Awakening Clinical Intuition

Book excerpt: Exercises to help mental health practitioners at all levels of experience recognize gut feelings and produce deep therapeutic change. 2015 Gradiva Award Nomination for Best Book When immersed in therapy with a patient, clinicians are guided not only by conscious, explicit dialogues and intellectual investigation, but also by natural flows of emotion, energy, and body-based information—hunches, gut feelings, behavioral impulses. These natural flows are the foundation of clinical intuition, the right-brain means by which therapists perceive and respond to relational patterns and non-conscious signals during psychotherapy. In Clinical Intuition in Psychotherapy, Terry Marks-Tarlow bridged art and science to explain the essential role of clinical intuition in transforming traumatized brains into healthy minds. Here, Marks-Tarlow walks through a series of exercises to help therapists at all levels of experience hone their sensitivity to their non-conscious resources and apply intuition effectively in therapy. With exercises in breathing, mindfulness, meditation, play, perspective-building, and much more, Awakening Clinical Intuition is a practical workbook for eliminating mental clutter, getting in touch with right-brain, embodied responses to psychotherapy, and cultivating a unique, intuitive style. Features include client-ready applications and two hours of accompanying audio.