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Question about "Healing from Family Rifts"

Started by kathleen, December 20, 2010, 06:56:37 AM

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kathleen


Has anyone read this book?  The reviews on Amazon are excellent, but I'm suspicious of self-help books, though this author has been through it.  If you read it, what did you think?

Kathleen



Overview - Healing From Family Rifts
Product Details
Pub. Date: February 2004
Publisher: McGraw-Hill Companies, The
Format: Paperback , 272pp
Sales Rank: 102,727
ISBN-13: 9780071412421
ISBN: 0071412425
Synopsis
Make peace with yourself and reclaim your life with Mark Sichel's powerful ten-step healing program
"That's it. I've had it. I never want to see or hear from you again." Those words may have caused great anguish, or great relief, at the moment they were spoken—depending on whether you were the giver or the receiver of the powerful punch. But now you're left with the nagging despair of losing a family member. The pain can be overwhelming, but there is a way out. Through the help of Healing from Family Rifts, you can find peace again and recover from the isolation of family exile.
Author and licensed clinical social worker Mark Sichel knows what it's like to suffer a family exile: his parents cut off all communication with him years ago. Now he's applying the steps used during his own recovery to help you overcome the heartbreak of your family rift. Through his powerful and proven ten-step program, along with the stories of other embattled survivors of family wars, you will achieve real, permanent, inner reconciliation, regardless of the cause of the rift—whether divorce, marriage outside your race or religion, emotional abuse, objections to sexual orientation, addictions, or any other reason.
From dealing with the shock of the rift to building your second-chance family, from recognizing the signs of acute stress disorder to learning from successful families, Mark Sichel's ten steps to healing will help you achieve serenity and contentment by learning how to make peace with yourself first.
Review from Library Journal
[This] self-help manual for adults seeking to better their family relationships emphasizes that readers can change only themselves and their own reactions-not the actions of others. A therapist and licensed clinical social worker, Sichel concentrates on relationships where one family member refuses contact with another, not limiting his discussion to parent-child rifts. Among other strategies, his ten steps lead readers to deal with their own trauma, learn to love themselves, understand family myths and roles, build supportive relationships with others (their "second-chance family"), and try to heal the break if possible. Drawing on stories from Sichel's patients and from personal experience (his father broke with him twice), this book is sure to be read eagerly by those in difficult family situations. -Kay Brodie, Chesapeake Coll., Wye Mills, MD Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.
Review from The Chicago Tribune
"The empathetic Sichel, a clinical social worker, stresses that those cut off have the right to be happy and at peace....Perhaps what Sichel does best is encourage readers to make meaning out of life's experiences, whatever comes our way."
Mark Sichel is a licensed clinical social worker who counsels individuals, couples, and families in New York City. He is the founder and editor of the award-winning website, www.psybersquare.com, has counseled hundreds of clients who have suffered family cutoffs, and has made it through his own family rift as well.
Mark Sichel (New York, NY) is a therapist and licensed clinical social worker who has counseled hundreds of clients who have suffered from family rifts. He is the founder and editor of the award-winning mental health website Psybersquare.com.
Library Journal
These self-help manuals for adults seeking to better their family relationships emphasize that readers can change only themselves and their own reactions-not the actions of others. A therapist and licensed clinical social worker, Sichel concentrates on relationships where one family member refuses contact with another, not limiting his discussion to parent-child rifts. Among other strategies, his ten steps lead readers to deal with their own trauma, learn to love themselves, understand family myths and roles, build supportive relationships with others (their "second-chance family"), and try to heal the break if possible. Drawing on stories from Sichel's patients and from personal experience (his father broke with him twice), this book is sure to be read eagerly by those in difficult family situations. For public libraries. Atkins, a licensed therapist and media commentator, addresses parent-adult child relationships from the perspective of the adult child. At times highly specific, her advice directs readers to change their behaviors to improve relations with their parents. She advises letting go of anger and unrealistic expectations and then using such tools as flattery, voice tone, manipulation (called saviorizing), honesty, and withdrawal to change interactions. Readers who desire a more democratic approach-that is, one that takes into account the perspective of parents-should look elsewhere; Atkins, a regular on the Today Show, counsels a specific audience. Also for public libraries.-Kay Brodie, Chesapeake Coll., Wye Mills, MD Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.
More Reviews and Recommendations
Biography
Mark Sichel (New York, NY) is a therapist and licensed clinical social worker who has counseled hundreds of clients who have suffered from family rifts. He is the founder and editor of the award-winning mental health website Psybersquare.com.

LaurieS

I have not read this book, but now I am anxious to hear your reviews once you've read it. 

Nana

Sounds good to me.  Lets give it a try.

Love
Love is not love Which alters when it alteration finds, Or bends with the remover to remove:
Shakespeare

Pooh

I have to admit, I am now curious to why his parents cut him off?
We must let go of the life we have planned, so as to accept the one that is waiting for us. -
Joseph Campbell

kathleen

Pooh, that's why you have to buy the book.  Otherwise, he makes no money.

Kathleen

LaurieS

Really Pooh, did you think he was going to let you in on ALL the secrets? 

Pooh

Lol....No.  But as we have learned here, there are always two sides.  I was just curious if he tells just his side, or admits to doing something.  And I don't have to buy the book, Kathleen is gonna tell me after she reads it!  ;D
We must let go of the life we have planned, so as to accept the one that is waiting for us. -
Joseph Campbell

kathleen

Pooh,

I may not buy any book.  I may write one.

Kathleen

Pooh

Well that is one I would definately buy and read!
We must let go of the life we have planned, so as to accept the one that is waiting for us. -
Joseph Campbell

Nana

Yes Kathleen write it  I would buy it too.

Lovei
Love is not love Which alters when it alteration finds, Or bends with the remover to remove:
Shakespeare

LaurieS

ohhh yes, write one about this magical place where all these women who have short term lost souls come together to give each other advice.  Definitely need a chapter about vinegar.

Pooh

We must let go of the life we have planned, so as to accept the one that is waiting for us. -
Joseph Campbell