What is society's effect on the individual? This book is a compelling appeal to the humanization of an evermore technological society. Social theorist Erich Fromm gives a classic description of the madness of modern culture, so applicable to the 21st century. He writes: A specter is stalking in our midst whom only a few can see with clarity. It is not the old ghosts of communism and fascism. It is a new specter: a completely mechanized society, devoted to maximal material output and consumption directed by computers. Humankind itself is being transformed into a part of the total machine: well-fed and entertained, yet passive and un-alive, with little feeling.

Millions of women are now entering or in the midst of midlife. With unprecedented freedom, education, longevity, and wealth, they hold positions of unheard-of responsibility and stature. No longer Maidens, nor Mothers, and not yet old Crones, the question arises: Where do these dynamic, accomplished, middle-aged women fit into the traditional description of the three stages of womanhood? In The Queen of My Self, urban shaman and popular spiritual teacher Donna Henes proposes a completely original paradigm-the midlife Queen, a woman in her prime who has achieved wisdom, mastery, and self-esteem-that reflects more accurately the realities and needs of women today. Henes draws on history, mythology, and literature, her own life experience, as well as stories from women in many different societies, situations, and stations. She provides illustrations and upbeat, practical, and ceremonial inspiration for all women who want to enjoy the fruits of an influential, passionate, and powerful maturity, and celebrate a new mythic model for the middle years of a woman's life-the Queen.

This step-by-step program opens the door to achieving emotional power. Instructions are given on how emotional literacy -- intelligence with a heart -- can be learned through practising specific exercises that foster the awareness of emotion in oneself and others, by increasing capacities to love others and oneself while developing honesty, and by taking responsibility for one's actions. Provided are instructions on how to reverse the dangerous self-destructive emotional patterns that can rule a person's life. This program shows individuals how to open their hearts and minds to honest and effective communication, how to survey the emotional landscape, and ultimately how to take responsibility for their emotional lives.

" Myths and Mysteries of Same-Sex Love makes a powerful statement about the realities of gay and lesbian psyche. A gay and lesbian psychic perspective may at first be startling, but once examined, it proves to be unforgettable." - The Advocate

Betty Jean Lifton, whose Lost and Found has become a bible to adoptees and to those who would understand the adoption experience, explores further the inner world of the adopted person. She breaks new ground as she traces the adopted child's lifelong struggle to form an authentic sense of self. And she shows how both the symbolic and the literal search for roots becomes a crucial part of the journey toward wholeness.

Through close readings of the biblical texts, the author makes a powerful argument for the idea that the creators of the midrashic commentary, the medieval rabbinic commentators, and the Hassidic commentators were themselves on some level aware of the complex interplay between conscious and unconscious levels of experience and used this knowledge in their interpretations. In her analysis of the stories of Adam and Eve, Noah, Jonah, Abraham, Rebecca, Isaac, Joseph and his brothers, Ruth, and Estheruhow they communicated with the world around them, with God, and with the various parts of their selves, the author offers fascinating insights into the interaction between consciousness and unconsciousness.

Suicide bombers are often compared to smart bombs. From the point of view of their dispatchers, they are highly effective, inexpensive forms of weaponry, and there is no need to invest in their technological development. Suicide bombers are in fact smarter than smart bombs because they can choose their own target―and they can react to circumstances on the ground, changing their target, or their timing, in an instant, to ensure the maximum damage, destruction, and death. Of course, unlike smart bombs, suicide bombers think and feel, they have histories, stories, beliefs, desires―in short, they have an inner world. Exploring the inner world of suicide bombers has been the focus of Anat Berko's research for years. She has worked to understand the thought processes of a people who can choose to place explosives on their bodies and kill themselves, taking as many other people with them as they can.Do male bombers really believe that death will transport them to a paradise where they will be greeted by virgins? Are they victims of unbearable pressure to commit this act of terror? What are female bombers promised in the hereafter? Is there something that links all suicide bombers? Berko also explores the world of those who drop the smart bomb―the dispatchers: who are these people who persuade others to go calmly to their horrific deaths?

"Healing the split between my mind and my body has been my life's challenge. In the sixty years that I have practiced psychotherapy, I have learned that the pathway to emotional health is through the body. The underlying purpose of Bioenergetic Analysis has always been to heal the mind-body split." - From the Introduction. Alexander Lowen was a teacher, lawyer, medical doctor, psychotherapist, writer, and a pioneer in the fields of body-psychotherapy and psychobiology. His life and work are recorded in this candid autobiography. His work continues to resonate today.

In this practical and supportive guide to self-esteem, Dr. Abraham Twerski explains how most self-defeating behavior stems from a sense of inferiority and that practically no one is immune to its hazards. Through his patients' life stories and the humor of cartoons, Dr. Twerski shows that people are far more capable than they consider themselves to be. His advice comes from his experience in helping over 40,000 patients create better lives. Let Dr. Twerski show you how to: * Recognize the symptoms of low esteem-- such as workaholism, anxiety, and depression-- and how to avoid these emotional pitfalls. * Form groups to create a network of comfort and support. * Identify negative behavior patterns and build the confidence to overcome them. * Defeat the self-image delusions that affect everyone. Life's Too Short offers the solutions to problems of inadequacy, shame, and poor self-image. Dr. Twerski's down-to-earth program and optimistic outlook is essential for anyone who feels that life is too short not to live to its fullest.

Psychology.

Originally published in 1975, these contributions surveyed the range of social intervention technology available to psychologists at the time, but they are more than a simple cataloguing of technology. The stress is on articulating certain metatheoretical assumptions that underlie different strategies of social intervention. For example, assumptions about the personal agency, the nature of social systems, and levels and forms of interpersonal influences are all examined. The implications for the training of psychologists are developed, and specific attention is given to the identity crisis in social psychology precipitated by existing pressures and potentials for change at the time.

A major contribution to the social scientific understanding of how people make sense of their lives, Ideological Dilemmas presents an illuminating new approach to the study of everyday thinking. Contradictory strands abound within both ideology and common sense. In contrast to many modern theorists, the authors see these dilemmas of ideology as enabling, rather than inhibiting: thinking about them helps people to think meaningfully about themselves and the world. The dilemmas within ideology and their effects on thinking are explored through the analysis of what people say in specific key situations: education, medical care, race and gender. The authors identify common ideological themes running through the common-sense discourses they analyse. They highlight the tensions between themes of equality and authority, freedom and necessity, individuality and collectivity. Time and again, the contradictions between these ideological themes crop up as respondents argue and puzzle over their social worlds. Written with refreshing clarity, the discussion cuts across the boundary which often separates sociology from social psychology. Sociologists are reminded that the reproduction of ideology involves individual processes of thinking; social psychologists are urged to recognize the ideological nature of thought.

The tension between Freud's clinical discoveries about the power of human emotions and the theoretical framework in which he embedded these discoveries has been most eloquently detailed by Freud himself. His agoniz ing reappraisal. in 1926, of the libido theory of anxiety is just one example. But, as is usually the case, theoretical difficulties point to gaps in existing knowledge. At the time when Freud made his fundamental discovery that hysterical symptoms (and dreams) were understandable as reflections of for bidden ("strangulated") affect, anthropology was essentially nonexistent as a science. The cultural nature of human beings (our species' unique adaptation to life) could only be adumbrated by Freud (for example, in the myth of Totem and Taboo). As a consequence, the primacy of human attachment emotions in the acculturation process could not be postulated as a theoretical base. What Freud adopted as his base of theorizing was the most forward looking materialist concept of his the Darwinian concept of individual instincts as the driving force in life. Freud assumed that the vicissitudes of in stincts determine the fate of "ideas" in consciousness. Freud's theoretical base thus impelled him to speculate about the origin and fate of ideas instead of about the origin and fate of human emotional connectedness. This book is a small step along the road which should ultimately bring Freud's discoveries into a modem theoretical framework in psychology."

The Psychology of Everyday Living is a book written by Ernest Dichter that explores the various psychological factors that influence human behavior in everyday life. The book is divided into several chapters, each of which focuses on a different aspect of human behavior, such as motivation, perception, learning, and communication.Dichter draws on his extensive experience as a psychologist and market researcher to provide insights into how people make decisions, form opinions, and interact with others. He also examines the role of culture, social norms, and personal experiences in shaping our behavior.Throughout the book, Dichter uses real-world examples and case studies to illustrate his points, making the material accessible and engaging for readers. He also offers practical advice on how to apply these psychological principles to improve communication, marketing, and other aspects of daily life.Overall, The Psychology of Everyday Living is a thought-provoking and informative book that sheds light on the complex psychological processes that underlie our everyday behavior. It is a must-read for anyone interested in understanding human behavior and improving their own interactions with others.This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of the old original and may contain some imperfections such as library marks and notations. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature in affordable, high quality, modern editions, that are true to their original work.

A leading disciple and confidant of Freud, Otto Rank revolutionized the field of psychoanalytic theory in The Trauma of Birth (1924). In this book, Rank proposed that the child's pre-Oedipal relationship to the mother was the prototype of the therapeutic relationship between analyst and patient. Although Rank is now widely acknowledged as the most important precursor of humanistic and existential psychotherapy--influencing such well-known writers as Carl Rogers, Rollo May, and Ernest Becker--Rank's knotty prose has long frustrated readers. In this volume of Rank's lectures, Robert Kramer has brought together for the first time the innovator's clearest explanations of his most influential theories. The lectures were delivered in English to receptive audiences of social workers, therapists, and clinical psychologists throughout the United States from 1924 to 1938, the year before Rank's untimely death. The topics covered include separation and individuation, projection and identification, love and will, relationship therapy, and neurosis as a failure in creativity. The lectures reveal that Rank, much maligned by orthodox analysts, invented the modern object-relations approach to psychotherapy in the 1920s. In his introduction, based on private correspondence between Rank, Freud, and others in the inner circle, Robert Kramer tells the full story of why Rank parted ways with Freud. The collection of lectures constitutes a "readable Rank," filled with insights still relevant today, for those interested in the humanistic, existential, or object- relational aspects of psychotherapy, or in the development of the psychoanalytic movement.

Arguing and Thinking is an entertaining and scholarly exposition of ideas of rhetoric - from Classical times to the nineteenth century - viewed as social psychological theories. It is self-confessedly unorthodox. Social psychologists may probe experimentally the foundations of 'attitude-change' or 'persuasive communication', but in so doing, Michael Billig claims in his Introduction, 'they are continuing to think about the same sort of issues as those which filled the contents of Aristotle's Rhetoric, or Cicero's Orator, or Quintilian's Institutes of Oratory'. He is especially concerned to point out the relations between thinking and arguing, and suggests that the ability to contradict is one of the most important mental faculties. The argumentative aspects of attitudes, commonsense, roles and cognitive processes are discussed as the author himself takes issue with some familiar psychological theories.

In the first edition of A Very Bad Wizard: Morality behind the Curtain - Nine conversations, philosopher Tamler Sommers talked with an interdisciplary group of the world's leading researchers -- from the fields of social psychology, moral philosophy, cognitive science, and primatology - all working on the same issue: the origins and workings of morality. Together, these nine interviews pulled back some of the curtain, not only on our moral lives but - through Sommers' probing, entertaining, and well informed questions - on the way morality traditionally has been studied. This Second Edition increases the subject matter, adding eight additional interviews and offering features that will make A Very Bad Wizard more useful in undergraduate classrooms. These features include structuring all chapters around sections and themes familiar in a course in ethics or moral psychology; providing follow-up podcasts for some of the interviews, which will delve into certain issues from the conversations in a more informal manner; including an expanded and annotated reading list with relevant primary sources at the end of each interview; presenting instructor and student resources online in a companion website. (www.routledge.com/cw/sommers) The resulting new publication promises to synthesize and make accessible the latest interdisciplinary research to offer a brand new way to teach philosophical ethics and moral psychology. -- from back cover

Discover T he Virtue of Inner Strength by renowned self-esteem pioneer Nathaniel Branden, a compelling new work that reinvigorates his foundational insights while introducing a powerful new chapter: Self-Esteem as a Spiritual Discipline. Branden--who authored nearly 20 transformative books, including The Psychology of Self-Esteem and The Six Pillars of Self-Esteem --was among the first psychologists to rigorously define self-esteem as the experience of being competent to cope and worthy of happiness. In this essential new volume, Branden blends his hallmark psychological clarity with a fresh spiritual lens, showing how self-esteem is not only a path to personal wellbeing but also a deeper quest of consciousness and integrity. In The Virtue of Inner Strength, you'll: Learn why self-esteem is your most important right--and how defending it is essential for genuine happiness. Understand Branden's classic insight: "Self-esteem is the reputation you get with yourself," developed through competent, confident, courageous action--while misguided actions chip away at your inner strength. Explore his practical self-esteem methods--living consciously, accepting responsibility, integrity, purposefulness, assertiveness, and self acceptance--each building deep psychological resilience. The benefits for the reader: A renewed sense of personal agency: build trust in your mind and expand confidence that you deserve success, love, and fulfillment. Emotional resilience: confront self-doubt, face fears, and channel discomfort as fuel for personal growth. Spiritual clarity: deepen your connection to reality and develop a consciousness rooted in truth, purpose, and integrity. Life affirming habits: cultivate lifelong practices--living consciously, self-responsibly, and with integrity--that protect your inner strength even when challenged. Holistic balance: integrate psychological insight with spiritual discipline to emerge as a whole, self-empowered person. New in this edition: Self-Esteem as a Spiritual Discipline Branden elevates self-esteem from a psychological need to a spiritual practice --a disciplined way of orienting your awareness, truthfulness, and personal integrity. You'll discover: How self-esteem differs from fleeting self-image--a deep container for your thoughts, feelings, and responses. * Why self-esteem is more than "feel good"; when grounded in reality and built through the "six pillars," it transforms into a spiritual achievement. “/li> In a culture that often confuses self-esteem with vanity or entitlement, Branden's work stands firm: true self-esteem is earned, grounded, and crucial for navigating life's complexities. The Virtue of Inner Strength is your comprehensive guide to building an unshakable foundation of inner power--both practical and profound--rooted in psychological insight and spiritual depth.