Psychic Wholeness and Healing: Using All the Powers of the Human Psyche

This book was so enlightening for me that I would say that it is the best book on the subject that I have ever read. It is well organized and gives so much insight into the process of repression and methods for overcoming repression. It is a must read for anyone trying to overcome anxiety, phobias, angry outbursts, or difficulties in marriage arising from these things. Practical and well organized, I highly recommend it!

Dr. Baars is not 100% the principal author of this book. Anna Terruwe was the principal author. Dr. Baars is her colleague, the translator, a contributor, and the reviser. There is no mystical mumbo jumbo, New Age or Catholic, in this book. Dr. Terruwe found a way to explain psychiatric phenomena in the language of rational psychology and use her improved understanding of psychiatric problems to develop new and improved therapies. People usually credit Thomas Aquinas with developing rational psychology, but Thomas took his rational psychology almost straight from Aristotle. Aristotle was not Catholic or New Age. Rational psychology fits so well with modern brain research that I'm surprised scientists don't use it when they explain their studies. We have individual senses, memory, imagination, a place in the brain where images from the individual senses are unified, and thinking in common. God is not left out of this book, but if you took out the infrequent references to God, you would still have a profound explanation of human psychology. You don't have to be religious to benefit by this book. The only religious part is that some of the patients whose case histories are included in the book were priests or nuns. You can see how their psychiatric issues affected their religious and spiritual life and how Drs Terruwe and Baars taught them to manage the situations that came up as they matured. Dr. Baars and Anna Terruwe were not averse to using medications if their patients could benefit from them, but the conditions in this book do not respond well to medications alone, especially obsessive compulsive disorder. Psychiatrists have not found a really good medication for it yet. Terruwe and Baars' patients got well, not just better. The doctors also sometimes prescribed massage and other therapies readily available in The Netherlands' health system in addition to medications. I know many people with serious issues against religion who substitute Nature for God when they come across the word in Dr. Baars or Dr. Terruwe's books and just keep on reading, because they love what the two psychiatrists say, because it helps them so much.

If you were raised Catholic, and you hated it, you should read this book. If you didn't hate it, or you are Catholic, you should read this book. If you have nothing to do with Catholicism, but are familiar with a Freudian view of repression, you should read it. If you're a parent, you should read it. Now I would like to respond briefly to an older review: "The treatments advocated by Konrad Baars, along with much else in the periphery of psychological treatment is a sham. These outmoded theories have been superseded by a biological understanding personality and disease as well as the innovated notions of Sigmund Freud, who, over one hundred years ago, introduced the discovery of the unconscious." I wonder how a biological understanding has superseded anything when for every new medicine, we have two new diseases. "The only appeal of Baars's work is its association with Catholic doctrine. But that religion is not a suitable basis for psychiatric treatment." Not so. I am not Catholic, and I find his work compelling nonetheless. One does not have to be Catholic to see its value. But a purely biological view of man isn't suitable for therapy either. "No psychiatric residency program in this country teaches this type of mystical, New Age mumbo-jumbo. It is soley the province of poorly-trained "counselors," social workers, and religious devotees. If you are having a problem, only the latest pharmaceutical innovations can claim to offer relief of suffering." I'm sure. That's why I know so many people whom drugs offer little if any relief. Also, the mere fact that something isn't widely taught does nothing to disprove its worth. Montessori schools aren't widely popular, but I wouldn't say the standard academic system is superior--far from it. It takes a long time for things to become known, and when they go against the grain, longer for them to be accepted. I would like to add that I have yet to hear a credible psychiatrist, or for that matter, any patients, claim that drugs alone will cure a mental/emotional illness. Perhaps the author of that review hasn't met many psychiatrists.

Dr. Terruwe and Dr. Baars give us an excellent understanding of the healthy emotional life and what can go wrong to cause an emotional disorder. The reader is given an understanding of many of the repressive disorders which include symptoms such as tension, anxiety, depression, irritablity, anger, fatigue, scrupulosity and obsessive-compulsive symptoms. Clinical cases underscore the concepts in this book, bringing the reader an understanding of the freedom available through the healing of these emotional disorders and *hope* for those afflicted. The authors' clinical discoveries are detailed along with an explanation of their therapy. Prevention of these disorders is also discussed. Many, many people have been greatly helped through these principles. This book is geared for a wide audience -- lay persons, mental health professionals and those involved in Christian ministry and the moral formation of others. (Please note that the words "psychic" and "psyche" in title of this book refer to "psychological" wholeness.)

As a psychotherapist, this is a pivotal book in successfully understanding and treating obsessive-compulsive disorder. It synthesizes the psychology of St. Thomas Aquinas with modern psychological principles. This therapy is especially helpful for therapists treating Catholic Christians with OCD, as it does not contradict fundamental Catholic teaching, particularly in the area of sexuality.