MINDELL, Amy (Kaplan) 1958-

PERSONAL: Born December 15, 1958, in Cincinnati, OH; married Arnold Mindell (a psychologist), August, 1986. Education: Antioch University, M.A. (psychology); Union Institute, Ph.D. (clinical psychology).

ADDRESSES: Office—Process Work Center of Portland, 2049 Northwest Hoyt St., Ste. 1, Portland, OR 97209-1260. E-mail—amy@aamindell.net.

CAREER: Psychologist, lecturer, teacher, and author. In private practice in Portland, OR; Process Oriented Psychology Center, Zurich, Switzerland, diplomate; Esalen Institute, Big Sur, CA, resident teacher.

WRITINGS:

(With Arnold Mindell) Riding the Horse Backwards: Process Work in Theory and Practice, Arkana (New York, NY), 1992.

Metaskills: The Spiritual Art of Therapy, introduction by Arnold Mindell, New Falcon Publications (Tempe, AZ), 1995.

Coma: A Healing Journey: A Guide for Family, Friends, and Helpers, introduction by Arnold Mindell, Lao Tse Press (Portland, OR), 1999.

Alternative to Therapy: A Few Basic Process Work Principles, Lao Tse Press (Portland, OR), 2002.

Metaskills: The Spiritual Art of Therapy, Lao Tse Press (Portland, OR), 2003.

Contributor to periodicals, including Contact Quarterly and Journal of Humanistic Psychology.

WORK IN PROGRESS: The Internal Holocausts: The Roots and Solution to Terrorism, with husband, Arnold Mindell; research on creativity and on puppet making.

SIDELIGHTS: Amy Mindell is a psychologist who, with her husband, Arnold, was one of the founders of Process Work, defined on their Web site as "a cross-disciplinary approach to support individual and collective change. … Process Work offers new ways of working with areas of life that are experienced as problematic or painful. … Withits roots in Jungian psychology, Taoism and physics, Process Work believes that the solution to a problem is contained within the disturbance itself and provides a practical framework through which individuals, couples, families and groups can connect with greater awareness and creativity."

Mindell has developed process-oriented psychology in the areas of ethics, coma, dance, and music. The Mindells work as a team in their private practice and contribute to seminars and conferences around the world. They teach conflict resolution and organizational development to small and large businesses and work with towns, cities, and Aboriginal communities.

In Coma: A Healing Journey: A Guide for Family, Friends, and Helpers Mindell explains coma and shows how a patient who seems to be in a total vegetative state may actually be emitting subtle communicative signals. She stresses that as long as the patient is alive, there is potential for awareness. This is important as more attention is paid to the quality of life, care, and treatment of people in coma. Mindell's book includes exercises she developed with her husband that can result in communication with a comatose patient and successful case studies. She shows families how to provide loving contact that is helpful in either the process of recovery or in dying.

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Nurse Practitioner, February, 2000, Carolyn Buppert, review of Coma: A Healing Journey: A Guide for Family, Friends, and Helpers, p. 64.

ONLINE

Amy and Arnold Mindell Web site,http://www.aamindell.net (May 7, 2002).

Process Work Center Web site,http://www.processwork.org/ (May 7, 2002).*