness, and change, and illuminating the importance of therapist presence, openness, attunement and resonance, Siegel writes with deep compassion and scholarly wisdom. A source of deep reflection and learning, this book is a gift to new and old therapists alike. Our understanding of the micro-skills of the therapeutic endeavor has been significantly advanced.” (Paul Gilbert, PhD, author of The Compassionate Mind and professor of Clinical Psychology, University of Derby, UK )

“[A]n in-depth resource, encapsulating both the essence and the process of a unique, neurophysiological approach to psychotherapy.” (USABP Newsletter )

“[Siegel is] among the most prominent of Western writers in the current literature on mindfulness and its implications for psychology…. The Mindful Therapist is an impressive integration of the objective and subjective aspects of the work of psychotherapists that makes significant contributions to the rapidly expanding literature on mindfulness in psychology and psychotherapy. And I, for one, am excited to re-read this text and explore more of Siegel's work on mindsight and interpersonal neurobiology.” (Metapsychology )

“[T]hose of us interested in mindfulness, both for ourselves and for our clients, will find this book a vault of new discoveries…an excellent resource and training manual….Siegel has set up the exercises to benefit both therapists and their clients; this approach gives even more value to the book….[C]ould be used by couples working through problems, professors attempting to better connect with their students, employees wishing to relate to their bosses, or even just everyday people seeking to improve their relationships with those around them.” (Philosophical Practice )

About the Author

Daniel J. Siegel, MD, is an internationally acclaimed author and award-winning educator and is currently a clinical professor of psychiatry at the UCLA School of Medicine where he is a co-investigator at the Center for Culture, Brain, and Development and is co-director of the Mindful Awareness Research Center. His books include Healing Trauma, The Healing Power of Emotion, The Mindful Brain, The Mindful Therapist, Trauma and the Body, Pocket Guide to Interpersonal Neurobiology, and more. He lives in Santa Monica, California.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company; 1 edition (May 3, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0393706451
• ISBN-13: 978-0393706451
• Product Dimensions: 6.4 x 0.9 x 9.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (22 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #15,910 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #41 in Books > Medical Books > Psychology > Counseling
  • #54 in Books > Health, Fitness & Dieting > Psychology & Counseling > Psychiatry

More About the Author

Daniel J. Siegel, M.D., is an internationally acclaimed author, award-winning educator, and child psychiatrist. He is currently a clinical professor of psychiatry at the UCLA School of Medicine where he also serves as a co-investigator at the Center for Culture, Brain, and Development and co-director of the Mindful Awareness Research Center. He is also the Executive Director of the Mindsight Institute, an educational center devoted to promoting insight, compassion, and empathy in individuals, families, institutions and communities. His books include "Mindsight," "The Developing Mind," "The Mindful Brain," "The Mindful Therapist," "Parenting From the Inside Out," and "The Whole-Brain Child." He is the Founding Editor of the Norton Professional Series on Interpersonal Neurobiology which includes "Healing Trauma," "The Power of Emotion," and "Trauma and the Body." He lives in Los Angeles with his wife and two children. For more information on Dr. Siegel's work, please visit DrDanSiegel.com.

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

147 of 151 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A remarkable teacher... May 3, 2010

By Laurence Drell

Format:Hardcover

Although the title is the Mindful Therapist, a clinicians' guide, (and it is a breakthrough book for psychotherapists) this book is also valuable for anyone who is interested in deepening their understanding of how our minds work and how we affect the minds (and brains) of other people.

Dan Siegel is a remarkable teacher and this book is another in his series of books explaining interpersonal neurobiology. He is a gifted writer, often poetic in his explanations and descriptions of fundamental mental processes. He successfully addresses a multitude of crucial topics from exploring the experience of self, to what it means to be in resonance with another person or with oneself.

He introduces the reader to the latest brain science research, explores the nature of mind and neural integration in our brains and increases our depth of understanding of mindfulness and empathy. He opens up new ways of making sense of our inner world (the conscious and the unconscious) and he creates a framework to view what we may have seen and known previously but now with a new depth of knowledge he creates an entirely new level of understanding.

In previous work he had described a valuable human capability: "mindsight". He characterized it as "a type of focused attention that allows us to see the workings of our own minds and allows us to reshape our inner experience, to increase our freedom, as well as to be fully open to another person's inner experience". In this book he goes further in showing the components and workings of this ability and how to increase our capacity to use this in our clinical work and in our lives.

He wrote this book to be read as if the reader and he were having a conversation (and it is). I had to laugh when at one point he expanded a concept explaining how the mind and brain process memory and I was just going over and over this in my mind trying to grasp the full meaning of what he was explaining.

My response at such frustration is usually to close the book and look for something to eat. His next sentence in the book was: "Yes, this appears difficult and you probably want to close the book now.... but you can comprehend this with a little more effort". And it is well worth the effort.

This is part of his gift as a teacher; to know where a student (reader) may be, and to then engage them in a way that takes them to a deeper and more complex level of understanding. He is a unique writer in this respect and was once referred to as the Mr. Wizard of our generation. (Mr. Wizard had a TV show (a million years ago) and he introduced the science of everyday life with wonder and excitement. Dan Siegel does this.

I do not mean to suggest that this is a dry scientific text. On the contrary, this is a uniquely rich, exciting, practical and readable book. Because of his writing style, this quickly becomes a rewarding and exciting conversation with Dan Siegel. It will stretch ones thinking by introducing new areas of scientific research and new ways of seeing the complexity of how our mind works and how the brain is continually evolving.

He introduces new ways of understanding "mental illness" (actually any thinking that is either rigid or chaotic). And like a great teacher, he establishes the potential roots of these problems, and in stages, expands our knowledge to fully conceptualize a new view. He then suggests how to integrate all this information into the practice of psychotherapy in order to help another person develop more fully.

This is a book that should to be close at hand. Just as having a good friend or colleague available to take a walk with and discuss and explore new ideas with, this book serves the function of opening the reader's mind to see things in a new light.

It is like a fine soup chock full of exciting and interesting flavors and thoughts. Some concepts you may think you have tasted previously but in his recipe he takes them to new levels of understanding, nuance and integration creating a synergy of flavors for a hungry mind.

Each chapter has a section that focuses directly on the more scientific information (Brain Matters) and another section with actual exercises for the reader to do (Mindsight Skills). This approach is quite useful because the concepts presented can be understood on both the intellectual cognitive level and the experiential subjective level as the book is read. In addition these exercises can be practical tools that can be used with clients.
His description and useful visual models of the dimensions of human experience are illuminating. The relationship between the mind and actual changes in neuronal structure explain why old patterns of behavior have a high probability of occurring again and again unless real neuronal change occurs.

He explains clearly and beautifully how our thoughts (often mindless preconceptions) and automatic actions (impulses) continue to effect and reinforce our own brain structure. And he reminds us how unfortunately this inevitably effects the mind and the neuronal wiring of the person we are interacting with.

Throughout the book he explains and suggests the importance of continually improving ones "mindsight" and how to creatively and intentionally develop this in oneself. He illustrates how this will have a direct effect on what can occur in psychotherapy as well as any relationship.

And Dr Siegel, neuroscientist, uses the L word without shame. In fact Dr Siegel clearly describes the importance of "love" neurologically. He separates the various types of love and shows that on a fundamental level of our neurobiology, "love " and empathy help develop our minds which affects neuronal growth and therefore actually shape our brains and the brains of those we interact with.

This book is valuable for therapists and to everyone who wants to maximize their own knowledge of themselves and to learn how to recognize and develop "mindsight" within themselves. Dan Siegel introduces cutting edge brain science and mindfulness practices and integrates all this information making it understandable and useful in the real world of being with ourselves and interacting with others.

Laurence Drell, MD
Washington DC

46 of 47 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent resource May 21, 2010

By Amy Dinoble

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

Dr. Siegel's latest work, The Mindful Therapist, is an excellent, unique resource for therapists. Throughout my training as a therapist, I have read many books about the various aspects involved in the therapeutic process, however, this is the first book I have found that addresses what therapists can do, and need to do, on a personal level to be most helpful in the therapeutic process. While The Mindful Therapist seems to be written as a guide for clinicians, this information is applicable to anyone who wants to explore themselves and their relationships in greater depth. In this book, Dr. Siegel provides an incredible amount of information that allows the reader to understand the physiological and psychological processes as well as how past experiences contribute to our present relationships. In addition, his elegant, creative style allows for a flowing, engaging read.

Thank you, Dr. Siegel, for this wonderful and incredibly useful resource!

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Daunting but worth the time November 25, 2011

By Cynthia L. Wall, LCSW

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

Dr. Dan Siegal is a genius, and the therapy recommendations in his book are personal, warm, and open. Since I am not a brain physiologist, I finally figured out to stumble quickly through his enthusiastic detailing of how the brain supports/requires different techniques. In this way, I got to the parts I could actually use and share. I've seen him (with Jack Kornfield, PhD) and so love his kindness, humility, and desire to share his knowledge. Thank you, Dan, for the hard work to bring science to us unscientific types, Cynthia