Genre: Non-Fiction, Self-help

Publisher: Auro Publications

Pages: 208

Published: July 2019

Writing Style: Subtle

Language: Simple

Rating: 4.7/5 stars

I picked this book at an important phase of my life. Presently, I am suffering from stress and depression. For some months, I am facing some mental health issues like depression, frustration, stress, anxiety and panic attacks. In this situation, I was looking for a help. Unknowingly, I got inclined towards spirituality to seek a light within. Just when I was wondering about the connection between spirituality and psychology, I came across the book ‘When The Soul Heals’ written by Pulkit Sharma(a trained clinical psychologist). Without thinking twice, I asked Blogchatter to give me a scope to read and review this book under their Bookchatter program. And they said yes! So, this book was like a gift for me to take me a step towards spiritual healing.

The first thing made me dragged towards the book ‘When The Soul Heals’ was its unique theme – ‘Explorations in Spiritual Psychology.’ I thought for a moment, could it be possible? Can we blend spirituality and psychology together? Can we recover from our mental illness by taking the path of spirituality? If yes, then, how? And all these answers lie within this book. It’s covered with in depth study of spiritual psychology alongwith case studies for some mental health disorders.

“Know that a day will soon come when the veil of your ignorance will be lifted, and you will march ahead in the journey of consciousness into unknown, deeper realms. Your life will then have more profound meaning, greater stability, long-lasting joy and staggering growth – in short, you will be born anew.”

Pulkit Sharma, When The Soul Heals

According to the author, “those who seek meaning in life and a deeper understanding of themselves and the universe, they would do far better if they rely on an approach towards the precision of contemporary psychology with the vastness of spirituality.”

This book presents a synthesis between contemporary psychology and spiritual wisdom. Unlike other self-help books, it amalgamates a spiritual and a practical self-help approach to heal common psychological disorders.

Spirituality is the quest towards higher consciousness. It helps us to journey within, to know our inner self in a deeper way. When we are facing a problem in life and searching for some help, more precisely, we are surrounded by the darkness and seeking the light, spirituality can be a possible way to get rid of it. The author wanted to emphasize this concept.

In this book, the author has taken insights from some of the major religions of the world – Hinduism, Christianity, Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism, Taoism, Judaism, Zoroastrianism, Islam, along with the teachings of Sri Aurobindo and The Mother, and revelations of other great spiritual masters. The book starts with a glance at the history of modern psychology and its healing process. Here, he tries to comprehend some limitations of the present psychological approach. It is the point where we come to know why we need a full-fledged spiritual psychological way to heal our soul.

The author has described here some case studies of his personal experience. The cases involve stories of people suffering from stress, anger, grief, depression, anxiety, beauty obsessions, addictions and caregiver burden. All the stories are written in a subtle way of storytelling so that you can relate with them as they are yours. As the story belongs to you. And I think, for some extent, we all have experienced these mental disorders at some phases of our lives. Knowingly, or unknowingly. You felt it, or ignored. But the truth is, we have realized that we are trapped inside. We have gone through this pain, we were all alone that time. Our inner voice was choked somehow, we wanted to scream, but we couldn’t. You will find, at this point of life, if we have a book like ‘When The Soul Heals’, we can overcome the situation.

All the case studies are divided into some parts to narrate the story as well as the transformation of the patient. The case study starts with the story of the person suffering from a certain psychological disorder, and a brief introduction to his/her family and academic background. Then the author approaches towards the present scenario. He absorbs the current psychological understanding and states some common causes and proposes a method of treatment. After that, he starts his unique way of spiritual healing. He gives some spiritual pathways to heal that particular psychological disorder like stress, grief, anger or others. Here he makes the difference. Then, he waits for the day when the person meets the ultimate change. As a conclusion, the author speaks about that psychological disorder and how we can recover from it and heal the soul.

I would recommend picking up the book. I have read quite a few self-help books but this is one I would tell everyone to have a look as this book has a unique approach towards self-discovery and healing.

About the author

Pulkit Sharma is a clinical psychologist and spiritual counsellor. He has worked as a mental health consultant and research head with several organizations. His inspirational and philosophical writings have been published in acclaimed journals, newspapers and magazines. This book is based on his unique technique that combines psychology and spirituality to help people reclaim their lives. He lives in Puducherry, India, with his wife and daughter.

When the Soul Heals – Explorations in Spiritual Psychology is available for purchase at Amazon India.

This review has been written as part of the Blogchatter Book Review Program. I received the review copy for an honest and unbiased review. All opinions are my own.