The Self-esteem Journal: Using a Journal to Build Self-esteem (Overcoming Common Problems) [Illustrated] [Paperback]

Having already had counselling I can testify to the liberation of expressing oneself as opposed to suppressing one's feelings. I tend to express myself verbally, but if you do not feel comfortable with this approach the journal gives you an excellent alternative. By writing your thoughts down it gives you time to reflect on what you really mean.

A particular phrase that caught my attention in chapter five was "It's OK to make mistakes". I've wasted a lot of time worrying about making potential errors, as I'm sure so have many other people. It's not helped by our media's glee at exposing such mistakes in our public figures. This chapter tries to deal with this issue and other negative "inner voices" that holds the individual back.

A little further on Alison recounts a cruel comment that was made by one of her teachers when she was a teenager. I had a similar incident, and boy did it hurt! It took me years to deal with it; hopefully you'll be able to exorcise any such comment quicker than me.

Chapter seven, "Going Deeper", contains an exercise where we're asked to revisit aspects of our childhood. The exercise tries to alleviate unhappy experiences that still influence our adult lives. I've tried this method with my own counsellor, and with great effect. It finally helped me put those experiences into the "history" section of my life.

Alison touches upon how our family's view on life can be unconsciously handed down from generation to generation. If these "family scripts" have a negative view they can have an impact on our present life, blocking our own progress and fulfilment. Chapter nine also examines perfectionism and how it traps us in an impossible situation; something I can testify to. There are several exercises within this chapter that can help you deal with these constraints.

Towards the end of the book there are various ideas such as free-drawing, dream journals, mind maps & mood graphs. The one I particularly liked was the "pillow book". Before going to bed the reader is encouraged to write down one nice thing that happened to them during the day. This helps the reader to sleep on a positive thought, as opposed to all those inevitable worries that plague us. I'm certainly going to give it a try.

I hope a few people read my potted review of Alison's book. Perhaps not every idea will be right for you, but hopefully there will be some that can help raise your self-esteem to its rightful place.

Kev Garner.

Waines' proposes the idea of a therapeutic journal, and whilst her title suggests an emphasis on developing feelings of self-worth, closer reading reveals her focus to be much broader than that; she is interested in the full range of thoughts and feelings that are maintained through what she calls our 'self-talk'. The book strives to give equal weight to developing one's emotional, cognitive and action/behavioural awareness. The central idea is the maintenance of a regular journal, but she has assembled almost fifty different exercises to structure one's writing as well as to review and make sense of it all. In this way it can be seen how writing about oneself can develop into therapeutic tool rather than the self-obsessed scribblings that constitute many people's journals. I also appreciate Waines' digression from the verbal narrative into imagework, body awareness and dreams.

I fear the title of the book may limit the readership of a volume that constitutes a useful resource for counsellors, psychotherapists and clients alike. It differs from many self-help books in not proposing a systematic model to be worked through. But this is also its strength - it can be read as a whole or dipped into at will. It also differs from many books in conveying a deep respect for the process of psychotherapy as a joint, collaborative venture, at the same time as fostering means of self-support. Alison Waines' voice in the book conveys warmth, acceptance and acknowledgement of the pain of embarking on these processes, rather than offering the upbeat, quick-fix, no-pain pitch of many self-help books. I have found it a valuable addition to my bookshelf and a valuable resource for my practice.