As noted psychiatrists, authors, and lecturers, Baars and Terruwe excitingly blend medieval and classical notions of the human psyche together with modern clinical discoveries as they probe the topic of psychic wholeness and healing. The authors explore the entire human psyche, including man's spiritual dimension, which is an area totally ignored by most modern psychiatrists--creating in modern man an ever-deepening sense of frustration in searching for effective psychiatric treatment for his emotional turmoil. The books' numerous detailed clinical case histories clarify the authors' therapeutic principles. The following questions, among many others, are considered in this work: How best to help a person who lives in constant fear that he has committed a serious sin even though he knows he has not? Does a person who wants to live a moral life, yet cannot refrain from doing things that he knows are immoral, suffer from weakness of willpower or from a neurosis that would lend itself to therapy?
Dr. Anna A. Terruwe (1912-2004) lived in the Netherlands, where she practiced psychiatry in the city of Nijmegen. She earned her MD at the University of Utrecht and her PhD at the University of Leiden. Known as the discoverer of new syndromes dealing with the energy and frustration neuroses, she treated patients from all over Western Europe. Pope Paul VI called her work "a special gift to the church." Dr. Terruwe lectured widely, taught at the Catholic University of Nijmegen, and was the author of many books, most of which have been translated into German, French, and English. The best-known are
Emotional Growth in Marriage and
The Neurosis in the Light of Rational Psychology.
Conrad W. Baars, MD (1919-1981) was a Dutch-born American citizen who practiced psychiatry in the United States from 1946 until his death. Educated at Oxford University and the University of Amsterdam Medical School, Dr. Baars served in the anti-Nazi underground in Belgium, France, and the Netherlands during World War II. Captured by the Nazis, he spent one and a half years in Buchenwald concentration camp. He emigrated to the United States following the war, and discovered Dutch psychiatrist Dr. Anna A. Terruwe's work on energy and frustration neuroses in the mid-1950's. He further developed and promoted this work throughout the rest of his psychiatric career. His books include
Born Only Once, Feeling and Healing Your Emotions, and
I Will Give Them a New Heart: Reflections on the Priesthood and the Renewal of the Church. Drs. Baars and Terruwe coauthored
Healing the Unaffirmed. His autobiography,
Doctor of the Heart, details much of his experience in Buchenwald.Drs. Baars and Terruwe coauthored
Healing the Unaffirmed. His autobiography,
Doctor of the Heart, details much of his experience in Buchenwald.
Suzanne Baars is a licensed professional counselor and marriage and family therapist in Irving, Texas, where she operates her private practice, In His Image Christian Counseling. Sue has worked extensively in the field of counseling since 1986 in both hospital and outpatient settings, and focuses her work on the integration of the Christian anthropology of St. Thomas Aquinas with the treatment of a variety of emotional and spiritual problems. She is also a popular presenter at Catholic conferences around the country, and has been a frequent guest on EWTN's Women of Grace. She often presents the work of her late father, psychiatrist and author Conrad Baars, a pioneer in the field of Catholic psychology.
Some of Sue's lecture series include: "Made in His Image: Healing and Wholeness for Living the Affirming Life (4 CD set)" and "The Abode of Love: Developing the Heart (10 CD set)." She and colleague Bonnie N. Shayne, MA, edited a collection of Dr. Baars' articles and monographs related to the priesthood entitled,
I Will Give Them a New Heart: Reflections on the Priesthood and the Renewal of the Church. All books and CD's are available at www.BaarsInstitute.com.
