"Sidelights"

Judith Orloff is a practicing psychiatrist and educator who also claims to be a clairvoyant. She has collaborated with law-enforcement officials in locating missing persons and identifying crime suspects, and she has declared that she has applied her extrasensory powers to facilitate patient security in her private practice. Orloff also contends that she has practiced healing by touch.

In her first book, Second Sight: A Psychiatrist Clairvoyant Tells Her Extraordinary Story and Shows You How to Develop Your Psychic Gifts, Orloff relates her own experiences as a clairvoyant psychiatrist, and she provides encouragement to readers eager to develop their own powers of perception. She also recommends that fellow psychiatrists explore the feasibility of more spiritual practices--from prayer and meditation to ritualized activities and dream study--in their professional practice. A Publishers Weekly reviewer affirmed that Second Sight "will appeal to open-minded readers."

Orloff followedSecond Sight withDr. Judith Orloff's Guide to Intuitive Healing: Five Steps to Physical, Emotional, and Sexual Wellness, in which she examines holistic healing and extols the virtues of intuition as a means of maintaining well-being. A Publishers Weekly reviewer commented that holistic medicine has "rarely ... been examined so thoughtfully and engagingly." The critic concluded that "Orloff will no doubt win over many new fans." Orloff is also a featured reader onPsychic and Intuitive Healing, a set of audio tapes presenting the works of individuals described inBooklist as "psychic professionals."

With Positive Energy: Ten Extraordinary Prescriptions for Transforming Fatigue, Stress, and Fear into Vibrance, Strength, and Love, Orloff explores ideas about how humans manage and mismanage the natural energy systems--including Chi and Chakra energy--of the body. If these energy systems are misused or mismanaged, both physical and mental illness can result, Orloff notes. Properly used, however, these energy systems can be the wellspring of vibrant physical health, clear thinking, and positive moods. Orloff provides a "passionate argument for engaged spiritual energy as the single most important factor in fostering personal transformation," commented reviewer Lisa Liquori in the Library Journal.

Orloff recommends a two-step approach in Positive Energy. First, a person should be aware of his or...