First used to describe the weariness the public felt toward media portrayals of societal crises, the term compassion fatigue has been taken up by health professionals to name—along with burnout, vicarious traumatization, compassion stress, and secondary traumatic stress—the condition of caregivers who become “too tired to care.” Compassion, long seen as the foundation of ethical caring, is increasingly understood as a threat to the well-being of...

From the New York Times bestselling author of The End of Faith, a thought-provoking, “brilliant and witty” (Oliver Sacks) look at the notion of free will—and the implications that it is an illusion.A belief in free will touches nearly everything that human beings value. It is difficult to think about law, politics, religion, public policy, intimate relationships, morality—as well as feelings of remorse or personal achievement—without first imagini...

A leading cognitive scientist argues that a deep sense of good and evil is bred in the bone.From John Locke to Sigmund Freud, philosophers and psychologists have long believed that we begin life as blank moral slates. Many of us take for granted that babies are born selfish and that it is the role of society—and especially parents—to transform them from little sociopaths into civilized beings. In Just Babies, Paul Bloom argues that humans are in fact hardw...

A scientific exploration that "incisively and compassionately highlights the extraordinary range of mental capabilities of even the youngest child" ( Salon ).For most of us, having a baby is the most profound, intense, and fascinating experience of our lives. Now scientists and philosophers are starting to appreciate babies, too. The last decade has witnessed a revolution in our understanding of infants and young children....

A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOKHow much credit do parents deserve when their children turn out welt? How much blame when they turn out badly? Judith Rich Harris has a message that will change parents' lives: The "nurture assumption" -- the belief that what makes children turn out the way they do, aside from their genes, is the way their parents bring them up -- is nothing more than a cultural myth. This electrifying book explodes some of our unquestioned bel...

Learning To Sing is a thoughtful and thought-provoking discussion of the principles of voice coach and counselor Jennifer Hamady's innovative teaching method. In this succinct work, Jennifer provides an academic look at the psychology, physiology, and neuroscience of the concepts presented in her book "The Art of Singing: Discovering and Developing Your True Voice", further revealing the 'how' and 'why' of her method's effectiveness. Following an overview of the common roles of the intelle...

Manic behavior holds an undeniable fascination in American culture today. It fuels the plots of best-selling novels and the imagery of MTV videos, is acknowledged as the driving force for successful entrepreneurs like Ted Turner, and is celebrated as the source of the creativity of artists like Vincent Van Gogh and movie stars like Robin Williams. Bipolar Expeditions seeks to understand mania's appeal and how it weighs on the lives of Americans diagnosed with manic depression....

Case study research is valuable because of its contribution to theory. Without reference to theory, case studies provide anecdotal information. In other words, case studies only have value in relationship to currently held understandings and practices. In this article, I discuss key ideas in the conduct of case study research and show how difficult case study research is. Researchers must have superior conceptual skills. They must be able to apply concepts and hypotheses to particular situ...

John D. Mayer, the renowned psychologist who co-developed the groundbreaking theory of emotional intelligence, now draws on decades of cognitive psychology research to introduce another paradigm-shifting idea: that in order to become our best selves, we use an even broader intelligence—which he calls personal intelligence—to understand our own personality and the personalities of the people around us.In Personal Intelligence, Mayer explains that we are naturally curious abo...

This book builds on two current developments in psychology scholarship and practice. The first centers on broad discontent with the individualist tradition in which the rational agent, or autonomous self, is considered the fundamental atom of social life. Critique of individualism spring not only from psychologists working in the academy, but also from communities of therapy and counseling. The second, and related development from which this work builds, is the search for alternatives to i...

The author, working from the Family Institute in Cardiff, has been treating adult survivors of child sexual and physical abuse for several years, and she has clearly and frankly described her work in this book. She begins be describing the context for working with her clients; then describes the way she has welded systemic thinking and a feminist perspective into a theoretical model she uses to understand the problem and to guide her own work with the survivors. The descriptions of the the...

Courage refers to the willingness for risk taking and to move ahead in the presence of difficulties. The purpose of this book is to present courage as the main foundation of understanding and training for mental health in the three life task areas described by Adler: Work, Love, and Friendship. It explores the meaning of each life task and problems of fear, compensation, or evasion, as well as Adlerian insight on socially useful attitudes of approaching the task under discussion. Socratic ...