To Heal a Wounded Heart: The Transformative Power of Buddhism and Psychotherapy in Action

by Pilar Jennings

Overview

Early on in her clinical practice, psychoanalyst Pilar Jennings was presented with a particularly difficult case: a six-year-old girl who, traumatized by loss, had stopped speaking. Challenged by the limitations of her training to respond effectively to the isolating effect of childhood trauma, Jennings takes the unconventional path of inviting her friend Lama Pema—a kindly Tibetan Buddhist monk who experienced his own life-shaping trauma at a very young age—into their sessions. In the warm therapeutic space they create, the young girl slowly begins to heal. The result is a fascinating case study of the intersection of Western psychology and Buddhist teachings. Pilar’s story is for therapists, parents, Buddhists, or any of us who hold out the hope that even the deepest childhood wounds can be the portal to our capacity to love and be loved.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781611805154
Publisher:	Shambhala
Publication date:	12/12/2017
Pages:	256
Sales rank:	650,160
Product dimensions:	5.40(w) x 8.40(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

Pilar Jennings, PhD, is a psychoanalyst in private practice with a focus on the clinical applications of Buddhist meditation. She has been working with patients and their families through the Harlem Family Institute since 2004. A visiting lecturer at Union Theological Seminary and a guest lecturer at Columbia University, she is the author of Mixing Minds: The Power of Relationship in Psychoanalysis and Buddhism.

Table of Contents

Foreword ix

Acknowledgments xiii

Introduction xv

Part 1 The Broom Closet

1 Silent Treatment 3

2 Troubles in Mind 16

3 You Can't Get Me 24

4 Get Enlightened Already 32

5 Breath of Life 47

6 Praying and Eating 55

7 Dear Sasha and Malia 64

8 Aliens 70

Part 2 Playing with the Frame

9 Special Guests 77

10 The Royal Road 86

11 A Chinese Spy 105

12 Haven't Had Breakfast 116

13 Are Those Your Pajamas? 124

14 Scared of an Angel 145

15 Making a Mess 151

16 A Scary Star 162

17 Being Special 171

18 Going South 176

19 Any Ideas? 182

Postscript: Fresh Wounds 192

Bibliography 200

Index 206

Editorial Reviews

01/08/2018
In her uneven memoir about the ways Buddhism informs different lives, Jennings, a psychoanalyst, weaves together three stories: her unsettled childhood shuttling between her Peruvian mother and her Scottish-Canadian father; the refugee background of her friend Lama Pema, a Tibetan Buddhist monk; and the unstable family life, resulting in selective mutism, of her six-year-old psychotherapy patient whom she calls Martine. Jennings demonstrates clear insight and deep compassion for all these figures, and has a flowing prose style that incorporates an eye for detail, such as the descriptions of the games she played with Martine as part of therapy. Despite this, the work disappoints. Jennings touches on Buddhism rather superficially, relating the facts of her interactions with Lama Pema that helped her and her patient without offering deeper analysis or introspection into the reasons. The story line spends too much time focused on Jennings’s own feelings, and relatively mild troubles, rather than the experiences of her patient and her friend. Without a clear theme or thesis behind the story, the book is pleasant without being particularly insightful. (Dec.)

Publishers Weekly

Wow. Pilar Jennings brings her readers deftly through the fascinating and impressive therapeutic adventures of the extraordinary six-year-old Martine, the wise and hilarious Lama Pema, and the abiding and reflective therapist, Pilar. This is a story of painful losses and their permanent imprints on our lives, contrasted with Buddhist teachings on impermanence, and the tension in Jennings’s own inner life between psychotherapeutic and Buddhist views of love and loss. Most of all, it’s a page-turner of a story. Don’t miss it.”—Polly Young-Eisendrath, PhD, author of The Present Heart: A Memoir of Love, Loss, and Discovery 
 
“Tracing the steps and missteps of a young therapist entering the field, learning to marshal her strength, skills, perception, and most importantly her self-knowledge (which we all need if we are to come into our own as professionals), this masterful book is one I wish I’d had when I was first entering the ‘impossible profession.’”—Kirkland C. Vaughans, PhD, author of The Psychology of Black Boys and Adolescents 
    
“A wonderful conjunction of the heart of Buddhism with the heart of psychotherapy. A sharing work that enriches the art of person-to-person being and healing.”—Michael Eigen, PhD, author of Faith

“[To Heal a Wounded Heart] illustrates how Buddhism and psychotherapy each respond to suffering and the process of healing differently: while Buddhism helps us tie our experiences to the collective, psychotherapy helps us excavate the stories and experiences that are uniquely our own.”—Tricycle: The Buddhist Review 

From the Publisher