Body and Soul: The Role of Object Relations in Faith, Shame, and HealingHardcover, 1 September 1998

Previously under-represented in the literature of therapy, the topics of religious belief, faith, and the state of grace are becoming matters of great interest to therapists at a time when our culture is moving in the opposite direction toward a biological, short-term, and mechanistic view of the human condition. So it's a delight to find this gem of a book, Body and Soul. Harold Bronheim puts together an analytic view of body image and of the development of mind, connects it with shame, develops an object relational approach to healing body and soul, and presents therapy as a caring confrontation with reality that calls for a leap of faith. Cogent clinical examples vividly illustrate the scholarly aspects of the text. It's a well organized set of original essays that hang together in a logical progression and add up to a mature reflection on the life of the flesh and the spirit. Comprehensive, deeply philosophical, and complex, Body and Soul nevertheless manages to be short and easy to read. Bronheim redresses the split between mind and body, and the avoidance of religion in psychoanalytic writing. Body and Soul does not present a philosophy: it challenges the seasoned therapist to ask questions, get beyond the confines of previous orientations, and develop a broader perspective on the whole person. That's refreshing! -Jill Savege Scharff