OVERVIEW:
In their book, The Tools, Phil Stutz and Barry Michels introduce a novel method of psychotherapy. By combining elements of Jungian psychology with the kind of practical approach found in Ellis' Rational Emotive Behavioral Therapy, the authors present a series of exercises that they claim can harness the power of higher forces and affect radical, positive changes in their patients' lives. Per my assessment the exercises that they present are groundbreaking, but my guess is that there may be variable amounts of success for the average reader. I will try to explain what I mean by this below. Nevertheless, the book presents what appears to me to be an interesting, original,and possibly effective method of psychotherapy.
Before I begin, I have to admit that it is difficult to assess this book completely in such a short amount of time. I received the book from the Amazon Vine program for review three weeks ago. I am obligated to write a review, but you must realize that the exercises in the book take a fair amount of practice. I have noticed some positive changes that I will relate below, but I can't say at this point whether this will improve, stagnate, or decay over time. I will try to write an addendum later, if I see any differences over time. Additionally, I was a psych major in college, but I am certainly not a psychiatric professional. I do not have an advanced degree in psychiatry, so I can only give my opinions as a layperson. I think that this is appropriate as the book was written as a self-help manual for the general reader, but please take my comments in this light.
FULL REVIEW:
OVERVIEW:
Phil Stutz invented The Tools when he was finished with his training as a psychiatrist. After a number of failures at helping his early patients he felt that the kind of psychotherapy he was trained in didn't offer much to patients that was all that practical. He basically started from scratch and invented The Tools as a way to help his patients with day to day problems, and to his surprise and his patients' satisfaction, it worked. Barry Michels faced the same dilemma, but at a critical juncture in time Michels was lucky enough to attend one of Stutz's lecture. He became the prime student of Stutz and found incredible success using the tools with his patient population. Both have used these tools as the cornerstone of their psychotherapy. The two worked together to refine them and are now the go-to psychotherapists to Hollywood writers and the stars. They are presenting this book to bring their ideas to the general public and to help people help themselves.
The writing style is colloquial. They introduce each tool by discussing a patient vignette. They show the reader how the particular tool works using descriptive language and some simple cartoons that illustrate the principles at a glance. They then tell the reader what cues should prompt you to use a specific tool and how to use the tool. The last couple of pages of a chapter are devoted to a quick summary which is very helpful.
WHAT ARE THE TOOLS?
Without giving away any of the authors proprietary information, The Tools are as follows:
1. Reversal of Desire: A way to overcome avoidance of painful or difficult situations.
2. Active Love: A way to quell anger, prevent yourself perseverating on injustice, or prepare yourself for confronting a difficult person
3. Inner Authority: A way to overcome your insecurities.
4. The Grateful Flow: A way to rid yourself of overwhelming, negative thoughts that hold you back and give you back your sense of control.
5. Jeopardy: A way to solidify your willpower so that you will continue to use The Tools. The Tools are not a one-shot deal. They require an ongoing effort. If you stray off the path you will backslide to where you came from. Tool five keeps you on track.
JUNGIAN CONCEPTS
The above descriptions are sketchy, but you get the idea. The Tools all involve simple, Jungian concepts. A basic way of thinking about them is that we are often trapped in "The Maze"--stuck in negative patterns of thought and behavior that we cannot escape. On the one hand, The Maze is detrimental, as it prevents us from ever escaping from unhappy and unhealthy patterns of behavior. On the other hand, The Maze may disturb us, but the patterns, unhappy and unhealthy as they may be, keep us within our comfort zone. We are constantly distressed by The Maze, but we are also afraid to break out.
The Tools are designed to help us tap into The Source--a benign higher authority in the universe--which gives us the strength to break out of our old patterns of behavior. The Source is that Jungian mystical, spiritual power of good in the universe that unites us and can give us energy. It is the 'Higher Authority,' that "Power greater than ourselves" described in the second step of AA's 12 step program that can restore our sanity. For the religious, The Source is God, but, for the atheist, The Source is just a given. We also must confront our Shadow--a kind of second self that lives inside you. The Shadow is the picture of yourself within your minds eye that is devoid of any of our positive traits. It is the vision of yourself as that simpering, frightened, pimply child that cowers in the corner when you really need to stand up for yourself. By connecting to The Source and shedding light upon our shadow, we can overcome just about any problem.
BEHAVIORAL MODIFICATION OF THE SPIRIT
If all this seems a little mystic and spiritual, it's because it is. The Tools themselves, however, are down to earth and practical. Similar to Ellis' Rational Emotive Behavioral Therapy, The Tools give the reader a way to correct our recurring irrational beliefs and reorient ourselves with The Source and our Shadow, allowing us to escape the Maze. As complicated as all this may seem, The Tools themselves are simple and straightforward exercises that help us realign our thinking.
By changing the way we relate ourselves to The Source and our Shadow, we banish the irrational beliefs that hold us within The Maze. Our dysfunctional way of relating these elements is the major source of our woes. The important factor here, however, is that this is not once in a lifetime revelation. You need to constantly work at The Tools--it's a job that is never done. If you avoid them, you will slip back into your old patterns and get trapped again.
DOES IT WORK?
After practicing The Tools for three weeks, I have to say that I was very surprised that they have had some positive effects on me. My personal experience tells me that they do, indeed, have the potential to work. Once again, I can't say that I'm at the point where I'm so good at using The Tools that I have had a major life transformation, but the overall the results so far have been positive. Realize that using the Tools is an active and ongoing process. You need to continue to work on them; it is a job that is never done. Stutz and Michels do not promise something for nothing. However, if you put in the effort they do seem to work.
It is hard to tell, however, if these techniques are a good way to go for everyone. No research has been done to assess how well The Tools work. Yes, Stutz and Michels have had great success within their psychiatric practice. This is a start, but remember that most patients will stop using a therapy if they don't feel that it is helping. Patients who stick with a therapy--Stutz's and Michels' included--stick with the therapy because they feel that it works. The patients that continue using The Tools in Stutz and Michels' practices are the ones who are successful. Clinical success is hard to judge in a vacuum. Without research--knowing how many tried The Tools, how many were successful with them, and how many failed--it's hard to make a blanket recommendation.
Using The Tools takes a leap of faith when it comes to buying into the Jungian concepts involved. It also takes a lot of effort and imagination to put work with those concepts and put them into action. I don't think that it is any mistake that many of the authors' patients are larger than life, Hollywood, creative types. These are people who are likely driven to success and are also driven to put these techniques to use. They are also creative and imaginative enough to breathe life into the more mystical concepts.
That said, it's an interesting idea that you really don't have to believe in the reality of The Source for the techniques to work. Whether you believe in an actual Source or not, you could think of it as part of Jung's collective conscious. For example, many people don't believe in a God but have no problems believing in luck. At some core, we would all at very least like to believe that there is a benign power in the universe that tilts the scales--at least a little bit--in our favor. Positive reinforcement is a powerful motivator and something we all react to in our environment. If we get the desired results by doing something, we try that something again and again. As we all learned in Psych 101, if you put a subject on a random, positive reinforcement schedule they don't just sit and wait for the next treat to come by. Our brains try to make sense of the situation, and we start displaying deliberate, ritualized behaviors that we think are will result in more rewards. Regardless of the randomness, our brains are trained to structure our universe; to tease out causes and effects even when they don't exist. With a random reward schedule we still try to figure out exactly what it is that we are doing to receive the reward. It is as though we believe that our actions will almost always determine outcomes.
Read more ›
