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Mindfulness and the Therapeutic Relationship

• Edited by Steven F. Hick, Thomas Bien

Please order this title fromGuilford Press

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• Binding: Hardback
• Pages: 240
• Published by: Guilford Press
• Publication Date: 3rd September 2008
• ISBN: 978-1-59385-820-9

About the Book

A number of books have explored the ways psychotherapy clients can benefit from learning and practicing mindfulness. This is the first volume to focus specifically on how mindfulness can deepen the therapeutic relationship. Grounded in research, chapters demonstrate how therapists' own mindfulness practice can help them to listen more attentively and be more fully present. Leading proponents of different treatment approaches – including behavioral, psychodynamic, and family systems perspectives – illustrate a variety of ways that mindfulness principles can complement standard techniques and improve outcomes by strengthening the connection between therapist and client. Also presented are practical strategies for integrating mindfulness into clinical training.

Reviews

"Hick and Bien present a timely discussion at the intersection of two topics that have recently captured much-deserved attention in the psychotherapy field. Leading scholars from diverse orientations address mindfulness and the therapeutic relationship with regard to issues of definition, measurement, treatment, and training. The result is a significant contribution to the literature-one that will be greatly appreciated by clinical practitioners, researchers, graduate students, and instructors." - J. Christopher Muran, Beth Israel Medical Center, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, USA

"This fascinating, clinically fertile, and wide-ranging work illuminates and interweaves what may well be the two most significant themes in contemporary psychotherapy: the 'discovery' that therapy is a process of transformation through relationship and the introduction into clinical work of a 2500-year-old tradition of mindful awareness. Exactly how these developments may be integrated is the question addressed by the contributors to this scholarly yet accessible volume. Their responses are by turns practical, thought provoking, and inspiring. Mindfulness and the Therapeutic Relationship will doubtless prove a valued resource for novice and seasoned clinicians alike." - David J. Wallin, private practice, California, USA

"Mindfulness and psychotherapy have quite naturally found each other in ways that allow both patients and therapists to reap the benefits of embedding awareness practices within a traditional therapeutic frame. In this important volume, Steven Hick, Thomas Bien, and their contributors embark on a much-needed discussion of the contours of this emerging synthesis, through a multifaceted examination of the connection between the therapeutic relationship and mindfulness practice....The beauty of this book is that it allows the reader to look at the space between these two sources and see how a bridge between them, perhaps a trestle at first, is starting to be built." - from the Foreword by Zindel V. Segal, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, University of Toronto, Canada

"Mindfulness is not an esoteric topic relevant only to a few therapists/m-/it is a process that profoundly changes how we think about the nature and goals of therapeutic work itself. No recent book shows that more than this one, which illuminates the social nature of consciousness and carefully lays out the implications of mindfulness for compassion, connection, and relationship. We have long known that a powerful therapeutic relationship is a key to success in therapy. This book begins to show how we can use ancient wisdom to cultivate that relationship." - Steven C. Hayes, Nevada Foundation Professor, Department of Psychology, University of Nevada, Reno, USA

"Mindfulness and the Therapeutic Relationship serves us well as a required book in the Adult Psychotherapy concentration at the doctoral level. We teach and practice mindfulness at this level because it fosters presence, attention, and empathy in therapy, and also supports students' well-being as they go through graduate school. The book anchors the practice, illuminates it with theoretical understanding, and fosters cognitive flexibility. The topic and multiple viewpoints fit the needs of the class, and at an affordable price, too." - Alex Suarez, Core Faculty, School of Applied Psychology, Counseling and Family Therapy, Antioch University Seattle, USA

Table of Contents

Part I: Theory and Practice. Hick, Cultivating Therapeutic Relationships: The Role of Mindfulness. Lambert, Simon, The Therapeutic Relationship: Central and Essential in Psychotherapy Outcome. Part II: Therapeutic Presence. Bien, The Four Immeasurable Minds: Preparing to Be Present in Psychotherapy. Fulton, Anatta: Self, Non-self, and the Therapist. Walsh, Mindfulness and Empathy: A Hermeneutic Circle. Part III: Therapeutic Presence in Different Types of Treatment. Wilson, Sandoz, Mindfulness, Values, and Therapeutic Relationship in Acceptance and Commitment Therapy. Marlatt, Bowen, Chawla, Witkiewitz, Mindfulness-based Relapse Prevention for Substance Abusers: Therapist Training and Therapeutic Relationships. Safran, Reading, Mindfulness, Metacommunication, and Affect Regulation in Psychoanalytic Treatment. Lysack, Relational Mindfulness and Dialogic Space in Family Therapy. Part IV: Teaching and Listening. Shapiro, Izett, Meditation: A Universal Tool for Cultivating Empathy. Gehart, McCollum, Inviting Therapeutic Presence: A Mindfulness-based Approach. Kramer, Meleo-Meyer, Turner, Cultivating Mindfulness in Relationship: Insight Dialogue and the Interpersonal Mindfulness Program. Shafir, Mindful Listening for Better Outcomes. Hick, Bien, Epilogue.

About the Author(s)

Edited by Steven F. Hick, PhD, School of Social Work, Carleton University, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, and Thomas Bien, PhD, private practice, Albuquerque, NM, USA, Foreword by Zindel V. Segal, PhD

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