The Mindful Therapist: A Clinician's Guide to Mindsight and Neural Integration

Currently a clinical professor of psychiatry at the UCLA School of Medicine with training in pediatrics and child, adolescent, and adult psychiatry, Dr. Siegel is a recognized expert in the interplay between human relationships and biologic processes. Educated at Harvard Medical School, he completed a National Institute of Mental Health Fellowship at UCLA studying family interactions with an emphasis on how attachment influences behavior. He is the Executive Director of the Mindsight Institute, a Co-Director of the Mindful Awareness Research Center at UCLA, and a practicing psychotherapist. His previous publications address such topics as interpersonal neurobiology and the cultivation of well-being. This latest publication explores the clinician’s personal development. A product of two decades of studying the connections between the physical and psychological facets of human interaction, Siegel’s theory characterizes mindfulness as an intentional awareness of moment-to-moment experience involving caring acceptance, conscious recognition of possibilities, and compassion, culminating in psychological and interpersonal change. The central organizing theme of this book is the premise that integration (synthesis of the differentiated elements of mind and brain necessary for relational experiences) is “at the heart of well-being” (p. 30). Expanding on earlier work that identified the domains of integration, The Mindful Therapist is presented as a primer “about the objective science and subjective art of mindful being” (p. xix) within the domain of consciousness. The book is organized using the acronym PART. A discussion of Presence, Attunement, and Resonance leads into an interpretive analysis of Trust, Truth, Tripod (openness, objectivity, observation), Triception (interdependence), Tracking (information flow), Traits, Trauma (resolution), Transition, Training, Transformation, Tranquility, and Transpiration (awareness). Each chapter includes a definition of the featured concept, an explanation of relevant neural circuitry, discussion of integration, and practical exercises for development of mindsight (perceptual) skills. An appendix provides explanation of basic terminology and foundational proposals required to appreciate the phenomena of mindsight and mindfulness. This well-researched book concludes with a list of suggested readings. Writing in an informal conversational tone, Siegel provides understandable descriptions of the physiological and mental processes that fuse together to make us who we are. Through discussion of awareness, balance, empathy, and resilience Siegel examines what it means to be a therapist rather than describing what therapists do. As Siegel admits, mindfulness is not “a common or necessarily scientifically or philosophically sanctioned move to define the mind” (p. 25). Nevertheless, the theory is both rooted in neuroscience and harmonious with the tenets of evidence-based holistic practice. Whether or not the suggested exercises reconfigure the clinician’s neural circuitry, they will heighten awareness of the subjective self while increasing the capacity to be present in the moment with clients.