Man and woman are the persuading animals. There is no overriding issue more important in most people's daily life, life's pleasures and all of political matters than persuasion. Many, if not most, matters are wholly related to persuasion, defined in this work on the Agenda-Spin theory, as the struggle of people to determine for their chosen audiences: 1. What we talk about and 2. What it means. Persuasion is not the only determinant in life, and there are some matters mostly outside of per...

Studies of Communication in the 2020 Presidential Campaign explores a wide range of communication elements, themes, and topics of the 2020 presidential election. The introduction provides a brief snapshot summarizing the role of more traditional elements of campaign communication as well as the newer elements of social media and journalistic practices that transformed the political landscape in 2020. Each chapter serves as a stand-alone study focusing on the role and function of c...

As it entered the 1960s, American institutional psychiatry was thriving, with a high percentage of medical students choosing the field. But after Thomas S. Szasz published his masterwork in 1961, The Myth of Mental Illness, the psychiatric world was thrown into chaos.Szasz enlightened the world about what he called the “myth of mental illness.” His point was not that no one is mentally ill, or that people labeled as mentally ill do not exist. Instead he believed that diagnosing peo...

**In this landmark work, a preeminent scholar establishes a revolutionary model for understanding and treating trauma survivors“One of the most important psychiatric works to be published since Freud.” ―New York Times**Trauma and Recovery is the foundational text on understanding trauma survivors. By placing individual experience in a political frame, psychiatrist Judith L. Herman argues that psychological trauma is inseparable from its social and politica...

Do religious experiences come from God, or are they merely the random firing of neurons in the brain? Drawing on his own research with Carmelite nuns, neuroscientist Mario Beauregard shows that genuine, life-changing spiritual events can be documented. He offers compelling evidence that religious experiences have a nonmaterial origin, making a convincing case for what many in scientific fields are loath to consider—that it is God who creates our spiritual experiences, not the brain.

“The landmark book that argued that psychiatry consistently expands its definition of mental illness to impose its authority over moral and cultural conflict.” — New York TimesThe 50th anniversary edition of the most influential critique of psychiatry every written, with a new preface on the age of Prozac and Ritalin and the rise of designer drugs, plus two bonus essays.Thomas Szasz's classic book revolutionized thinking about the ...

Socrates, Plato, Descartes, Spinoza, Mesmer, William James, Pavlov, Freud, Piaget, Erikson, and Skinner. Each of these thinkers recognized that human beings could examine, comprehend, and eventually guide or influence their own thought processes, emotions, and resulting behavior. The lives and accomplishments of these pillars of psychology, expertly assembled by Morton Hunt, are set against the times in which the subjects lived. Hunt skillfully presents dramatic and lucid accounts of the t...

Throughout history, humans have attempted to influence and control the thoughts of others. Since the word 'brainwashing' was coined in the aftermath of the Korean War, it has become part of the popular culture and been exploited to create sensational headlines. It has also been the subject of learned discussion from many disciplines: including history, sociology, psychology, and psychotherapy. But until now, a crucial part of the debate has been missing: that of any serious reference to th...

In our current era of holy terror, passionate faith has come to seem like a present danger. Writers such as Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris, and Christopher Hitchens have been happy to throw the baby out with the bathwater and declare that the danger is in religion itself. God, Hitchens writes, is not great.But man, according to George E. Vaillant, M.D., is great. In Spiritual Evolution, Dr. Vaillant lays out a brilliant defense not of organized religion but of man’s ...

From the New York Times–bestselling author: "Each chapter . . . offers a window on a different intersection of psychiatry and spirituality" (New Age).In Saints and Madmen, bestselling author Russell Shorto explains how modern science is beginning to reconcile centuries of religious experiences with current psychiatric theories. Psychotic patients sometimes believe they're developing mystical powers, speaking to animals or conversing with God durin...

In line with the British Psychological Society's recent recommendations for teaching the history of psychology, this comprehensive undergraduate textbook emphasizes the philosophical, cultural and social elements that influenced psychology's development. The authors demonstrate that psychology is both a human (i.e. psychoanalytic or phenomenological) and natural (i.e. cognitive) science, exploring broad social-historical and philosophical themes such as the role of diverse cultures and wom...

The Szasz Quotationary is a collection of excerpts and aphorisms from the writings of Thomas Szasz organized in 50 chapters arranged alphabetically by subject. For more than 60 years, Szasz has exposed the deceptive and coercive nature of the history, ideology and practice of psychiatry, calling mental illness “a myth,” involuntary commitment and treatment “a crime against humanity” and the insanity defense “incompatible with the principles of a free society.” His scathing critique of psyc...