Soothing

Soothing: Lives of a Child Psychologist tells two stories, both of which are about the search for ways to soothe ourselves and others. It is part memoir, part autobiography, and part essay on the critical role soothing plays in everyday living. It is the sometimes comical quest of one person who struggled to integrate lifelong personal conflicts and a career as a successful child psychologist, finally finding peace in a wider view that brought coherent meaning to his life. Along the way, the writer learned that he was not trained to successfully treat the wide and fascinating individual differences in human psychopathology, which required constant creativity and innovation. Each new therapy partnership inspired personal growth and ingenuity that often made a difference in the lives of his patients.