Posted on 13th July 2020
Our lifestyle counselling book is revised and updated!
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Lifestyle Counselling and Coaching For the Whole Person (2):
Or how to incorporate nutritional insights, physical exercise and sleep coaching into talk therapy
Updated and expanded edition, 2020
By Dr Jim Byrne (With Renata Taylor-Byrne)
Introductory comments:
This book was originally published in 2018; and is now reissued in 2020 in a revised, updated and expanded edition.
The main additions to the 2020 version are as follows:
– Appendix A: How to assess your clients’ lifestyle patterns and habits
– Appendix B: How to change your habits
Appendix A contains a lengthy assessment instrument which we give to all of our clients who sign up for our full lifestyle change process.
Appendix B contains two sections. The first teaches a behavioural approach to habit change. The second teaches a habit substitution process.
We have also expanded and updated Chapter 6, (on how to reframe any experience in order to reduce emotional upsets). This chapter originally taught six different ‘frames’ for re-thinking/re-feeling your experiences. It has now been expanded to include an additional three frames, two of which address perceptions and evaluations of yourself and other people; while the third addresses the quality of persistence in pursuing goals.
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Here is the contents page:
Selected comments on LinkedIn on 10th April 2018
Bruce Collins “Of course, we are complex beings… therefore a multifaceted, eclectic approach is always a good idea. Also, I applaud anything that offers an alternative to the notion that a pill is the best option. Although for some it should be remembered, the the hard graft of insight therapy is the answer, and nothing will replace that… as the core approach for such individuals”.
Lorna Lambert (Assoc CIPD) “Delighted to see this approach gaining more prominence amongst our practising communities. (I am) A firm believer in the integrative approach and we must be looking at the whole person inside and out.”
Autumn Hahn “Absolutely agree! I call it “holistic treatment”, but it’s the same principles – we’re all one body with a mind inside, so treat the whole system well”.
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For more information about this book, please take a look at the special page on the ABC Bookstore.***
Now available in paperback or as a Kindle eBook, from one of the following links:
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Prologue
In these pages you will find a detailed introduction to the theory and practice of one of the most recent, and most comprehensive forms of holistic counselling and psychotherapy.
This new system (for helping people to optimize their positive experiences of life, and to process their negative experiences), necessarily deals with emotions, thinking, stories and narratives, plus bodily states; and thus is called Emotive-Cognitive Embodied Narrative Therapy (E-CENT). But we do not wish to proselytize for this system. We would be happy to have individual counsellors and therapists, from all the schools of counselling and therapy, experimenting with adding some small elements of our innovations into their own, idiosyncratic systems for helping their own clients.
This book has been designed to be helpful for three audiences:
(1) Counsellors, psychotherapists, coaches, psychologists, psychiatrists, social workers, educators and others;
(2) Students of counselling, psychotherapy, psychology, psychiatry, social work and related disciplines; and:
(3) Self-help and personal development enthusiasts.
The content of this book has been a long time incubating, at the very least since 2001 when I first tried to defend the ABC model of Rational Emotive Behaviour Therapy (REBT) by relating it to the three core components of Freud’s model of the mind (or psyche):
(1) the Id (or It [or baby-at-birth]);
(2) the Ego (or sense of self, or personality); and
(3) the Superego (or ‘internalized other’, including social and moral rules).
The more I tried to defend REBT, the more its core models fell apart in my hands! See Byrne (2017) in the References near the back of this book.
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Linda Simon “Totally agree with an integrative approach! As long as it is given with a licensed professional as opposed to those who call themselves “life coaches”. As a licensed MFT (Marriage and Family Therapist) for over 30 years, I have used this type of approach along with CBT and have found it to be helpful for many clients. Love to read your book!”
Tina Amaro, MS, LPC “This sounds so much like what I want to do more of in my own work! Thank you for sharing this, loving this too! I wonder if you could call yourself an Holistic Counselor or something similar to identify yourself doing this kind of work? Does that make sense?”
Katherine Compitus “I love this (approach)!”
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For more information about this book, please take a look at the special page on the ABC Bookstore.***
Now available in paperback or as a Kindle eBook, from one of the following links:
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At the same time, I was studying thirteen different systems of counselling and therapy, from Freud and Jung, via Rogers and Perls, and the behaviourists, to the cognitivists and existentialists.
Later, I considered Plato’s model of the mind, alongside the Buddhist and Stoic philosophies of mind.
Into this mix, at some point, Attachment theory arrived, and that helped to make more sense of the emerging model of mind: (Gerhardt, 2010). Attachment theory, and Object relations theory – (Gomez, 1997) – eventually formed the core of my model of the mother-baby dyad, and the way in which the mind of the baby was born out of the interpenetration (or overlapping interactions) of the physical baby and the cultural mother.
And this gave rise to a greater awareness of the individual counselling client as a ‘social individual’, who is ‘wired up’ (neurologically) by social stories (about social experiences) to be a creature of habit, living out of historic scripts; and viewing the world through non-conscious frames (or lenses) which dictate how things ‘show up’ in their automatic (cumulative-interpretive) apprehension of the external world.
As these developments were reaching fruition, I also discovered the insights of interpersonal neurobiology (IPNB – Siegel, 2015) and Affect Regulation Theory (Hill, 2015).
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Feedback on the Lifestyle Counselling book, from a member of the Mind-Body Health Group, on LinkedIn, on 17th April 12018:
Bertrand Babinet “Thank you. I could not agree more that to look at the body /mind and spirit as one unit it critical whether your focus is more on the coaching or restoring optimal physical health. It is all one and we should all be trained in understanding the whole rather than trying to break human beings in parts. It would also be good if we started approaching the whole social and physical environment as a whole in the same way”.
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Dr. Ekta Chauhan (On LinkedIn): 12th April: “Hi Dr. Jim, today (I) came across this post (feeling lucky), (I) read the excerpt, (I’m) impressed and (so I) ordered the book. Looking forward to read it… thanks”.
Nyagahima Julian Elizabeth(On LinkedIn): 21st April: “I have always been wary of anti-depressants. My clients who suffered from varying levels of depression were often encouraged to join or participate in sports activities. These activities I encouraged were chosen based on previous and current findings and preferences. With this I witnessed over 80% reported lifestyle improvement and 93% decline of depression symptoms within 2-3 months of introduction of physical exercise!!!”
Lynn Hunt (On LinkedIn), 13th April: “Purchased. Looking forward to reading it”.
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For more information about this book, please take a look at the special page on the ABC Bookstore.***
Now available in paperback or as a Kindle eBook, from one of the following links:
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But even beyond those developments, I also became increasingly aware that, because we are body-minds, our experience of sleep, diet, exercise, alcohol, water consumption, and socio-economic circumstances – (in addition to current and historic relationships) – have as much to do with our emotional disturbances (very often) as do our psychological habits of mind. And, in any event, our psychological habits of mind cannot be totally separated from the states of our body-brain-mind.
And in Chapter 4 below, Renata Taylor-Byrne and I present brief but compelling evidence, from reliable sources, that (1) dietary changes and physical exercise can produce dramatic reductions in levels of anger, anxiety and depression; (2) anti-depressants are not nearly as effective as has been claimed (and that physical exercise alone is as effective at curing depression as are antidepressant drugs); (3) that drug companies hide negative trial results; (4) that the real pills often fail to outperform placebo (sugar) pills; (5) that the real pills are often totally ineffective; (6) that they seem to be addictive, and difficult to get off in some cases; and (7) they have serious side effects (in some cases involving suicidal ideation).
And in addition, we agree with those theorists who have argued that physical exercise is at least as effective as anti-depressants; and also that some forms of dietary change can and do reduce and/or eliminate depression, and also reduce anxiety and anger. (See Chapter 4, below).
Counselling and therapy systems have normally ignored the convincing evidence that exercise and diet can change our emotional states. For example, in Woolfe, Dryden and Strawbridge’s (2003) book on counselling psychology, there are no references in the index to diet or physical exercise[i]. As in the case of McLeod (2003)[ii], there is a ‘virtual postscript’ (in Chapter 29 [of 32] of Woolfe, Dryden and Strawbridge) on counselling psychology and the body – which is essentially about using bodily experience in counselling and therapy – as in breath work, and body awareness – though the chapter author (Bill Wahl) also includes a consideration of body-work as such. However, in our emotive-cognitive (E-CENT) counselling approach, we consider that direct physical touch is too problematical (ethically) to include in our system of counselling. What we do include, because it is now clearly an essential ingredient of the health and well-being of the whole-client (body-brain-mind), is awareness of the role of diet and exercise and sleep patterns in determining or influencing the level of emotional disturbance of the client; and an awareness of the need to teach the client that their diet, sleep and exercise practices have a significant impact upon their emotional and behavioural performances in the world. (See Chapter 4).
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Supportive comments on LinkedIn on 30th April: Part 1
Maria Frangia Rayias Ph.D.: “I Agree with you absolutely. We need to upgrade what we do to incorporate the healing of the entire person. We are trying to heal people with outdated means, although talk therapy has its place. … Talk therapy is not enough to help people heal emotionally and prevent physical illness. We exist as mind, body and spirit living in environments that need to support our wellbeing. Negative energy around us and stress hurts us. … We live in our bodies and mindfully we can give our bodies what they need to heal”.
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Stephen Milburn: “Very insightful and I’ve often checked with new and existing clients about the importance of making lifestyle changes. Thanks for the interesting insight”.
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Margaret Juricek: “I agree with all. It’s been my experience there are so many aspects of how our brain works, we’re just scratching the surface of knowledge”.
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Johanne Oakley: “Thank you Dr Byrne! I recommend psychotherapy as one part of moving forward – I walk with clients who need to move, talking therapy is one part of healing – it’s not either/or; it is (rather) and…and…and …., Thank you for your work”.
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For more information about this book, please take a look at the special page on the ABC Bookstore.***
Now available in paperback or as a Kindle eBook, from one of the following links:
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This then is a story of counselling and therapy revolution: the radical reformulation of most of our major theories of therapy; and their integration into a completely new view of the social individual as a body-brain-mind-environment whole.
Talk therapy has a lot to offer the social individual, but talk therapy alone cannot cure most of the ills of the modern world, many of which are related to the lifestyle of the client. (Interestingly, lifestyle coaching and lifestyle medicine are beginning to emerge in various quarters, including among some psychiatrists, [who are experimenting with diet – ‘Holistic psychiatry’]; some neurologists [‘Holistic neurology’]; and some medical doctors [‘Integrative medicine’, and ‘Nutritional therapy’]. But none of these approaches is nearly as complete or holistic as E-CENT theory and practice).
The world of counselling and therapy is being transformed (once again!). And in this book, in Chapter 3, we have summarized the core insights arising out of those various revolutions which have already occurred, which have relevance for counselling today. We have also explored the very latest thinking about how to understand and manage human emotions – especially anger, anxiety and depression, in Chapter 7.
Chapter 4 presents an overview of our research on diet and exercise, and how those two lifestyle factors impact on mental health and emotional wellbeing.
Chapter 5 is a brief review of the impact of sleep on mental health.
Chapter 6 deals with our approach to helping clients to reframe their unavoidable problems – using our Nine Windows Model – which draws on the insights of moderate Buddhism and moderate Stoicism.
Chapter 8 explores some of the most important and helpful models we use in E-CENT, to guide our counselling sessions, and to help the client to perfink (perceive, feel and think) more self-supportingly.
The core beliefs of Emotive-Cognitive Embodied Narrative Therapy (E-CENT) are summarized in twenty principles, in Chapter 3.
Counselling and therapy have been in a constant state of evolution and revolution since the creation of psychoanalysis by Sigmund Freud, in the late nineteenth century. This book represents one of the most recent, and most comprehensive, reformulations; influenced as it is by attachment theory, affect regulation theory, personality adaptation theory, and interpersonal neurobiology.
I hope you enjoy this volume, and that you find some useful theories, techniques, tools and models within: for use in your own way, in your own life, and/or with the people you aim to help.
Dr Jim Byrne
Doctor of Counselling, Hebden Bridge
March 2018 (Updated in 2020)
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Supportive comments on LinkedIn on 30th April: Part 2
Stephanie Troy, LICSW: “I am a nutrition coach, yoga teacher and social worker. I practice integratively and see no difference between physical health and mental health. It is beyond time for curriculum to be addressed in programs to incorporate the gut-brain research; but that would also require a huge overhaul of how we do treatment. Given the illness model being tied to Big Pharma and insurance it would mean a gigantic shift”.
“I often write about this research and an integrative perspective and post in this group. Thank you for posting as well;-)”
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Lourdes Villena Amoloria: “(I) Totally agree (with) the integration of psycho social, physiologic (and) behavioral barriers to be identified and addressed, if we aim for long term and effective transformation to take place. Thank you for posting”.
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Ken Roberson: “Academia is late to the party. Some of us have been rejecting theories for years in favour of what applies here and now. For many of us it’s not unusual to see academia show up late and detached”.
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Frank Flack: “Yes…” (Referring back to the opening statement, “Is it perhaps time…?” And Frank answers ‘Yes’, it is time to change the curricula).
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For more information about this book, please take a look at the special page on the ABC Bookstore.***
Now available in paperback or as a Kindle eBook, from one of the following links:
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[i] Woolfe, R., Dryden, W., and Strawbridge, S. (eds) (2003) Handbook of Counselling Psychology. Second Edition. London: Sage Publications.
[ii] McLeod, J. (2003) An Introduction to Counselling. Third Edition. Buckingham: Open University Press. Chapter 21 of 21; section 6 of 9 within that final chapter! No references to diet. This is the totality of his commentary on physical exercise: “The therapeutic value of physical exercise is well established. But, for the most part, counselling remains centred on talking rather than doing”. (Page 523 of 527!)
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The Institute for Emotive-Cognitive Embodied Narrative Therapy (E-CENT) 