Listening To Prozac: Psychiatrist Explores Antidepressant Drugs and the Remaking of the Self - Rilegato

Kramer, Peter

Rilegato

ISBN 10: 1857022335 ISBN 13: 9781857022339

Casa editrice: Fourth Estate, 1994

Riassunto

Introduced into Britain in 1989 and already prescribed to over half a million people, Prozac is said to transform pessimists into optimists, turn loners into extroverts, give the timid confidence - in short, to be able to alter the very core of human personality. Nicknamed "bottled sunshine" and "the feminist pep pill", Prozac is fast becoming a cult drug, almost a status symbol. But should we resist the lure of a "happiness pill" that may actually change character and temperament? For if personality can be shaped by chemicals then some very serious questions must be asked about the nature of the self. This book takes the experiences of Dr Peter Kramer's patients on Prozac as the jumping-off point for an exploration of the most up-to-date ideas about what we think of as the "mind" and its intimate links with the biochemistry of the brain. The book raises a host of questions - about the shifting cultural norms that favour one type of personality over another at given time; about the possibility that temperament is an inherited trait; about the advisability of purely "cosmetic" psychopharmacology.

Su questo libro

Recensione:

'In 'The Therapeutic Encounter: a cross-modality approach' Bott and Howard have presented an interesting balance between theory and practice. Particularly engaging is their metaphor of the 'therapeutic dance' between therapist and client which leads to the enactment of 'the problem-saturated story' brought by the client. They devote separate chapters to six captivating examples from clinical practice, each with a particularly nuanced commentary fitting the case. An intriguing read, that will be of interest to trainees and practicing therapists alike' -
Professor Maria Gilbert, Joint Head of Integrative Department, Metanoia Institute

'Many years ago I came across the concept of 'crossing over' into other ways of seeing, not to adopt those ways of seeing, but in order to get a real perspective on one's own. Other ways of seeing inform our own, and often help us discover lost aspects or not yet discovered aspects of our own. The themes in this book clearly demonstrate how much that applies to psychotherapy and counselling models. See things from the perspective of other modalities, and you may well discover something startling about your own ...' -
Michael Jacobs, Visiting professor, Bournemouth and Leeds Universities

'Some books are before their time and some are written too late, but The Therapeutic Encounter is a book 'just in time'. With a firm grasp of the unifying potential of relational process thinking, Bott and Howard deftly cut across the territories of the usual therapeutic modalities, flexibly shifting from theoretical frame to theoretical frame in order to reveal and act upon the stubborn particulars of each therapeutic scenario. The key insight - enabling the avoidance of theoretical chauvinism and easy eclecticism alike - is the organising principle of a series of dilemmas, contradictions and paradoxes which constitute ambivalent hotspots around which the narratives which pattern our lives are constructed. In prose which brings their cases to vivid emotional life, Bott and Howard show how these enduring themes of experience are both the root of recurrent problems and the source of novel solutions. This insight forms the common ground that allows psychoanalysts to communicate with systems theorists and person centred practitioners with narrative therapists. The result is not a training manual, but a timely intervention destined to calmly guide the counselling and psychotherapy community through its own current crisis of transition' -
Paul Stenner, Professor of Social Psychology, The Open University

Contenuti:

Theorising 'Process': Contemporary Perspectives
The Refusal to Join In
Dilemma: How Can I Take Part if I Can't Make a Mistake?
The Battle for Control
Dilemma: How Can I Find Love When I Can't Show That I'm Vulnerable?
Engaging with the Emotionally Unavailable
Dilemma: How Can I Get Close and Still be Myself?
The Need to be Loved
Dilemma: How Can I Keep Everyone Happy and Still Get My Own Needs Met?
An Inability to Relate
Dilemma: How Can I Get Love and Still Be Self-Sufficient?
Encountering Oppositionality
Dilemma: How Can I Get My Way When I Can't Say What I Want?
Conclusion: The Therapeutic Encounter: A Safe Emergency

Su questa edizione

• Editore: Fourth Estate
• Data di pubblicazione: 1994
• ISBN 10: 1857022335
• ISBN 13: 9781857022339
• Rilegatura: Copertina rigida
• Numero edizione: 4
• Numero di pagine: 432