The Pocket Guide to Sensorimotor Psychotherapy in Context (Norton Series on Interpersonal Neurobiology)

I purchased this as a used copy. I opened the package and the book is basically brand new! As far as I’ve read into the book, it seems to be an enlightening book for individuals looking to know more about psychotherapy. It is a lot to digest and read, so I recommend reading in chunks and taking breaks to absorb the material.

I love this book. As I neared the end, I found myself reading more slowly in order to savor and enjoy it longer. It is much more than a pocket guide. It is a compendium of wisdom about the lived body and its relevance to the practice of psychotherapy. Most of us are at least implicitly aware that bodies sometimes tell a different story than words. What people trained in talk therapy often don’t have, and what this book provides, is a theoretical understanding and a practical guide to working with what the author calls the client’s (and the therapist’s) ‘somatic narrative’. This is a narrative that exists beneath and sometimes in contradiction to the verbal narrative. Investigating it can lead not only to unraveling difficult-to-reach client issues but to addressing implicit issues in the therapeutic dyad as well. The book is also a brilliant approach to trans-generational issues, socio-cultural differences, and the dynamics of privilege and oppression as they live and manifest themselves in the bodies of clients and therapists and in the therapeutic dyad. The examples are detailed, moving, and provide a rich glimpse of this approach in action. What we see is a non-medical model therapy that respects and validates the client’s autonomy and trusts the client’s (and the client’s body’s) innate wisdom and ability to move toward wholeness. (Reviewer is Betty Cannon, PhD, Founder of Applied Existential Psychotherapy, author of Sartre and Psychoanalysis, President of the Boulder Psychotherapy Institute. I'm adding this book to the "Must Read" list for students in our training program.)

Finally, a well-known white leader in body oriented psychology has written a book (with BIPOC consultants) to address racism and oppression in clinical theory and practice. Calling it a “Pocketguide” does this book a disservice. It’s rather long and thorough, focusing on how to bring an anti-racist perspective into clinical practice, with case illustrations of working with marginalized clients using Sensorimotor Psychotherapy. Each chapter is an education. My favorite is the last one that describes the principles underlying this work. I found it inspiring.

I loved the sample and thus ordered it to read the rest, but it has not landed in my library after purchasing it yesterday.

As a white-bodied learner, I am long overdue embarking on my own anti-racism journey. I found SPI in Context to be a vital resource in how I can integrate antiracism into practice. I especially appreciated the in-depth case examples and analysis. It is far from a pocket book and much more detailed than I expected, which was the best part for me. I highly recommend this book if you are also integrating anti-racist practices into your own work/life.

I'm loving this book! I have followed Dr. Ogden's work and Sensorimotor for years and it's awesome to have a compendium of her work and Sensorimotor. I highly recommend this book for any therapist wanting to learn more about processing trauma from a somatic perspective and for any lay person who wants to learn more about the inner workings of trauma and the body. I am very pleased with this book...a true gift to the field! Can't recommend more highly.

This book offered an outstanding and comprehensive understanding of ways to work with the body as an adjunct to more traditional psychotherapy modalities, as it offers sound tools to treat a range of challenges with such a profound sensitivity to cultural differences and the impact of early trauma to current challenges. I learned so much with each chapter, as there were such robust examples and descriptive case studies; I very highly recommend this exceptional book.

This book is not close to being a pocket-guide. It's quite complete and a very good book. Reading it, I learned about the Eurocentric focus of psychology theory and practice, how systemic oppression affects the field (and my clients - and myself.) I was steeped in how to be more aware and skilled at working with people of different social and cultural circumstances. I highly recommend it.

So good I wanted the pocket version to when in transit... Highly recommended