[This book is intended] for clinicians, theoreticians, and researchers. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2004 APA, all rights reserved).

Reconsidering Dementia Narratives explores the role of narrative in developing new ways of understanding, interacting with, and caring for people with dementia. It asks how the stories we tell about dementia – in fiction, life writing and film – both reflect and shape the way we think about this important condition. Highlighting the need to attend to embodied and relational aspects of identity in dementia, the study further outlines ways in which narratives may contribute to dementia care, while disputing the idea that the modes of empathy fostered by narrative necessarily bring about more humane care practices. This cross-medial analysis represents an interdisciplinary approach to dementia narratives which range across auto/biography, graphic narrative, novel, film, documentary and collaborative storytelling practices. The book aims to clarify the limits and affordances of narrative, and narrative studies, in relation to an ethically driven medical humanities agenda through the use of case studies. Answering the key question of whether dementia narratives align with or run counter to the dominant discourse of dementia as ‘loss of self’, this innovative book will be of interest to anyone interested in dementia studies, ageing studies, narrative studies in health care, and critical medical humanities.

Integrating the work of leading therapists, the book covers both conceptual foundations and current treatment applications. The volume delineates a variety of experiential methods, and describes newly developed models of experiential diagnosis and case formulation.

Empathy has long been regarded as central to the art of medicine and especially to the practice of psychotherapy. The ability of a therapist to appreciate the patient's state of mind and frame of reference is the foundation of a therapeutic alliance and key to the process of healing. However, these subjective aspects of practice are rendered suspect by today's emphasis on objectivity: formal diagnosis, with biological treatments, and standardized methodologies that appear to be aimed more at disease than at the person who suffers from it. Pressured by the practice climate and by the advances of science, practitioners have become treatment specialists and the empathic healer has become an endangered species. In this book, the author establishes a new foundation for the use and value of clinical empathy that is based on a distinction between treatment and healing and a model for using psychotherapy as a component of an organized system of care: focused, attuned to the patient's presenting motive, and consistent with our understanding of the relationship between mind and brain. Practicing mental health professionals and students find the rationale for assessment and treatment planning in The Empathic Healer an invaluable aide as they seek to adapt to the marvelous discoveries about how the brain shapes and recovers from mental disorder, and how an empathic environment fosters recovery and healing within and beyond the treatment setting. Establishes the historical roots of the concept of clinical empathy and its relationship to healing Elaborates the ideological and environmental factors that enhance or interfere with empathy Explores the biological importance of empathy as a feature of the normal human brain Argues for the integration of mind and brain in a new dualism Presents a vision of psychotherapy as an important component of an organized system of care Differentiates between the treating and healing functions, and suggests how each relies on empathy Suggests how an endangered species may be preserved in the present technological era

This book challenges the unchallenged methods in medicine, such as "evidence-based medicine," which claim to be, but often are not, scientific. It completes medical care by adding the comprehensive humanistic perspectives and philosophy of medicine. No specific or absolute recommendations are given regarding medical treatment, moral approaches, or legal advice. Given rather is discussion about each issue involved and the strongest arguments indicated. Each argument is subject to further critical analysis. This is the same position as with any philosophical, medical or scientific view. The argument that decision-making in medicine is inadequate unless grounded on a philosophy of medicine is not meant to include all of philosophy and every philosopher. On the contrary, it includes only sound, practical and humanistic philosophy and philosophers who are creative and critical thinkers and who have concerned themselves with the topics relevant to medicine. These would be those philosophers who engage in practical philosophy, such as the pragmatists, humanists, naturalists, and ordinary-language philosophers. A new definition of our own philosophy of life emerges and it is necessary to have one. Good lifestyle no longer means just abstaining from cigarettes, alcohol and getting exercise. It also means living a holistic life, which includes all of one's thinking, personality and actions. This book also includes new ways of thinking. In this regard the "Metaphorical Method" is explained, used, and exemplified in depth, for example in the chapters on care, egoism and altruism, letting die, etc.

Empathy is generally considered a useful skill for professional students in the helping professions, such as medicine, nursing, teaching, and clergy. This book examines the pedagogical and curricular implications of educating for empathy. Empathy is described as consisting of both cognitive and affective elements. Students may demonstrate empathic abilities on a continuum from an empathic deficit to empathic overload. Mentoring, reflection, journaling, and an understanding of spiritual formation can be helpful to professional students in learning how to engage empathy. For both the professional and the client, empathy can enhance the encounter and the professional relationship. Building on the inherent potential for relationality, professionals engaging empathy bring respectful humility into their encounters that can facilitate intercultural understanding in a diversifying and complex world.

In Adulthood, Morality, and the Fully Human, John J. Shea describes an adult, moral, and fully human self in terms of integrity and mutuality. Those who are fully human are caring and just. Violence is the absence of care and justice. Peace—the pinnacle of human development—is their embodiment. Integrity and mutuality together beget care and justice and care and justice together beget peace. Shea shows the practical importance of the fully human self for education, psychotherapy, and spirituality. This book is especially recommended for scholars and those in helping professions.

This book has two main objectives. The first is to identify and adequately describe the phenomenon of empathy. This essentially means offering a strong, reasoned and accurate description of the phenomenon of empathy in order to capture the essence of the empathic phenomenon and clearly distinguish it from other similar emotional phenomena such as sympathy or compassion The second part focuses on the role that this phenomenon can play on the ethical-moral level. The question is whether empathy is necessary or at least important for morality, and if so, to what extent, in what way and for what reasons. This is an open access book.

Cross-disciplinary, cutting-edge work on human empathy from the perspectives of social, cognitive, developmental and clinical psychology and cognitive/affective neuroscience. In recent decades, empathy research has blossomed into a vibrant and multidisciplinary field of study. The social neuroscience approach to the subject is premised on the idea that studying empathy at multiple levels (biological, cognitive, and social) will lead to a more comprehensive understanding of how other people's thoughts and feelings can affect our own thoughts, feelings, and behavior. In these cutting-edge contributions, leading advocates of the multilevel approach view empathy from the perspectives of social, cognitive, developmental and clinical psychology and cognitive/affective neuroscience. Chapters include a critical examination of the various definitions of the empathy construct; surveys of major research traditions based on these differing views (including empathy as emotional contagion, as the projection of one's own thoughts and feelings, and as a fundamental aspect of social development); clinical and applied perspectives, including psychotherapy and the study of empathy for other people's pain; various neuroscience perspectives; and discussions of empathy's evolutionary and neuroanatomical histories, with a special focus on neuroanatomical continuities and differences across the phylogenetic spectrum. The new discipline of social neuroscience bridges disciplines and levels of analysis. In this volume, the contributors' state-of-the-art investigations of empathy from a social neuroscience perspective vividly illustrate the potential benefits of such cross-disciplinary integration. Contributors C. Daniel Batson, James Blair, Karina Blair, Jerold D. Bozarth, Anne Buysse, Susan F. Butler, Michael Carlin, C. Sue Carter, Kenneth D. Craig, Mirella Dapretto, Jean Decety, Mathias Dekeyser, Ap Dijksterhuis, Robert Elliott, Natalie D. Eggum, Nancy Eisenberg, Norma Deitch Feshbach, Seymour Feshbach, Liesbet Goubert, Leslie S. Greenberg, Elaine Hatfield, James Harris, William Ickes, Claus Lamm, Yen-Chi Le, Mia Leijssen, Abigail Marsh, Raymond S. Nickerson, Jennifer H. Pfeifer, Stephen W. Porges, Richard L. Rapson, Simone G. Shamay-Tsoory, Rick B. van Baaren, Matthijs L. van Leeuwen, Andries van der Leij, Jeanne C. Watson

Written by a pioneer in person-centered therapy, this is theonly resource to provide full access to the Barrett-LennardRelationship Inventory (BLRI) – along with information on theinstrument’s history and development and supporting materialsfor counseling practitioners, researchers, and students. Provides a complete instrument for measuring empathy inrelationships, a critical component for success across a wide rangeof therapeutic interventions Charts the development and refinement of the BLRI over morethan 50 years, with particular attention to the influence of CarlRogers’ theories, and outlines the future potential of theinstrument Contains all the materials necessary for critical understandingand application of the BRLI, including the full range offorms and adaptations, and guidelines for successfulimplementation Also presents the author’s Contextual Selves Inventory(CSI), which permits direct study of the self as distinctivelyexperienced in different relationship contexts