SelfhelpMagazine

by Stanley I. Greenspan, M.D with Beryl Lieff Benderly
reviewed by Bryan M. Knight, MSW, Ph.D.

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Target-Audience:	Therapists

Intelligence is shaped by felt experience, claims psychiatrist Greenspan (author of several other texts, including Psychopathology and Adaptation in Infancy and Early Childhood). Our meaningful development as individuals, families and society grows when, as children, we experience feelings of warmth and compassion.

Our sense of self, our intelligence, and the mental and social health of our nation, suffer when we miss any of the required steps of emotional experience. Greenspan disagrees with the theories of Kant and Piaget, but amplifies Freud's, to show the overriding importance of emotions ("lived experience") in the development of intelligence.

This influence, a sort of "dual coding," begins much earlier than Freud hypothesized. It also has physical correlates in the actual structure of the brain.

The author draws upon a broad range of research in a number of disciplines, plus decades of his own active involvement with autistic children, normal children and multiproblem families.

His conclusions about the necessity of a stable, caring environment for the full fruition of intelligence lead him to make wide-ranging, radical suggestions to re-organize child-raising, and to transform the educational system and to reconstruct the workplace.

These changes would, he claims, reduce violence, improve international understanding and reform the practice of psychotherapy. Greenspan's psychoanalytical background is evident in his dismissal of superficial therapies and the necessity of therapists allowing and encouraging clients to learn through affective experiences. Such a relationship exemplifies the best use of adult intelligence, defined as the ability to draw ideas and abstractions from feelings.

It is no accident that "feelings" have the dual connotation of both emotions and physical reactions. Greenspan discusses the physiology of the brain and provides fascinating insights into the processes of memory, cultures, consciousness and the subconscious.

Bryan Knight, Ph.D., author of several books, including Health and Happiness with Hypnosis, specializes in helping people conquer phobias, banish panic, lower anxiety and proof themselves against stress. Information about hypnosis and Psychovisual Therapy can be ordered through 7306 Sherbrooke West, Montreal, Canada, H4B 1R7 or calling 514-489-6733.