fdougherty

A brilliant book that may awaken a new way of effectively, helping others, or helping yourself to a happy and joyful life.

Revisado: 04-06-24

I have known George Pransky for 52 years, since 1972 while I was completing my internship in Clinical Psychology at Langley Porter Neuropsychiatric Institute and studying under John Enright at the Gestalt Institute. John and George and I became friends, colleagues and even partners for a brief time before John and George met Syd Banks and George soon embarked on his new practice guided by the three principles of life that he learned through his own epiphanies stimulated by Syd. But this is the first book I have read, written by George. George was always one of the warmest and most open people I have ever lnown and a brilliant teacher. His book manifests all of those qualities.

The Secret of Mental Health will most easily connect with mental health professionals and appears to be targeted primarily to that audience because it describes, as best as words can describe the principles which underlay George’s astonishingly successful methods for helping people who feel unhappy in life or who have been diagnosed with mental ‘disorders’. In contrast to the typically painful, sometimes tedious, and often lengthy process of psychotherapy, George describes for practitioners his methods for helping others in a process that is entirely joyful, intriguing, and rapid. His approach to helping others, which he attributes primarily to what he learned through Sydney Banks has now spread to many, many practitioners in many parts of the country. His book explains his methods and the three principles of life which underlie his approach to ‘healing’.

What George describes is a completely unscientific approach to awakening mental health in people; and therein lies its power and promise. I began my collegiate studies as a chemistry/physics major and transitioned to study human psychology under what was then called the scientist practitioner model. I obtained my Ph.D. at Vanderbilt University, known for its scientific approach to the training of psychologists. I have been awarded a Diplomate in Forensic Psychology by the American Board of Professional Psychology. I have a law degree and practiced law in areas which heavily relied on contested scientific and medical science evidence. I understand and appreciate the scientific model and its ability to describe the workings of the universe, including to a limited extent human behavior. I also experienced the utter failure of the scientific approach as a method of helping people to be happy and mentally healthy. Indeed, the scientific method is a logical trap which blocks the path to finding mental health and happiness. The premise of the traditional scientific approach is to describe and predict the condition, movement, or behavior of an object by explaining those states as a result of forces or conditions external to the object. Free will has no role in the scientific approach. In predicting the path of a rocket through the application of Newtonian physics, no scientist would feel that an explanation that included “well, the rocket chose to go that way” was in any way scientific. But the external forces model imbedded in science, at least when applied to animate ‘objects’ like us humans, imposes a logical ‘helplessness’ on the object. And when people apply this scientific way of thinking – which George describes as “outside - in” – a person will experience no ability to guide himself or herself toward mental health and happiness.
In this book George explains the inside-out approach imbedded in his methods of coaching clients on the three principles of life, the full awareness of which reawakens naturally the innate happiness and joyful experience of life instinctive to all humans.

The Secret of Mental Health does not promote a cult or religion, but in it George does describe a contagious view of life and the human mind that is deeply spiritual and positive. But his description of the path to health through an awakening to the three principles involves no necessary rituals, subordination to authority, or group membership. Indeed, George’s use of the word “secret” in the title of the book is more of a ‘tease’ to read the book which describes what is ultimately an entirely heuristic process. He does not claim to own a secret formula that you get from him. George clearly articulates the three principles of life in a language and metaphoric style that will resonate with modern humans, especially those educated in psychology and psychiatry. But these principles have been discovered by some of the most salient philosophers, prophets, and spiritual gurus in human history. George brilliantly articulates the wisdom of the ages in a way that applies to helping others to be mentally healthy. The book will be most helpful for those who are so sincerely devoted to helping others who are suffering through life but have discovered the tools they were taught in school and their training are not effective in achieving their humanitarian goals.

The Secret of Mental Health is not written as a self-help book, but it could be one of the most helpful books ever read by those who feel unhappy or mentally unhealthy in life. The communication media of a book lacks the direct human contact by a joyful, happy person who deeply experiences the three principles of life – which George describes as the engine behind his helping approach. On the other hand, all the principles of life which awaken the innate human health and happiness in every person are described in this book. And, as George himself reports and illustrates in some vignettes, the potential for a life-changing awareness and awakening to mental health lies within all of us when we realize the illusions of thought and the reality and availability of a joyful, caring, and peaceful life.

Frank E. Dougherty, J.D., Ph.D., A.B.P.P.

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