Relaxation, Meditation, & Mindfulness: A Mental Health Practitioner’s Guide to New and Traditional Approaches


Relaxation, Meditation, & Mindfulness: A Mental Health Practitioner’s Guide to New and Traditional Approaches
Price: $46.93
Relaxation, Meditation, & Mindfulness: A Mental Health Practitioner’s Guide to New and Traditional Approaches
Product Description
Based on a newly revised theory of relaxation (ABC2 Relaxation Theory) devised by the author, this book explains why hundreds of techniques used by professionals typically sort into six groups. The integration of these groups forms the core of the book. Smith’s findings also reveal that not only can relaxation go beyond stress management, but that different families of relaxation have different effects.

Rich with practical suggestions and concrete illustrations of application, this comprehensive training guide details the following techniques: Yoga Stretching, Progressive Muscle Relaxation, Breathing Exercise, Autogenic Suggestion, Imagery/Relaxing Self-Talk, and Meditation (including Mindfulness).

Special applications are also included: relaxation with children; relaxation and pain management; and relaxation, spirituality, and religion.
Relaxation, Meditation, & Mindfulness: A Mental Health Practitioner’s Guide to New and Traditional Approaches

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One Response to Relaxation, Meditation, & Mindfulness: A Mental Health Practitioner’s Guide to New and Traditional Approaches

  1. Smith’s current version of his Attention, Behavior, Cognition (ABC2) theory of relaxation is presented in slightly less technical form in Relaxation, Meditation and Mindfulness. The text is written in a style for undergraduates and presens everyhig for everybody; hence, the title. He does provide scripts that are helpful in teaching relaxation. Most problematic is the lack of supporting evidence related to his statements and assertions and the pletora of questionnaires that he has included. Consistent with all other books by Smith, he claims that what he is presenting is supported by published research. Unfortunately, this is a distortion, if not simply untrue, a falsehood. The research that has been conducted is ll from his laboratory and most of it has not been published in peer-reviewed scientific journals. Rather, he includes bits and pieces of student’s theses in a his pook as evidence in support of his theory. This is certainly appropriate up to a point, but Smith goes over board with his claim of scientific support. Further, the vast majority of the research by Smith is restrospective, descriptive non-experimental. Only four prospective experimental manipulative studies have been conducted attempting to validate Smith’s ABC2 theory. They have failed to do so. More troubling is Smith’s blatant plagiarism. Smith includes the Brief Behavioral Relaxation Rating Scale as a measure of relaxation. This instrument is so obviously based on Poppen’s Behavioral Relaxation Scale, that the behaviors and definitions included in Smith’s instrument are the same as Poppene’s BRS. Consistent with Smith’s empire building approach to publication, he fails to cite Poppen’s publication of the BRS used as the basis for “his” measure.

    Smith has embraced the worst of self-help books under the guise of scholarship. Sadly, he has succeeded in the former and failed in the latter.

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