LAUSR

How People Change: Relationships and Neuroplasticity in Psychotherapy offers an eclectic range of perspectives on how individuals change through the therapeutic process. The compiled set of introductory essays proves a succinct overview of modern-day psychodynamic perspectives of the therapeutic relationship. With an overarching emphasis on providing differing explanations for how change occurs, Marion Solomon and Daniel Seigel have created a unique compilation of techniques aimed at using the client-therapist alliance to support emotional change. Each of the 13 essays offers a different take on the mechanisms through which clients are able to change both interand intra-personally through the therapeutic alliance, body language, relationships with others, and neural connections. Written for clinicians at any level of training, this compilation is a great way to succinctly gather new perspectives on how to approach the process of change in therapy. Each essay in How People Change provides a variation on the main theme of client progress. Topics addressed include: the internal experience of the therapist, the range of human emotions and their evolutionary purposes, neural circuitry and the potential for therapeutic neuroplasticity, somatic sensations and observations within a therapeutic context, early life social attachments and thwarted needs, relational interactions as fuel for internal change and growth, and the psychobiological effects of productive communication and internal reflection. Additionally, while the majority of essays reference individual therapy, other therapeutic contexts are covered, including working with children, couples, and groups. The theories and therapeutic techniques described throughout the text are often supported with research citations. In addition, case examples highlight the utility of the techniques. Through portrayed examples, the authors offer new perspectives on common psychological strife experienced in therapy. In language that can be understood by all levels of psychologist, from those in graduate programs up through experienced clinicians, How People Change offers practical theories for accomplishing psychological change. Furthermore, psychodynamic concepts that are typically shrouded in the jargon of this orientation are explained such that psychologists who favor any particular theory can glean benefit. Marion Solomon and Daniel Siegel begin the book with a well-written introduction describing the agenda of each individual chapter. Chapter 1 by Dr. Philip Bromberg, a very qualified psychoanalyst, starts the reader off with intensively psychoanalytic writing. As the first piece, this transition makes a difficult adjustment into the rest of the book. However, subsequent chapters are more digestible to those readers who may be less immersed in psychoanalytic terminology. Recently published literature is scattered throughout the text in support of the theories presented, but there is no thorough review of newly published research. Nevertheless, the core motive of How People Change is to describe innovative clinical perspectives on how clients change, which it does creditably. Finally, while the full title implies a focus on the neurological underpinnings of therapeutic progress, there is only minimal description of physical brain changes that take place after therapeutic intervention. This may be due to continued, but lacking understanding of the brain mechanisms involved. Nonetheless, the text offers much more information in terms of the relationships than the neuroplasticity in psychotherapy. * Eleanor E. Beale [email protected]