Book Review: ‘Shrinking the Smirch’ by Jo Johnson
22nd July 2014
Click play to listen to our interview with Jo Johnson about her recent book, ‘Shrinking the Smirch’:
Book Review – Shrinking the Smirch
I was recently talking with a young man who was struggling with the ongoing and multiple challenges associated with his spinal cord injury. He described the profound fear he experienced when waking during the night as “like having a monster in the room with me”. I asked him if the monster was recognizable and if he could describe it to me. Taking out his mobile phone, he played some video clips from ‘Teen Wolf’, pointing at the kitsune, a supernatural creature that reads minds, create fire or lightening by rubbing its tails together and exhibits ominously sharp teeth in its pointed, fox like jaws. This image continues to provide an opportunity to address his fears in therapy in a way that words alone could not. Of course, the role of imagery and metaphor in therapy is not a new one. However, Shrinking the Smirch provides practitioners and clients with an engaging and playful framework.
The striking colours and Lauren Densham’s varied illustrations are compelling and stand out against the often grey, grown-up and wordy world of self-help literature. The content seems a natural progression of Jo Johnson’s previous book, ‘Shrinking the Monster’, adopting a similar concept and presenting it in a way that targets a broader clinical population, with applicability to most physical and mental health conditions. Its utility seems to be in its organized and practical approach, drawing the reader into an active process of thinking about their difficulties in a non-threatening and creative way. (Having read Chapter 1, I challenge anyone not to want to colour in the readymade smirch on page 17, or begin to draw their own on page 21). Once your own smirch or smirches are ‘out there’ Jo Johnson cleverly brings together cognitive behavioural ideas, practical problem-solving approaches and interventions addressing diet, activity, pain and fatigue.
The sub-text is one of compassion, acceptance and kindness to self but this is imparted in an accessible and practical way. Whilst the illustrations and lay out might not suit all reader tastes, the tone of the book is always honest, real and enriched by the use of clients’ own language and quotes. It could provide a ‘bridge’ between the child and adult self-help literature and, possibly more importantly, a language in which adults and children can talk together about the difficulties associated with illness and disability. I’d envisage using specific chapters, pages and materials selectively as I think is intended in its large, ‘workbook’ layout. I’d also envisage that many of the contents would translate well to tablet and smart phone and that this could extend the utility of the materials further. Looking forward to the app! Shrinking the Smirch can be purchased from Amazon