Mindfulness-Informed Relational Psychotherapy and Psychoanalysis: Inquiring Deeply

by Marjorie Schuman

"This book is an immense contribution to the integration of mindfulness and relational psychotherapy. Clearly the fruit of years of dedicated practice and written with great care, it uniquely illustrates the felt experience and clinical decision-making of a deeply relational psychoanalyst. For mindfulness-informedtherapists who have been searching for words to describe what they do, this is it." --- Christopher Germer, PhD,   Faculty, Harvard Medical School, author of The Mindful Path to Self-Compassion and co-editor, Mindfulness and Psychotherapy."Inquiring Deeplyis a rich, helpful book for all interested in the growing field of mindfulnessand psychotherapy. Filled with lively cases and warm, clear understanding, itbrings new perspectives to relational mindfulness, wise investigation of thought, and the skillful wedding of insight and human care." --- Jack Kornfield, PhD,   renowned Buddhist teacher and author of The Wise HeartBlending the knowledge of contemporary psychoanalysis with the wisdom of Buddhist view, Marjorie Schuman's book  Mindfulness-Informed Relational Psychotherapy and Inquiring Deeply  explains in clear language how the experience of Self and Other is involved in emotional pain and relational suffering. Written for the psychotherapist and layperson alike, 'Inquiring Deeply' illuminates the crossroads at which Buddhism and psychotherapy meet. It shows how mindfulness practice can be integrated into psychotherapy in a way which breathes space into problems and allows them to resolve.  

214 pages, Kindle Edition

Published December 19, 2016

Reviews

[Morgan Blackledge · Rating 5 out of 5]

BRILLIANT!

This book is a MOAJOR advance in the field.

Schuman has successfully integrated BUDDHIST PRACTICE and PHILOSOPHY with RELATIONAL PSYCHOANALYSIS.

LOTS of other BRILLIANT people have attempted to do this.

- JUNG
- KLIEN
- FROMM
- MILLER
- KOHUT
- HILLMAN
- EPSTEIN
- SIEGEL
- SCHORE

To name a few.

All of them hit the target.

All of them contributed something important.

Schuman builds on (and synthesizes) all of their work.

And hits a TOTAL BULLSEYE 🎯

She achieves this AMAZING FEAT by bringing the relational branches of BUDDHISM and PSYCOANALSIS together.

Shulman introduces and integrates Gregory Kramer’s insight dialogue, with Stephen A. Mitchel’s Relational Psychoanalysis.

And it just WORKS.

In the end.

She comes dangerously close to synthesizing Buddhist enlightenment/liberation with psychodynamic psychotherapy.

One of the AMAZING ideas Schuman explores is the notion of SELF as TRANSITIONAL OBJECT that serves to soothe us in short term, but entangles us in a stultifying ADDICTION to SELF in the long term. Recovering from that SELF/EGO addiction is an amazing way to conceptualize and Buddhist enlightenment in the language of object relations.

Schuman also discusses how we can develop a more loving more nurturing SUPER EGO. That is a profound way of reifying ahimsa and Buddha Nature in psychodynamic terms.

This book is ESSENTIAL for anyone who is SERIOUSLY integrating SERIOUS Buddhist practices (in their full spectrum), and SERIOUS relation psychoanalysis.

This book (IMO) is the current state of the art in this area.

GOLD!

Pure GOLD!

5/5 stars ⭐️ (but more like 5/5 magic talking trees that you discover in the forest, and you try to tell other people about, but no one believes you, so you’re like, all alone with this AMAZING experience, and you still love the tree, and it’s still RAD, but you WISH you could share it with someone else, but you can’t, and it’s extremely special, but also lonesome 🌳)

AMAZING.

Great BOOK!