In this volume, readers are introduced to Vygotsky's argument for a theoretical and methodological approach to differentiate A "higher" mental functions from the more basic brain processes that other theorists believed were at the center of the psychological apparatus. The famed Soviet psychologist's view of developmental issues as an intricately woven tapestry of functions includes analyses of:- the development of speech and written language- the mastering of attention and ...

Discussed and debated from time immemorial, the concept of personal liberty went without codification until the 1859 publication of On Liberty. John Stuart Mill's complete and resolute dedication to the cause of freedom inspired this treatise, an enduring work through which the concept remains well known and studied. The British economist, philosopher, and ethical theorist's argument does not focus on "the so-called Liberty of the Will…but Civil, or Social Liberty: the nature and limits of...

What is psychology? When did it begin? Where did it come from? How does psychology compare with related subjects such as psychiatry and psychotherapy? To what extent is it scientific?Introducing Psychology answers all these questions and more, explaining what the subject has been in the past and what it is now. The main "schools" of thought and the sections within psychology are described, including Introspection, Biopsychology, Psychoanaly...

“The interpretation of dreams is the via regia to a knowledge of the unconscious element in our physical life.”—Sigmund FreudFreud’s discovery that the dream is the means by which the unconscious can be explored is undoubtedly the most revolutionary step forward in the entire history of psychology. Dreams, according to his theory, represent the hidden fulfillment of our unconscious wishes. Through them the inhibitions are released and tensions relaxed. The...

The inspiration for the PBS series Mysterious of Mental Illness, Shrinks brilliantly tells the groundbreaking story of psychiatry's origins, demise, and redemption.Psychiatry has come a long way since the days of chaining "lunatics" in cold cells and parading them as freakish marvels before a gaping public.But, as Jeffrey Lieberman, MD, the former president of the American Psychiatric Association, reveals in his extraordinary and eye-opening book,...

Witches, Midwives, and Nurses examines how women-led healing was delegitimized to make way for patriarchy, capitalism, and the emerging medical industry.As we watch another agonizing attempt to shift the future of healthcare in the United States, we are reminded of the longevity of this crisis, and how firmly entrenched we are in a system that doesn't work.First published by the Feminist Press in 1973, Witches, Midwives, and Nurses is an e...

This volume brings together Freud's main contributions to the psychology of love. His illuminating discussions of the ways in which sexuality is always psychosexuality - that there is no sexuality without fantasy, conscious or unconscious - have changed the ways we think about erotic life. In these papers Freud develops his now famous theories about the sexuality of childhood and the transgressive nature of human desire.In the famous case study of the eighteen-year-old 'Dora', we s...

The Essence of Jung's Psychology and Tibetan Buddhism cuts to the heart of two very different yet remarkably similar traditions. The author touches on many of their major ideas: the collective unconscious and karma, archetypes and deities, the analyst and the spiritual friend, and mandalas. Within Tibetan Buddhism she focuses on tantra and relates its emphasis on spiritual transformation, also a major concern of Jung. This expanded edition includes new material on the integration ...

First published in 2002. Schizophrenia: A Scientific Delusion?, first published in 1990, made a very significant contribution to the debates on the concepts of schizophrenia and mental illness. These concepts remain both influential and controversial and this new updated second edition provides an incisive critical analysis of the debates over the last decade. As well as providing updated versions of the historical and scientific arguments against the concept of schizophrenia which formed ...

Constructions and the Analytic Field questions the relationship between psychoanalysis, history and literature. Does the analyst help the analysand construct a narrative, or is their task more of a historical reconstruction?In seeking to answer this question, Domenico Chianese examines Freud's writing, beginning with 'Constructions in Analysis' and ending in 'Moses and Monotheism', as well as the impressions of analytic method reflected in contemporary writers such as Thom...

Can you really tell a criminal by the bumps on his head? What does a memory look like? Can a machine think? Why are some people shy? Is it better not to feel so much?These are some of the many questions that have troubled the minds of some of the greatest thinkers in human civilization and are discussed in this comprehensive yet accessible introduction to psychology.The complex workings of the mind have fascinated mankind for centuries, but the key theories...

This book demonstrates how social distress or anxiety is reflected, modified, and evolves through the medium of the motion picture. Tracing cinema from its earliest forms, the authors show how film is a perfect medium for generating and projecting dreams, fantasies, and nightmares, on the individual as well as the societal level. Arising at the same time as Freud’s influential ideas, cinema has been intertwined with the wishes and fears of the greater culture and has served as a means of e...