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Dr. Mesich is
no longer available to personally answer emails. Please refer to the
FAQ for answers to common
questions.
Dr. Mesich is
no longer available to personally answer emails. Please refer to the
FAQ for answers to common
questions.
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The Sensitive Person’s
Survival Guide: [From Thomas Eldridge's Newsletter for Highly Sensitive People] THE SENSITIVE PERSON'S SURVIVAL GUIDE: An Alternative Health Answer to Emotional Sensitivity and Depression, by Kyra Mesich, Minneapolis, MN, Ansuz Press, 2001. 111 pages. ISBN # 0-9674767-9-8. Order from website www.KyraMesich.com Reviewed by: Wayne A. Holst Highly sensitive people can experience the pain of others in a profound way. Sometimes, they may even possess the uncanny intuitive ability (or psychic feeling) of knowing and experiencing another's emotions as though they were their own. Often, this causes the highly sensitive person a great deal of suffering and depression. Sensitivities are blessings, and 'The Sensitive Person's Survival Guide' attempts to help those who have been emotionally wounded because of their sensitivities to discover the causes behind negative experiences in order to find healing and positive purpose as empathetically attuned individuals. Flower essences such as Yarrow do heal emotions and are similar to homeopathic remedies. They do not carry medicinal side effects, nor will they interfere with the taking of other medicines. They work to affect emotional, mental and physical health. Kyra Mesich outlines how she as a professional therapist with a highly sensitive temperament found herself overwhelmed by the emotions of her clients. She describes how she learned that 'what had seemed to turn her life upside down' ultimately served to actually turn it right side up again'. She reveals that psychologists often overlook 'sensitivity' in a client because they don't have a frame of reference for it. 'Sensitivities can't be explained by conventional psychological theories'. Scientifically oriented therapists focus on history of trauma and may prescribe assertiveness training or the reduction of self-defeating thoughts. But when the sensitivity itself is not dealt with, it doesn't do the patient much good. Since the common scientific wisdom is that we are responsible for our feelings, highly sensitive persons find it hard to believe that these may actually originate outside themselves and invade their lives because of a failure to establish protective boundaries. Empathy, not intellect, is the way emotion is communicated. Intellectual awareness of one's problems does not result in full inner resolution. Empathy is like a sixth sense in that it presents us with emotional information. Visualization and meditation help a person connect with his or her empathetic ability and encourages attention to body feelings. This can lead to long-sought-for answers. Empathy should be honored, not denied. An empathetic person is a gifted healer. Such persons relate to others in deeper, more beneficial ways. It helps to know the emotions of others even if the feelings are not communicated verbally and rationally. This book offers an alternate explanation for chronic depression. It is not grounded in traditional psychological theory. Yet it points the reader in new directions. It presents self help techniques and introduces the subject of flower essences that can bring a rebalance to one's empathetic ability, release years of painful empathic emotion and help sufferers feel protected and less overwhelmed by their sensitivities. Studies of this nature are on the cutting edge of a new convergence in scientific and alternative medicine. Like all pioneering efforts, there is both the joy of penetrating new frontiers and the realization that much further study needs to go into the theories presented. There is a certain repetitiveness and redundancy represented in this book. It does not contain a tightly reasoned argument but rather a personal testimony. Still, there is much food for thought and enticement to new learning. ____________________________ Reviewer's Bio: Rev. Dr. Wayne A. Holst is an instructor in religion and culture at the University of Calgary.
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