The Listener’S Songs: Verses on Healing and Therapy

By David Heller

Among the poetry selections offered and the corresponding topics embraced are the following: prayers of a therapist, the seekers memories, dreams and their meaning, the diversity of feelings people struggle with, the common presence of fear in peoples lives, difficulties with anxiety and depression, the pace of healing, work-related problems, sexual abuse, suicidality, doubts about life, the spirituality of healing, the search for truth, and the crucial importance of the therapy relationship.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Sep 15, 2017
• ISBN: 9781543450606

David Heller

David Heller, PhD. is a clinical psychologist and the author of forty previous books, including many of a spiritual and religious nature. These works include: In Search Of God, The Soul Of A Relationship, When Darkness Reigned And Light Was Barely Visible (with Jared Heller), The Soul Of A Man, Talking To Your Child About God (Literary Guild Selection), Dear God: Children’s Letters To God, The Eternal Gifts Of Judaism, Just Build The Ark And The Animals Will Come, and The Kids’ Book of Prayers About All Sorts of Things (with Elizabeth Heller). Dr. Heller is a summa cum laude graduate of Harvard and received his doctorate from The University of Michigan.

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Copyright © 2017 by David Heller, Ph.D.

ISBN:                  Softcover                        978-1-5434-5059-0

                            eBook                              978-1-5434-5060-6

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Rev. date: 09/15/2017

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Dedication

DEDICATED TO MY WONDERFUL

CLIENTS,

FROM ALL WALKS OF LIFE

AND CORNERS OF THE GLOBE

INTRODUCTION

I have been seeing adults for psychotherapy for the last twenty-two years (twenty-seven including graduate school). During this time I have heard a lot, seen a lot and said a lot. I have acquired some basic understanding of what helps people to change and feel better, though in so doing, I have gained an even greater respect for the mysteries of people’s minds and hearts, and the motivations which compel them in certain directions and not others. I have also learned a good deal about the process and about myself, though that is always a saga still in draft form.

When I sat down to write about my experiences as a psychologist, for clients from ages 18 to 80, I found it hard to put my feelings into a narrative. So instead, I have chosen to put together a collection of poems that address the experiences of seeker and healer, and the complicated interpersonal dance we know as psychotherapy. I ask you as the reader to excuse my novice efforts at verse, in order to consider what I may offer on the subjects of pain and suffering, healing and