Psychology, Psychotherapy, Psychoanalysis, and the Politics of Human Relationships

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Laurence Simon

Book Code: C7471

ISBN: 0-275-97471-5

ISBN-13: 978-0-275-97471-8

DOI:

248 pages

Praeger Publishers

Publication: 5/30/2003

List Price: $78.95 (UK Sterling Price: £44.95)

Availability: In Stock

Media Type: Hardcover

Trim Size: 6 1/8 x 9 1/4

Subjects:

Description: This volume offers a psychology of human personality and behavior created as a function of the politics practiced by the social structure in which they are based. The interaction of individuals with authoritarian/totalitarian, democratic/humanistic and anarchistic forms of politics is examined. The focus is on the particular type of politics practiced by psychiatry, psychotherapy, and psychoanalysis, with the conclusion that these enterprises operate more along authoritarian/totalitarian than democratic/humanistic lines. Simon argues that the mental health field, as currently dominated by psychiatric thinking entrenched in the "myths of mental illness," is acting as a social control agency and a force in the development of a totalitarian state. This volume aso offers a view of how psycho"therapy" can be used as a means to fuel democratic states for individuals. Other works that focus on the politics of psychiatric services have also emerged since Thomas Szasz' work, The Myth of Mental Illness, but this is the first to demonstrate the dangers of the psychiatry and therapy industries from this variety of political, religious, and scientific perspectives.

Table of Contents:

Introduction
Politics and Psychology
Politics, Religion and Science
Psychology
Psychotherapy I: Psychiatry and the Myths of Illness
Psychotherapy II: Psychoanalysis
Psychotherapy III: Psychotherapy and American Politics
Madness and Other Forms of Being
Politics of the Developing Self
Psycho"therapy" and the Creative Citizen

LC Card Number: 2002190858

LCC Class: RC480

Dewey Class: 616


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