New Harbinger is one of the new publishers
operating from an online site and they specialize in "self-help
psychology, life skills, and health publications and tapes that offer real
change for real problems." I like
the publishers popping up online because they often bring quite helpful,
interesting books to press that wouldn’t otherwise get published; books written
by real professionals out in the real world working day-to-day and becoming
experts by experience rather than just study. 
I think there’s an obvious difference between books written by scholars
or theoreticians, people whose primary work is in thinking about subjects and
those written by clinicians or professionals doing hands-on work with
problems. I think both types of books
are important but, due to the nature of publishing in the past, the workers
were often too busy working to find sufficient time to write or hone their
writing skills enough to pass the requirements of most publishers. Computers and the Internet have changed all that
and made many aspects of writing and publishing much easier and more relaxed,
increasing the breadth of books one is able to choose from on any given
subject.

Matsakis is a clinical psychologist with a private
practice. She has counseled
"thousands of clients ranging from combat veterans to victims of crime and
abuse and other traumatic events."

One of the main features of this
book and Matsakis writing is her insistence that the reader understand this is
not primarily a self-help book. Over
and over she cautions the reader that this book is probably best used in
conjunction with therapy and under the guidance of a therapist. That point creates the atmosphere for the
book.

The book is actually
specifically-targeted psychological education followed by questions and ideas
on how to think about and work with one’s self and relationship problems. There are no answers to the questions
because presumably one is asking one’s self the questions (so is also the only
one with the answers) or one is discussing the questions with a therapist and
thus in another dialog than that between the book and one’s self. If the reader forgets this or is not
interested in working this way, the book seems dry and a bit pointless, posing
random-seeming questions that the reader doesn’t pursue. Too, because of the depth and squishy nature
of the problem of "emotional claustrophobia," there is no one cause
or line of thought so some chapters of the book may pertain and be helpful to
the reader while others will not.

I really liked this book, agreed
with the author’s theories and teaching and can see how it could be very
helpful to someone very motivated to change or to someone using it, working
with a therapist. But it’s not a casual
book one can pick up and read to get ideas, self-help or support from. It’s a very serious book that must be taken
seriously. Otherwise it doesn’t make
sense to read it.

© 2002 Margo McPhillips

Margo McPhillips is a 1972 graduate of the University of
Maryland with a Bachelors degree in Sociology. She is currently interested in the
use of books on the Web, bibliotherapy, genealogy as an online
family/generational activity, and is enrolled in the UserActive program to earn a
Certificate of Professional Development in Web Programming from the University
of Illinois to help her with her seven Web sites. Visit her new UserActive site

Categories: SelfHelp, Relationships