Working from the Heart: A Therapist's Guide to Heart-Centered Psychotherapy

by William P. Ryan

Overview

When therapists work in a heart-centered way, they feel freer to be both professionals and loving human beings. Working from the Heart advocates for a deeper understanding that the therapist's expressions of non-sexual, non-romantic love are a core ingredient in effective psychotherapy. Each chapter in Working from the Heart focuses from a heart-centered perspective on a particular aspect of therapeutic work that has been insufficiently addressed in traditional training and supervision. Chapter topics include: removing patients' psychological blocks to receiving love; enabling patients to access their Higher Selves to solve complex life dilemmas; how to slog through professional and personal conflicts about touch in order to discern in what situations and with which patients gentle touch is the right therapeutic action; why a heart-centered approach is so important for male patients; how therapists can engage their "Big Hearts," aspects of their Higher Selves, during sessions; and how to create sanctuary for patients and therapists alike.

Working from the Heart addresses these issues in an informal style in order to make the book more accessible to wider spectrum of readers. Ryan is sharing his ideas, gleaned from thirty-five years of experience, and inviting a conversation.

For more information, please visit http://www.williampryan.com/.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780765707963
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	06/16/2011
Pages:	182
Product dimensions:	6.20(w) x 9.10(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

William P. Ryan, PhD, has been a psychotherapist in private practice for more than thirty-five years. He has taught college at both undergraduate and graduate levels and been a consultant in drug prevention, agencies for children, and law enforcement. Read more about Dr. Ryan and the book at http://www.williampryan.com

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments ix

Introduction xi

1 Wisdom of the Heart 1

2 Self-Forgiveness 13

3 Uprooting the implants 37

4 The Council 5

5 Touch 75

6 Men 85

7 Love Blocks 101

8 Small Heart, Big Heart 119

9 Sanctuary 139

10 Recharging 147

11 Anam Cara 159

Index 163

About the Author 165

Editorial Reviews

Understanding how Ryan integrates technical training into a human encounter would be illuminating....This provocative book makes you think about the frontiers of our field, and it belongs in the library of anyone who practices psychotherapy.

PsycCRITIQUES

Bill Ryan writes with the eye of an artist and the heart of a healer. He is one of those wise and warm souls who seems to have brought out the best in those with whom he worked, and who drew upon the best to hone his craft. What I liked most about Working from the Heart, is that it articulates a vision that is in desperate need of revitalization today-this vision emphasizes heart, perspicacity, and depth.

Kirk J. Schneider

When Freud said love and work are the cornerstones of our humanness, Bill Ryan may have been the only therapist listening. In this soulful book, Ryan puts the relationship between therapist and client back where it belongs at the heart of the treatment process. Working From The Heart is more than a book about therapy. It is a story about what it means to be human.

Jonathan Diamond