Author: Erich Fromm
Publisher: Open Road Media
ISBN: 1504082753
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 197
Book Description
The legendary social psychologist and New York Times–bestselling author meditates on ideas of mental health and normalcy in contemporary society. At the beginning of the 1950s, Erich Fromm increasingly questioned whether people in contemporary industrial society were mentally healthy. Eventually the topic of various lectures, Fromm’s new social psychoanalytic approach enabled him to further develop the psychoanalytic method into a comprehensive critique of the pathology of the “normal,” socially adjusted human being. He was thus able to subject to a radical analysis the widespread strivings that dominate behavior in society—and therefore question what is “normal,” what is beneficial to mental health, and what makes people ill. In The Pathology of Normalcy, Fromm examines the concepts of mental health and mental illness in modern society. He discusses, through a series of lectures, subjects including a frame of reference for evaluating mental health, the relationship between mental health issues and alienation, and the connection between psychological and economic theory. Finally, he elucidates how humanity can overcome “the insane society,” as well as its own innate laziness.
The Pathology of Normalcy
Author: Erich Fromm
Publisher: Open Road Media
ISBN: 1504082753
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 197
Book Description
The legendary social psychologist and New York Times–bestselling author meditates on ideas of mental health and normalcy in contemporary society. At the beginning of the 1950s, Erich Fromm increasingly questioned whether people in contemporary industrial society were mentally healthy. Eventually the topic of various lectures, Fromm’s new social psychoanalytic approach enabled him to further develop the psychoanalytic method into a comprehensive critique of the pathology of the “normal,” socially adjusted human being. He was thus able to subject to a radical analysis the widespread strivings that dominate behavior in society—and therefore question what is “normal,” what is beneficial to mental health, and what makes people ill. In The Pathology of Normalcy, Fromm examines the concepts of mental health and mental illness in modern society. He discusses, through a series of lectures, subjects including a frame of reference for evaluating mental health, the relationship between mental health issues and alienation, and the connection between psychological and economic theory. Finally, he elucidates how humanity can overcome “the insane society,” as well as its own innate laziness.
Publisher: Open Road Media
ISBN: 1504082753
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 197
Book Description
The legendary social psychologist and New York Times–bestselling author meditates on ideas of mental health and normalcy in contemporary society. At the beginning of the 1950s, Erich Fromm increasingly questioned whether people in contemporary industrial society were mentally healthy. Eventually the topic of various lectures, Fromm’s new social psychoanalytic approach enabled him to further develop the psychoanalytic method into a comprehensive critique of the pathology of the “normal,” socially adjusted human being. He was thus able to subject to a radical analysis the widespread strivings that dominate behavior in society—and therefore question what is “normal,” what is beneficial to mental health, and what makes people ill. In The Pathology of Normalcy, Fromm examines the concepts of mental health and mental illness in modern society. He discusses, through a series of lectures, subjects including a frame of reference for evaluating mental health, the relationship between mental health issues and alienation, and the connection between psychological and economic theory. Finally, he elucidates how humanity can overcome “the insane society,” as well as its own innate laziness.
The Legacy of Erich Fromm
Author: Daniel Burston
Publisher: Harvard University Press
ISBN: 9780674521681
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 292
Book Description
This is the first full-scale intellectual biography in English of Erich Fromm, perhaps the most widely read psychoanalyst after Freud, whose contributions to clinical and social psychology and the history of the psychoanalytic movement have long been underrated. Though considered a pedant, a popularizer--Escape from Freedom, The Sane Society, and The Art of Loving, among others, were best-sellers -and an "outsider" in many psychoanalytic circles, Fromm played a historic role in the development of the discipline. As a member of Freud's "loyal opposition" with strong leanings toward the "dissident fringe;' he helped effect the transfer of productive ideas from the periphery to the mainstream of the psychoanalytic movement. Daniel Burston's meticulous elucidation of these ideas unravels the numerous strands--philosophical, literary, and social--that formed a part of Freud's own work and of Fromm's sympathetic, but not uncritical, reaction to Freudian orthodoxy. Despite his grounding in the tradition of Freud, contemporaries and former associates persistently misunderstood Fromm's work. Insofar as he attempted to decipher the ideological subtexts to Freudian theory, analytically oriented theorists doing clinical or social research avoided his ideas. His Marxist leanings and his radically historical approach to human behavior made it all but impossible for mainstream academic psychologists to grasp his meaning, much less to grant it any validity. At the same time, his humanistic and ethical concerns struck many psychologists as grossly unscientific. Practical and intellectual constraints have conspired to ensure that Fromm's impact has been peripheral at best. Burston's eloquent, evenhanded reassessment of Fromm's life and work cuts through the ideological and political underbrush to reveal his pivotal role as a theorist and a critic of modern psychoanalysis. It leads readers back to Freud, whose theoretical and clinical contributions Fromm refracted and extended, and on to controversies that remain a vital part of contemporary intellectual life.
Publisher: Harvard University Press
ISBN: 9780674521681
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 292
Book Description
This is the first full-scale intellectual biography in English of Erich Fromm, perhaps the most widely read psychoanalyst after Freud, whose contributions to clinical and social psychology and the history of the psychoanalytic movement have long been underrated. Though considered a pedant, a popularizer--Escape from Freedom, The Sane Society, and The Art of Loving, among others, were best-sellers -and an "outsider" in many psychoanalytic circles, Fromm played a historic role in the development of the discipline. As a member of Freud's "loyal opposition" with strong leanings toward the "dissident fringe;' he helped effect the transfer of productive ideas from the periphery to the mainstream of the psychoanalytic movement. Daniel Burston's meticulous elucidation of these ideas unravels the numerous strands--philosophical, literary, and social--that formed a part of Freud's own work and of Fromm's sympathetic, but not uncritical, reaction to Freudian orthodoxy. Despite his grounding in the tradition of Freud, contemporaries and former associates persistently misunderstood Fromm's work. Insofar as he attempted to decipher the ideological subtexts to Freudian theory, analytically oriented theorists doing clinical or social research avoided his ideas. His Marxist leanings and his radically historical approach to human behavior made it all but impossible for mainstream academic psychologists to grasp his meaning, much less to grant it any validity. At the same time, his humanistic and ethical concerns struck many psychologists as grossly unscientific. Practical and intellectual constraints have conspired to ensure that Fromm's impact has been peripheral at best. Burston's eloquent, evenhanded reassessment of Fromm's life and work cuts through the ideological and political underbrush to reveal his pivotal role as a theorist and a critic of modern psychoanalysis. It leads readers back to Freud, whose theoretical and clinical contributions Fromm refracted and extended, and on to controversies that remain a vital part of contemporary intellectual life.
The Myth of Normal
Author: Gabor Maté, MD
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 059308389X
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 560
Book Description
The instant New York Times bestseller By the acclaimed author of In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts, a groundbreaking investigation into the causes of illness, a bracing critique of how our society breeds disease, and a pathway to health and healing. In this revolutionary book, renowned physician Gabor Maté eloquently dissects how in Western countries that pride themselves on their healthcare systems, chronic illness and general ill health are on the rise. Nearly 70 percent of Americans are on at least one prescription drug; more than half take two. In Canada, every fifth person has high blood pressure. In Europe, hypertension is diagnosed in more than 30 percent of the population. And everywhere, adolescent mental illness is on the rise. So what is really “normal” when it comes to health? Over four decades of clinical experience, Maté has come to recognize the prevailing understanding of “normal” as false, neglecting the roles that trauma and stress, and the pressures of modern-day living, exert on our bodies and our minds at the expense of good health. For all our expertise and technological sophistication, Western medicine often fails to treat the whole person, ignoring how today’s culture stresses the body, burdens the immune system, and undermines emotional balance. Now Maté brings his perspective to the great untangling of common myths about what makes us sick, connects the dots between the maladies of individuals and the declining soundness of society—and offers a compassionate guide for health and healing. Cowritten with his son Daniel, The Myth Of Normal is Maté’s most ambitious and urgent book yet.
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 059308389X
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 560
Book Description
The instant New York Times bestseller By the acclaimed author of In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts, a groundbreaking investigation into the causes of illness, a bracing critique of how our society breeds disease, and a pathway to health and healing. In this revolutionary book, renowned physician Gabor Maté eloquently dissects how in Western countries that pride themselves on their healthcare systems, chronic illness and general ill health are on the rise. Nearly 70 percent of Americans are on at least one prescription drug; more than half take two. In Canada, every fifth person has high blood pressure. In Europe, hypertension is diagnosed in more than 30 percent of the population. And everywhere, adolescent mental illness is on the rise. So what is really “normal” when it comes to health? Over four decades of clinical experience, Maté has come to recognize the prevailing understanding of “normal” as false, neglecting the roles that trauma and stress, and the pressures of modern-day living, exert on our bodies and our minds at the expense of good health. For all our expertise and technological sophistication, Western medicine often fails to treat the whole person, ignoring how today’s culture stresses the body, burdens the immune system, and undermines emotional balance. Now Maté brings his perspective to the great untangling of common myths about what makes us sick, connects the dots between the maladies of individuals and the declining soundness of society—and offers a compassionate guide for health and healing. Cowritten with his son Daniel, The Myth Of Normal is Maté’s most ambitious and urgent book yet.
Normality Does Not Equal Mental Health
Author: Steven James Bartlett
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN: 0313399328
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 332
Book Description
How do you define good mental health? This controversial, counterintuitive, and altogether fascinating book argues that "psychological normality" is neither a desirable nor an acceptable standard. Normality Does Not Equal Mental Health: The Need to Look Elsewhere for Standards of Good Psychological Health is a groundbreaking work, the first book-length study to question the equation of psychological normality and mental health. Its author, Dr. Steven James Bartlett, musters compelling evidence and careful analysis to challenge the paradigm accepted by mental health theorists and practitioners, a paradigm that is not only wrong, but can be damaging to those to whom it is applied—and to society as a whole. In this bold, multidisciplinary work, Bartlett critiques the presumed standard of normality that permeates contemporary consciousness. Showing that the current concept of mental illness is fundamentally unacceptable because it is scientifically unfounded and the result of flawed thinking, he argues that adherence to the gold standard of psychological normality leads to nothing less than cultural impoverishment.
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN: 0313399328
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 332
Book Description
How do you define good mental health? This controversial, counterintuitive, and altogether fascinating book argues that "psychological normality" is neither a desirable nor an acceptable standard. Normality Does Not Equal Mental Health: The Need to Look Elsewhere for Standards of Good Psychological Health is a groundbreaking work, the first book-length study to question the equation of psychological normality and mental health. Its author, Dr. Steven James Bartlett, musters compelling evidence and careful analysis to challenge the paradigm accepted by mental health theorists and practitioners, a paradigm that is not only wrong, but can be damaging to those to whom it is applied—and to society as a whole. In this bold, multidisciplinary work, Bartlett critiques the presumed standard of normality that permeates contemporary consciousness. Showing that the current concept of mental illness is fundamentally unacceptable because it is scientifically unfounded and the result of flawed thinking, he argues that adherence to the gold standard of psychological normality leads to nothing less than cultural impoverishment.
The Heart of Man
Author: Erich Fromm
Publisher: Open Road Media
ISBN: 1504082761
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 157
Book Description
The acclaimed social psychologist and New York Times–bestselling author of The Art of Loving discusses the nature of evil and humanity’s capacity for it. Originally published in 1964, The Heart of Man was influenced by turbulent times. Average Americans were suffering from different forms of evil, including a rise in juvenile delinquency. On a grander scale, the threat of nuclear war loomed over the nation, and President John F. Kennedy had been assassinated. What could drive humanity to do things such as these? In The Heart of Man, renowned humanist philosopher and psychoanalyst Erich Fromm investigates man’s capacity to destroy, his narcissism, and his incestuous fixation. He expands upon ideas he presented in Escape from Freedom, Man for Himself, and The Art of Loving, and examines the essence of evil, as well as the choice between good and evil. He also explores man’s ability to destroy and further considers freedom, aggression, destructiveness, and violence. “The Heart of Man questions human nature itself, from the forms of violence that plague it to individual and social narcissism to how the positive value of “love of life” can potentially outweigh the destructive “syndrome of decay” caused by the love of death and other harmful tendencies of thought.” —Midwest Book Review
Publisher: Open Road Media
ISBN: 1504082761
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 157
Book Description
The acclaimed social psychologist and New York Times–bestselling author of The Art of Loving discusses the nature of evil and humanity’s capacity for it. Originally published in 1964, The Heart of Man was influenced by turbulent times. Average Americans were suffering from different forms of evil, including a rise in juvenile delinquency. On a grander scale, the threat of nuclear war loomed over the nation, and President John F. Kennedy had been assassinated. What could drive humanity to do things such as these? In The Heart of Man, renowned humanist philosopher and psychoanalyst Erich Fromm investigates man’s capacity to destroy, his narcissism, and his incestuous fixation. He expands upon ideas he presented in Escape from Freedom, Man for Himself, and The Art of Loving, and examines the essence of evil, as well as the choice between good and evil. He also explores man’s ability to destroy and further considers freedom, aggression, destructiveness, and violence. “The Heart of Man questions human nature itself, from the forms of violence that plague it to individual and social narcissism to how the positive value of “love of life” can potentially outweigh the destructive “syndrome of decay” caused by the love of death and other harmful tendencies of thought.” —Midwest Book Review
Back to Normal
Author: Enrico Gnaulati, PhD
Publisher: Beacon Press
ISBN: 0807073350
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 204
Book Description
A veteran clinical psychologist exposes why doctors, teachers, and parents incorrectly diagnose healthy American children with serious psychiatric conditions. In recent years there has been an alarming rise in the number of American children and youth assigned a mental health diagnosis. Current data from the Centers for Disease Control reveal a 41 percent increase in rates of ADHD diagnoses over the past decade and a forty-fold spike in bipolar disorder diagnoses. Similarly, diagnoses of autism spectrum disorder, once considered, has increased by 78 percent since 2002. Dr. Enrico Gnaulati, a clinical psychologist specializing in childhood and adolescent therapy and assessment, has witnessed firsthand the push to diagnose these disorders in youngsters. Drawing both on his own clinical experience and on cutting-edge research, with Back to Normal he has written the definitive account of why our kids are being dramatically overdiagnosed—and how parents and professionals can distinguish between true psychiatric disorders and normal childhood reactions to stressful life situations. Gnaulati begins with the complex web of factors that have led to our current crisis. These include questionable education and training practices that cloud mental health professionals’ ability to distinguish normal from abnormal behavior in children, monetary incentives favoring prescriptions, check-list diagnosing, and high-stakes testing in schools. We’ve also developed an increasingly casual attitude about labeling kids and putting them on psychiatric drugs. So how do we differentiate between a child with, say, Asperger’s syndrome and a child who is simply introverted, brainy, and single-minded? As Gnaulati notes, many of the symptoms associated with these disorders are similar to everyday childhood behaviors. In the second half of the book Gnaulati tells detailed stories of wrongly diagnosed kids, providing parents and others with information about the developmental, temperamental, and environmentally driven symptoms that to a casual or untrained eye can mimic a psychiatric disorder. These stories also reveal how nonmedical interventions, whether in the therapist’s office or through changes made at home, can help children. Back to Normal reminds us of the normalcy of children’s seemingly abnormal behavior. It will give parents of struggling children hope, perspective, and direction. And it will make everyone who deals with children question the changes in our society that have contributed to the astonishing increase in childhood psychiatric diagnoses.
Publisher: Beacon Press
ISBN: 0807073350
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 204
Book Description
A veteran clinical psychologist exposes why doctors, teachers, and parents incorrectly diagnose healthy American children with serious psychiatric conditions. In recent years there has been an alarming rise in the number of American children and youth assigned a mental health diagnosis. Current data from the Centers for Disease Control reveal a 41 percent increase in rates of ADHD diagnoses over the past decade and a forty-fold spike in bipolar disorder diagnoses. Similarly, diagnoses of autism spectrum disorder, once considered, has increased by 78 percent since 2002. Dr. Enrico Gnaulati, a clinical psychologist specializing in childhood and adolescent therapy and assessment, has witnessed firsthand the push to diagnose these disorders in youngsters. Drawing both on his own clinical experience and on cutting-edge research, with Back to Normal he has written the definitive account of why our kids are being dramatically overdiagnosed—and how parents and professionals can distinguish between true psychiatric disorders and normal childhood reactions to stressful life situations. Gnaulati begins with the complex web of factors that have led to our current crisis. These include questionable education and training practices that cloud mental health professionals’ ability to distinguish normal from abnormal behavior in children, monetary incentives favoring prescriptions, check-list diagnosing, and high-stakes testing in schools. We’ve also developed an increasingly casual attitude about labeling kids and putting them on psychiatric drugs. So how do we differentiate between a child with, say, Asperger’s syndrome and a child who is simply introverted, brainy, and single-minded? As Gnaulati notes, many of the symptoms associated with these disorders are similar to everyday childhood behaviors. In the second half of the book Gnaulati tells detailed stories of wrongly diagnosed kids, providing parents and others with information about the developmental, temperamental, and environmentally driven symptoms that to a casual or untrained eye can mimic a psychiatric disorder. These stories also reveal how nonmedical interventions, whether in the therapist’s office or through changes made at home, can help children. Back to Normal reminds us of the normalcy of children’s seemingly abnormal behavior. It will give parents of struggling children hope, perspective, and direction. And it will make everyone who deals with children question the changes in our society that have contributed to the astonishing increase in childhood psychiatric diagnoses.
Normality, Abnormality, and Pathology in Merleau-Ponty
Author: Susan Bredlau
Publisher: Suny Contemporary Continental
ISBN: 9781438486857
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 256
Book Description
Maurice Merleau-Ponty's work draws our attention to how the body is always our way of having a world and never merely a thing in the world. Our conception of the body must take account of our cultures, our historically located sciences, and our interpersonal relations and cannot reduce the body to a biological given. Normality, Abnormality, and Pathology in Merleau-Ponty takes up Merleau-Ponty's phenomenology of the body to explore the ideas of normality, abnormality, and pathology. Focusing on the lived experiences of various styles of embodiment, the book challenges our usual conceptions of normality and abnormality and shows how seemingly objective scientific research, such as the study of pathological symptoms, is inadequate to the phenomena it purports to comprehend. The book offers new insights into our understandings of health and illness, ability and disability, and the scientific and cultural practices that both enable and limit our capacity for diverse experiences.
Publisher: Suny Contemporary Continental
ISBN: 9781438486857
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 256
Book Description
Maurice Merleau-Ponty's work draws our attention to how the body is always our way of having a world and never merely a thing in the world. Our conception of the body must take account of our cultures, our historically located sciences, and our interpersonal relations and cannot reduce the body to a biological given. Normality, Abnormality, and Pathology in Merleau-Ponty takes up Merleau-Ponty's phenomenology of the body to explore the ideas of normality, abnormality, and pathology. Focusing on the lived experiences of various styles of embodiment, the book challenges our usual conceptions of normality and abnormality and shows how seemingly objective scientific research, such as the study of pathological symptoms, is inadequate to the phenomena it purports to comprehend. The book offers new insights into our understandings of health and illness, ability and disability, and the scientific and cultural practices that both enable and limit our capacity for diverse experiences.
A Poetics of Neurosis
Author: Elena Furlanetto
Publisher: transcript Verlag
ISBN: 3839441323
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 207
Book Description
While psychiatry and the neurosciences have dismissed the concept of neurosis as too vague for medical purposes, in recent years literary studies have adopted the term by virtue of its abstractness. This volume investigates the verbalization of neurosis in literary and cultural texts. As opposed to the medical diagnostics of neurosis in the individual, the contributions focus on the poetics of neurosis. They indicate how neuroses are still routinely romanticized or vilified, bent to suit aesthetic and narrative choices, and transfigured to illustrate unresolved cultural tensions.
Publisher: transcript Verlag
ISBN: 3839441323
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 207
Book Description
While psychiatry and the neurosciences have dismissed the concept of neurosis as too vague for medical purposes, in recent years literary studies have adopted the term by virtue of its abstractness. This volume investigates the verbalization of neurosis in literary and cultural texts. As opposed to the medical diagnostics of neurosis in the individual, the contributions focus on the poetics of neurosis. They indicate how neuroses are still routinely romanticized or vilified, bent to suit aesthetic and narrative choices, and transfigured to illustrate unresolved cultural tensions.
Normality, Abnormality, and Pathology in Merleau-Ponty
Author: Susan Bredlau
Publisher: State University of New York Press
ISBN: 1438486871
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 347
Book Description
Maurice Merleau-Ponty’s work draws our attention to how the body is always our way of having a world and never merely a thing in the world. Our conception of the body must take account of our cultures, our historically located sciences, and our interpersonal relations and cannot reduce the body to a biological given. Normality, Abnormality, and Pathology in Merleau-Ponty takes up Merleau-Ponty’s phenomenology of the body to explore the ideas of normality, abnormality, and pathology. Focusing on the lived experiences of various styles of embodiment, the book challenges our usual conceptions of normality and abnormality and shows how seemingly objective scientific research, such as the study of pathological symptoms, is inadequate to the phenomena it purports to comprehend. The book offers new insights into our understandings of health and illness, ability and disability, and the scientific and cultural practices that both enable and limit our capacity for diverse experiences.
Publisher: State University of New York Press
ISBN: 1438486871
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 347
Book Description
Maurice Merleau-Ponty’s work draws our attention to how the body is always our way of having a world and never merely a thing in the world. Our conception of the body must take account of our cultures, our historically located sciences, and our interpersonal relations and cannot reduce the body to a biological given. Normality, Abnormality, and Pathology in Merleau-Ponty takes up Merleau-Ponty’s phenomenology of the body to explore the ideas of normality, abnormality, and pathology. Focusing on the lived experiences of various styles of embodiment, the book challenges our usual conceptions of normality and abnormality and shows how seemingly objective scientific research, such as the study of pathological symptoms, is inadequate to the phenomena it purports to comprehend. The book offers new insights into our understandings of health and illness, ability and disability, and the scientific and cultural practices that both enable and limit our capacity for diverse experiences.
Critical theory and social pathology
Author: Neal Harris
Publisher: Manchester University Press
ISBN: 1526154722
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 140
Book Description
In the neoliberal world of the twenty-first century, the progressive academy urgently needs a vehicle for normative social research. Critical theory once answered this call, but today its programme is in crisis. The ‘pathologies of recognition’ approach, popular among contemporary critical theorists, aids neoliberalism rather than challenging it, in part because it is unable to grasp the structural nature of power. To offer an alternative, this book returns to the work of Erich Fromm and Herbert Marcuse, using it as the basis for a revivified social theoretical foundation. As the first generation of critical theorists knew, thought itself can be reified, our imaginations debased, and our desires artificially induced. We need to think beyond recognition and embrace a more potent and aggressive form of social critique, true to the founding spirit of the Frankfurt School.
Publisher: Manchester University Press
ISBN: 1526154722
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 140
Book Description
In the neoliberal world of the twenty-first century, the progressive academy urgently needs a vehicle for normative social research. Critical theory once answered this call, but today its programme is in crisis. The ‘pathologies of recognition’ approach, popular among contemporary critical theorists, aids neoliberalism rather than challenging it, in part because it is unable to grasp the structural nature of power. To offer an alternative, this book returns to the work of Erich Fromm and Herbert Marcuse, using it as the basis for a revivified social theoretical foundation. As the first generation of critical theorists knew, thought itself can be reified, our imaginations debased, and our desires artificially induced. We need to think beyond recognition and embrace a more potent and aggressive form of social critique, true to the founding spirit of the Frankfurt School.