The Naked Therapist A Romantic Horror Story

About the book

About The Naked Therapist A Romantic Horror Story

THE NAKED THERAPIST Lenna Mazur. The Nostrand House, New York, N. Y. 288 PP. ISBN: 0-9685580-0-3. $23.50 (SOFT COVER) A review by Korenna Kardell Life isn’t a formula that works, it’s a process that unfolds. This wisdom is from a "red hot" book that has been quietly gaining attention as a ‘beyond the usual self help menu.’ The protagonist or antagonist, affectionately referred to as Dr. Feelbad, is a therapist who delves into our psyches while simultaneously is being challenged with her onw internal "bag of impulses and boiling cauldron of the unconscious" world we all hold within. This is a main character who truly walks her talk. She is patient, penetrating and compassionate with her significant clients Hank Mann and Hannah Allred, by slowly aiding them in directing the ‘ugly duckling’ parts of self who are hell bent on destruction of their love and intimacy. The chapter entitled "The Therapy Store", exposes Dr. Feelbad on a live television talk show hosted by a well read and know interviewer. Throughout the interview the Doctor responds with humour and humility. After the show the staff of the television production have an impromptu therapy session during which Dr. F. reveals that "good therapy is not about escaping from the natural consequences of our choices nor shortcutting our way to success or happiness through quick fix ‘feelgood’ techniques. Rather it’s about "addressing each action we have made against our selves and others and then taking on the price for these actions in the biggest possible way" Through this a real emotional backbone can begin to form in us. The chapters ‘Hannkah’ and ‘Pollyanna’ are the very poignant ones of the total of eighteen chapters that the book contains. In ‘Hannkah’, the intricacies of intimate relationships are discovered through the brutally honest, no holds barred dialogues between Hank and Hannah. The emotional wrangling and psychological games teaches that emotional pain is also a worthy cause, not just emotional pleasure. The demons of all of our psyches are not gender nor professionally specific. They are simply human and the real enemies to challenge, more so than the enemies in the psyches of our loved ones. In ‘Pollyanna’, attention is drawn to behaviours that plague many modern intimate relationships, ie., the ‘seducer/rejector pattern. This pattern appears to be stuck in the fantasy of ‘how relationships should be over how relationships actually are. We also witness the therapist’s vulnerability as she struggles with temptations and her choice to sit with the ‘puzzle within’ before taking any! action. She walks her talk and stretches her emotional container right before our eyes! This book is succulent and rich in revealing the multi-selves and multi-hungers we all struggle with and how we act out against life and self. Given the smorgasbord of ‘anti’ behaviours out there in our world, including the obsessive dances with romance, alcohol, legal and illegal drugs, food and the like, this book is certainly a reality check. I found there is nothing more exhilarating than actually entertaining the unowned parts of the whole that we all are and then exposing them ALL. Though we aren’t born with a life instruction manual, THE NAKED THERAPIST may just prove to be the guide to maneuver and mentor us through our psychological terrain, inch by inch, foot by foot and mile by mile when the going gets rough.

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