Do You Get the Feeling?: A handbook to facilitate emotional awareness and communication 150 ways to express yourself

Celia Rabberg
AuthorHouse (2007)
ISBN 9781425987794
Reviewed by Paige Lovitt for Reader Views (3/08)


The author Celia Rabberg has a gift with words.  She used her talent to write “Do You Get the Feeling?,” as a handbook with 150 ways for people to express themselves.  As a therapist, she noticed that a lot of her patients had difficulties with getting their feelings out.  By giving people a tool to help them express themselves, she feels that it will help them to progress faster with developing better communication and self-expression skills.

She wrote this book for therapists, teachers and people who are interested in being in touch with their own feelings.  In this book, 150 emotions are organized into 39 groups.  The feelings range from positive to negative.  The reader is directed to select a group or two that contains feelings they are currently experiencing.  The index directs you to the pages that the emotions are written about in the form of beautiful poems.  These poems lead to contemplation.  I read all 149 of them and found them all to be profound and for every age.  The 150th one is for the reader to write for herself. 

The idea behind this is based upon Cognitive Behavior Therapy.  Included is an Educational Utilization in CBT or Self-Help form to help guide the reader to connect the emotions to their body language, feelings and behaviors.  It is very interesting.  These techniques have three main uses: personal enjoyment, improving communication with others and clinical or educational training.

The book itself is bright and colorful.  It is well organized.  I found this to be very helpful.  The pages are clearly laid out and uncluttered.  I feel that this makes it easier to focus on the emotion and the poem without distractions.  For people who have difficulties, or resistance, with getting in touch with their emotions, it is very important that they don’t have anything to distract them.  The poetry itself is poignant and meaningful.  I really could relate to the poems about the emotions that I most frequently have been experiencing.  I also liked the poetry about the positive emotions because it is uplifting and hopeful.

“Do You Get the Feeling?” is a really important text for people who are needing help with connecting with their emotions.  Cognitive Behavior Therapists will love to have this to use as a resource.  I also thought that it would be a really good tool for counseling internship students who are supposed to be keeping a journal.  It will make their lives much easier and clearer.

Listen to interview on Inside Scoop Live
Read interview with author
Make comment on weblog