Psychotherapeutic Reiki, a term coined by psychologist Richard Curtin, is an effective addition to talk psychotherapy for treating mood disorders. The practice goes beyond a standard Reiki treatment in that it’s more interactive and requires the skill of a trained mental-health professional. While it’s no substitute for psychotherapy, medications or supplements, the additional use of psychotherapeutic Reiki can help clients move through emotional distress more quickly. Research by Adina Goldman Shore, Ph.D., also documents the positive, long-term effect of Reiki in treating depression.

Psychotherapeutic Reiki gently discharges trauma from the cellular consciousness of the body without requiring the person to remember or relive the traumatic experience. Thus Reiki can release emotional blocks and trauma faster and more easily than talk psychotherapy alone. During a treatment, the practitioner works to clear and balance the client’s energy field and employs positive healing statements and Reiki symbols to reprogram the cellular consciousness. The additional use of the Reiki master symbol breaks through armoring around the heart center, thus opening the client to giving and receiving love.

Most clients feel safe during Reiki treatments, as they are fully clothed and experience only non-invasive touch or no touch at all. Some people experience more joy and aliveness after just one session. For others it’s a subtler experience that may require more treatments. Clients often report feeling unconditional love, acceptance and support during the treatment, and many say that they sleep well for several nights afterward. People also may smile and feel much lighter in spirit after a session, an effect that can last for hours or even days.

For long-lasting results, the changes in a person’s energy field must be combined with changes in core belief structures. Otherwise, clients may unconsciously re-create the same energy imbalances within a week or two after the treatment. Cognitive integration of the Reiki experience in talk psychotherapy is therefore an important follow-up.

Ulrike Dettling is a licensed marriage and family therapist and Reiki master with Arlington Reiki Associates, located at 366 Massachusetts Ave., Arlington. For more information, call 781-648-9334 or visit ArlingtonReiki.com. Reiki training CEUs for mental health professionals are available.

The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, tops the list for copyeditor/proofreader Randy Kambic. “It’s such a vivid look at the ‘Lost Generation’ of the 1920s,” he says. “I think it set the stage for the Great Depression that followed.” Kambic also loves Lincoln, by Gore Vidal. “Vidal captures Abraham Lincoln’s private thoughts and words throughout his presidency, taking the reader behind the scenes to show the humor, sadness, political cunning, and determination that made up Lincoln’s complex nature.”

Writer and editor Kim Childs says her life was changed by The Artist’s Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity, by Julia Cameron. “It’s for anyone who wants to live more authentically and creatively, and it led me to my current career of guiding others in this powerful work,” says Childs. “On the fiction side, I adore Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand, by Helen Simonson,” she adds. “It’s a sweet and surprising story about risking everything for love.”

For more information on the Artist’s Way, visit KimChilds.com, or email [email protected].