Jason M. Stewart - Mindfulness, Acceptance, and the Psychodynamic Evolution: Bringing Values into Treatment Planning and Enhancing Psychodynamic Work with Buddhist Psychology

Jason M. Stewart, PsyD, is a clinical and sport psychologist in private practice. His areas of focus are mens issues, sport performance enhancement, and addictions/compulsions. He earned a doctorate at Yeshiva University and has postdoctoral training in psychoanalytic, acceptance- and mindfulness-based, and integrative harm reduction psychotherapies.

Foreword writer Steven C. Hayes, PhD, is Nevada Foundation Professor in the department of psychology at the University of Nevada. An author of thirty-four books and more than 470 scientific articles, he has shown in his research how language and thought lead to human suffering, and has developed acceptance and commitment therapy, a powerful therapy method that is useful in a wide variety of areas. Hayes has been president of several scientific societies and has received several national awards, including the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapy.

Afterword writer George Stricker, PhD, is professor of psychology at the American School of Professional Psychology at Argosy University Washington, DC. He is the recipient of a number of awards for his contributions to psychology, including the Karl Heiser Award for Advocacy in 1996 from the American Psychological Association. He has served as the president of the Division of Clinical Psychology at the American Psychological Association, the Society for Personality Assessment, the New York State Psychological Association, and the National Council of Schools of Professional Psychology. Stricker is the author or editor of over twenty books and more than one hundred journal articles. His most recent books include Psychotherapy Integration, A Case Book of Psychotherapy Integration with Jerry Gold, and The Scientific Practice of Professional Psychology with Steven Trierweiler. His principal interests are psychotherapy integration, clinical training, and ethics.

While the world of psychotherapy has historically been divided into separate spheres of isolated schools, modalities, and orientations, we increasingly witness dialogue, borrowing, recognition of commonality, and even efforts toward integration. Jason Stewart has gathered a first-rate lineup of contributors who are known for their serious scholarship on, and leadership in, psychotherapy integration from a broadly relational psychodynamic perspective. The book will advance this important academic and professional trend.

Lewis Aron, PhD, director at the New York University postdoctoral program in psychotherapy and psychoanalysis and author of A Meeting of Minds: Mutuality in Psychoanalysis

In this creative and scholarly volume, Stewart brings the integration of mindfulness, acceptance, and relational psychodynamic therapy to a new level. [The contributors] combined vision is balanced, flexible, and mature. Clinicians new to either psychoanalytic inquiry or mindfulness will quickly find themselves drawn into this exciting conversation through compelling case studies, historical background material, and practical discussion about clinical decision-making. Lynchpin issues, such as non-duality, compassion, mentalization, and the pursuit of a valued life, receive special attention. This book will invite readers to grow their work for years to come.

Christopher Germer, PhD, clinical instructor at Harvard Medical School, coeditor of Mindfulness and Psychotherapy, and author of The Mindful Path to Self-Compassion

Acceptance and mindfulness have always been integral to therapeutic change, but their roles and applications have only been recently recognized. Editor Jason Stewarts new book offers a penetrating and insightful look at the natural overlap and differences between newly emerged mindfulness-based therapies and psychodynamic work. This exploration reveals a rich potential for clinicians who want to support and strengthen their psychodynamic work through the integration of mindfulness-based approaches.

Tara Brach, PhD, author of Radical Acceptance and True Refuge

Psychoanalysis, mindfulness-based psychotherapies, and traditional Buddhist meditation practices have evolved from existing in non-communicating, conceptually dissociated spheres through a stage of over-eager merger and identification, in which each was reduced to a variation of evenly hovering attention in the service of a presumed common goal of engaging the totality of the mind. At last, we are moving into a more sophisticated and challenging stage where genuine differences and conflicts are allowed to emerge and be meaningfully engaged. This volume is a welcome addition to that process of genuine engagement and mutual influence.

Barry Magid, MD, faculty at The Stephen Mitchell Center for Relational Studies and author of Nothing Is Hidden: The Psychology of Zen Koans and Ordinary Mind: Exploring the Common Ground of Zen and Psychoanalysis

As the evidence in support of Freuds, Bowlbys, and Winnicotts (among many others) works accumulates through mindfulness research, the neuroscience of psychotherapy, and interpersonal neurobiology, Jason Stewarts book comes along as a practical and engrossing guide to an ongoing synthesis of ancient and modern wisdom aimed at addressing human suffering. He has assembled an impressive group of authors who remind us that when we are doing psychoanalysis, engaging clients in the process of systematic desensitization, or teaching mindfulness meditation, we are all involved in deeply interpersonal encounters with the intention of helping people pay attention and, eventually, change their brains in salubrious ways. The highest praise I can give this book is that it will become required reading for my current and future psychotherapy students and supervisees.

Mark B. Andersen, PhD, professor and coordinator of the doctoral program in applied psychology at Victoria University, Melbourne, Australia

Publishers Note

This publication is designed to provide accurate and authoritative information in regard to the subject matter covered. It is sold with the understanding that the publisher is not engaged in rendering psychological, financial, legal, or other professional services. If expert assistance or counseling is needed, the services of a competent professional should be sought.

To Know the Dark copyright 2012 by Wendell Berry from NEW COLLECTED POEMS. Reprinted by permission of Counterpoint.

Wordlessly from HSIN-HSIN MING: VERSES ON THE FAITH-MIND by Seng TSan, translated by Richard B. Clarke. Copyright 2001 White Pine Press, Inc. Reprinted by permission of White Pine Press.

Poems 16 and 19 from COLD MOUNTAIN: 100 POEMS BY THE TANG POET HAN-SHAN by Han Shan, translated by Burton Watson. Copyright 1970 Columbia University Press. Reprinted with permission of the publisher.

Chapter 4 of this text reprinted from Safran, J.D. (2006). Before the ass has gone the horse has already arrived. Contemporary Psychoanalysis, 42(2), 197211. Copyright 2006 William Alanson White Institute of Psychiatry, Psychoanalysis, and Psychology. Reprinted by permission of the publisher.

Copyright 2014 by Jason M. Stewart

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Acquired by Catharine Meyers; Cover design by Amy Shoup; Edited by Jennifer Eastman; Text design by Tracy Carlson;