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BIOGRAPHY ~ Dean Shrock, Ph.D. ~
Dean Shrock, Ph.D attended
Cleveland State University, earning a bachelor's degree
in psychology in 1968. In 1977 he began training to be a
lecturer in a self-help program with its founder, Ken
McCaulley. Shrock returned to college in 1980,
graduating from the University of Akron in Akron, Ohio
with a master's in Community and College Counseling in
1983, and completing his doctorate in Counseling
Psychology in 1986. His doctoral dissertation was
titled, "Relaxation, Guided Imagery, and Wellness."
In 1986 Dr. Shrock completed a
post-doctoral internship where he developed a research
proposal for the Cleveland Clinic to test the
effectiveness of guided imagery with cancer patients. In
1987 he interned as a staff psychologist with the
Nittany Valley Rehabilitation Hospital in State College,
Pa. While there, he also interned with Dr. Carl Simonton
at the Simonton Cancer Center where he initiated his
research with psychological approaches to cancer care.
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| Dr. Shrock was hired in 1988 by a
physician management group to provide psychological
services for their cancer centers. Here he developed a
program whose primary purpose was to assist people
coping with the diagnosis and treatment of cancer. Dr.
Shrock was convinced that when people had a greater
"will to live" that it could affect the course of their
disease. While bringing more joy and meaning into life
surely could affect a patient's quality of life, Dr.
Shrock's research showed that giving people hope and
permission to be more themselves could also affect their
length of life.
Dr. Shrock has written a book
about the program he taught and the insights he gained.
This book,
Doctor's Orders: Go Fishing, is not about cancer, as
much as it is about life. Readers can use the
information to get well or stay well. People who are
busy doing what they like to do not only tend to forget
their aches and pains, but experience a positive effect
on their quality and length of life. Dr. Shrock believes
it is as potentially healing as anything else when
people feel that they are being supported, listened to,
and that they have a genuine connection with others.
Dr. Shrock now resides in Eagle
Point, Oregon and lectures regularly about his "Going
Fishing" approach to life.
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