An illuminating cultural history.
Grogan reveals the seminal, but frequently overlooked, influence of the postwar humanistic psychology movement in creating what is sometimes described as today's “therapy culture,” which includes employee retreats, seminars on sensitivity training, the proliferation of support groups and more.
The author traces the movement back to the enhanced role of psychologists during and after World War II, when they worked with the military to profile recruits and deal with problems faced by veterans. They were unwilling to take a back seat to Freudian psychoanalysts, who dominated the practice of psychotherapy, and the empirical behaviorists, who were hegemonic in academic psychology. Pioneers in the field of humanist psychology, such as Abraham Maslow, advocated an alternative approach that was “oriented around ideas of personal growth and the infusion of values” into therapy. Grogan shows how the perception of alienation in the social climate of the 1950s, as exemplified by David Riesman's widely read The Lonely Crowd, supported their critique. At the same time, Carl Rogers revolutionized the practice of nondirective therapy by engaging in a dialogue with patients that emphasized their ability to achieve personal growth. The influence of the movement was enhanced in the ’60s when humanist psychologists initially joined Timothy Leary in endorsing the use of LSD, the encounter-group therapy practiced in California's Esalen Institute, meditation and spiritual practices as valid avenues for self-actualization. The women's liberation movement also owes a debt to humanist psychologists, who pioneered techniques such as consciousness-raising—although Maslow expressed doubts about their goals.
An illuminating cultural history.Pub Date: Jan. 1, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-06-183476-9
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Perennial/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Oct. 21, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2012
A well-aimed blast at the recovered memory movement that exposes the roots of false memory syndrome and the reasons for the acceptance and persistence of the phenomenon. Wassil-Grimm, a writer and media commentator on family psychology (How To Avoid Your Parent's Mistakes When You Raise Your Children, not reviewed) outlines the dispute between those who believe claims that forgotten memories of childhood sexual abuse can be recovered and those who reject claims of such recovered memories as false. She effectively demolishes the arguments, especially the statistics, of the believers, and urges all therapists to look critically at their assumptions and methods. Wassil-Grimm has mastered the exposÇ and self-help formulas, that is, she writes clearly, includes lots of case studies loaded with human interest to reinforce her arguments, and hammers them home by ending each chapter with a concise summary of the points made in it. There are helpful lists of tips for therapists, for those in or seeking therapy, and for the families of those falsely accused of sexual abuse. Throughout the book she raises the question of why anyone would believe they'd been sexually abused by a parent if it were not true, and each time she returns to the question she provides an additional answer. Thus she is able to conclude with a list of 16 persuasive explanations. Two related phenomena—the willingness of many therapists to believe quite fantastic reports of recovered memories of satanic ritual abuse and the startling increase in reports by therapists of patients with multiple personality disorder (considered a psychological defense against abuse)—come under Wassil-Grimm's skeptical eye. This is a welcome addition to recent literature on the subject (see Making Monsters, p. 1105, and The Myth of Repressed Memory, p. 908). Strongly recommended. Succeeds both as an exposÇ of a dangerous fad and as a survival guide for its victims.
Pub Date: Feb. 20, 1995
ISBN: 0-87951-572-4
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Overlook
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 1994
A harrowing first-person, semi-fictionalized memoir of the inner life of a paranoid schizophrenic, written while its young author was in jail, mental hospitals, and halfway houses. Burke (195385) committed suicide just after completing this book, leaving a note requesting that Gates, his psychology professor at the University of New England (Australia) publish it along with a factual description of schizophrenia. Gates collaborated with Hammond, a writer and researcher at the same university, in tracing the facts of Burke's life, which are sketched in an introduction; in providing explanatory notes throughout Burke's work; and in writing a brief concluding essay on what is currently known about schizophrenia. Sandwiched between these accounts is Burke's own wild and fantastical account. It opens with a warning to readers that ``this book was written by a drug-induced alcoholic psychopathic paranoid schizophrenic with manic depression... [who] is not sure of the truth.'' In the beginning, Sphere (the author's name for himself) and his hippie companions experiment with hallucinogenic mushrooms, alcohol, and other drugs. His vivid descriptions of these experiences gradually blend into graphic accounts of his schizophrenic delusions, leaving the reader confused about what is happening in the real world and what is in the author's terribly sick mind. There's no confusion about the one point, however, which is that life for a paranoid schizophrenic is, as Burke puts it, a ``living hell.'' Burke told his psycniatrist that he was the Antichrist; he robbed a bank, believing he had been so ordered by a transmitter in his tooth. That the author chose to end his life rather than endure this hell becomes completely understandable. Researchers may continue to ponder the possible causes, forms, and treatments of schizophrenia, but in this book they have unmistakable proof of its terrors. An unforgettable picture of a soul in torment.
Pub Date: Jan. 11, 1995
ISBN: 0-465-09141-5
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Basic Books
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 1994
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