- Paperback: 448 pages
- Publisher: Da Capo Press Inc (10 Sep 1996)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0201441926
- ISBN-13: 978-0201441925
- Product Dimensions: 22.8 x 16.2 x 2.4 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 648,697 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- See Complete Table of Contents
| |||||||||||||||
 Trade In this Item for up to £3.15
Get an extra £5 when you trade in books worth £10 or more until June 30, 2012. Trade in Constructing the Self, Constructing America: A Cultural History of Psychotherapy for an Amazon.co.uk gift card of up to £3.15, which you can then spend on millions of items across the site. Trade-in values may vary (terms apply). Find more products eligible for trade-in.
|
Product details |
More About the Author
Product Description
Product Description
In this ground-breaking cultural history of psychotherapy, historian and psychologist Philip Cushman shows how the development of modern psychotherapy is inextricably intertwined with that of the United States and how it has changed the way Americans view events and themselves. By tracing our various definitions of the self throughout history, Cushman reveals that psychotherapy is very much a product of a particular time and placeand that it has been fundamentally complicit in creating many of the ills it seeks to assuage.
Inside This Book
(Learn More)
First Sentence
We take psychotherapy for granted today. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
We take psychotherapy for granted today. Read the first page
Explore More
Concordance
Browse Sample PagesConcordance
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
Tag this product(What's this?)Think of a tag as a keyword or label you consider is strongly related to this product.
Tags will help all customers organise and find favourite items. |
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store.
Learn more
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I use this book as part of my "Politics of Psychology" course at Antioch University Los Angeles. Cushman provides a wonderfully idiosyncratic reading of the development of the discipline and practice of Psychology in the United States. Using a social constructionist lens he presents a strong argument intent on demonstrating the various ways in which economic, political and cultural concerns gave shape to the contemporary practice of psychology. Cushman's work is puncuated with interesting stories told in his warm and enriching style, but it also provides careful argument and analysis along the way.
1 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
An ever expanding literature exists, critical of the role of counselling and psychotherapy in contemporary capitalist societies. In 'Constructing the Self, Constructing America' Philip Cushman makes an erudite and novel contribution to this critique through a cultural history that charts the emergence of psychotherapy in modern America. If history is concerned with making an argument based on an interpretation of the evidence, Cushman's argument is compelling. It is that the values, assumptions and eventual hegemony of American individualism and capitalism are responsible for unacceptable levels of socially induced misery. In response, psychotherapy emerged as a culturally determined healing profession, designed to treat the misery, and indirectly maintain a damaging status quo by screening out the historical, moral and political dimensions of anguish and despair.
Philip Cushman's scholarship in history, philosophy, psychology and psychotherapy combined with his eloquence and deep humanity make this an accessible and engaging read. Indeed, all psychotherapists should read this book - but they wont. It's argument is too persuasive; its truth too difficult to contest. My only criticism is its recommendation of yet another approach to psychotherapy, this one grounded on hermeneutics. Capitalism has already dug a very deep hole for humanity, aided and abetted by the existence of psychological therapies. However informative hermeneutics may be Dr. Cushman, when you're in a hole you really do have to stop digging - and start learning how to make ladders, through the creation of a culture of care.
Chris Willoughby. Letchworth Garden City, UK.
Philip Cushman's scholarship in history, philosophy, psychology and psychotherapy combined with his eloquence and deep humanity make this an accessible and engaging read. Indeed, all psychotherapists should read this book - but they wont. It's argument is too persuasive; its truth too difficult to contest. My only criticism is its recommendation of yet another approach to psychotherapy, this one grounded on hermeneutics. Capitalism has already dug a very deep hole for humanity, aided and abetted by the existence of psychological therapies. However informative hermeneutics may be Dr. Cushman, when you're in a hole you really do have to stop digging - and start learning how to make ladders, through the creation of a culture of care.
Chris Willoughby. Letchworth Garden City, UK.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
6 reviews
21 of 21 people found the following review helpful
An overlooked masterpiece
10 Aug 2003
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
This book looks at American cultural history since the Civil War through the prism of historical changes in the field of psychotherapy--and at the same time puts psychotherapy in a historical context. It's simply the best cultural history of the US I've ever read. It traces the threads--primarily unbridled capitalism, rugged individualism, and the decline of the family and community--that have left us with the "empty self" which so many suffer from today. That is, a self that is depressed, anxious, psychosomatic, addicted--desperate to be filled up, by consumer goods, by peak experiences, by celebrity, by psychotherapy--without recognizing how much of our suffering comes from social change.
14 of 14 people found the following review helpful
The thread of self is woven into psychology and history
13 Aug 2002
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
This is a fun and informative description of how history and psychology have influenced each other, resulting in a sense of self that shapes and is shaped by our culture. Many psychological approaches end up in navel gazing introversion. Cushman dispenses with these and paints a clear picture of history and psychology dancing together in an embrace that allows the self to be both a cultural artifact and a culture shaper. Ideas can change the world and Cushman's book is full of ideas that have changed history, for better or for worse. The combination of academic rigor, interesting anecdotal evidence and plain funny material are rare in a single volume. If you are tired of the standard psychological introspection, try this one for a refreshing perspective on the dynamics of history, culture and the self.
12 of 12 people found the following review helpful
Why is this not manditory reading for psychology?
14 Mar 2005
Format:Paperback
A fascinating, entertaining book. I cannot recommend Cushman highly enough! It is truly disappointing that book has been overlooked by the discipline of psychology. However, the reasons it has been are obvious once you read it. Cushman details how psychology ignores its basic assumptions (e.g., about the self, the nature of understanding) and consequently perpetuates the problems it seeks to allieviate. This is a central point -- psychology is elevating a notion of self (i.e., the empty self) that is only filled by psychotherapy, not "cured". For those who are willing to reflect on how the profession is influenced by moral presuppositions, and political and economic factors - this is a must read. Moreover - Cushman offers solutions. For those who know of this book -- it is a hidden classic.
Were these reviews helpful?
Let us know
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
- Books > Health, Family & Lifestyle > Psychology & Psychiatry > Applied Psychology > Psychotherapy
- Books > Health, Family & Lifestyle > Psychology & Psychiatry > History & Philosophy > History
- Books > Health, Family & Lifestyle > Psychology & Psychiatry > Specific Topics > Mental Health & Illness
- Books > History > Cultural History
- Books > History > Other Historical Subjects > History of Medicine
- Books > Science & Nature > Medicine > Diseases & Disorders > Mental Diseases & Disorders
- Books > Science & Nature > Reference > Psychology & Psychiatry
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
|
