Social Amnesia: A Critique of Contemporary Psychology

Product Description

This series acknowledges the substantial gap that still exists in psychiatry between research evidence and clinical practice: clinicians are sometimes incompletely aware of research findings, or regard them as biased, not convincing or not relevant to their practice. By using systematic reviews with accompanying commentaries this volume is able to assess the "evidence" and "experiences" to give a critical and objective account of the relevant issues, while focusing on key topics. This comprehensive book addresses schizophrenia through a systematic review of the available rearch evidence.

This book "...was a pleasure to review. One can dip in and out of it at random to find an important aspect of schizophrenia summarised in a few paragraphs. The reviews are all well written, balanced and up-to-date. It is designed for an international readership, and come commentaries, such as those on continental concepts of schizophrenia, or experience of stigma in the less industrialised world, are rarely found together in one volume." —British Journal of Psychiatry, 2001
Product Details

* Amazon Sales Rank: #448762 in Books
* Published on: 2003-02-21
* Number of items: 1
* Binding: Paperback
* 514 pages

Editorial Reviews

Download Description
"Be Guided by the Evidence. In this new edition of the second volume in the WPA Series, Evidence and Experience in Psychiatry, focuses on the controversial issues surrounding schizophrenia. By using systematic reviews with accompanying commentaries this volume is able to assess the 'evidence' and 'experience' to give a critical and objective account of the relevant issues, while focusing on key topics, such as diagnosis and prevention of disability and stigma. This revised and updated volume provides: The best available evidence to enable well-informed clinical decision making Valuable insights from some of the world's leading experts in the field of schizophrenia Coherent description and discussion of the relevant issues. This new edition will be a vital source of information for psychiatrists, psychologists, mental health nurses, managers and policy makers. "


Product Details

* Amazon Sales Rank: #996653 in Books
* Published on: 1997-01-01
* Number of items: 1
* Binding: Paperback
* 191 pages

Customer Reviews

Analysis in it's finest hour4
This is one of the most insightful works on Psychology that I've ever read. His 'critique' is insightful but I found the book more edifying when he expounds on the relation between subjectivity and objectivism concomitant with his Marxian analysis on reification and the 'false' societal interactions as a corollary. I recommend Joel Korvel's work 'A Complete Guide to Therapy - From Behavior Modification to Psychoanalysis' as well.

them is fightin' words....4
...and Jacoby holds none of them back when it comes to disembowling humanistic psychology, especially its neo- and post-Freudian fronts with their annoying Allportian optimism and their "cult of subjectivity."

There are books that seem to have been written in one long bad mood, and this is one of them. Whether the mood is justified is another matter. In this case, it would seem so. Jacoby presents convincing examples of how thoroughly the psychologies he discusses sell themselves out to the economic and political machinery of civilization--while regarding themselves as tools of "authenticity," "awakening," "sensitivity," and "self-realization."

One example: by insisting on these nice goals in the face of, say, corporate takeovers, the implication is that the pain people feel is entirely subjective. By focusing on finding "meaning" and a "new attitude" in the face of societally inflicted adversity, psychologists do their part in making that adversity seem like business as usual rather than a form of injustice that ought to be protested. (Compare this with Martin-Baro's insight that plenty of psychological pain is actually psychosocial rather than individual.)

Fromm, Maslow, and Rogers get a particularly bad beating, and perhaps their counter-phobic and regressive cheeriness deserves it. Nevertheless, it's painful to see such pummelings inflicted on these men. I can see using sarcasm and irony on, say, the get-rich-and-grow notions of a Deepak Chopra. Salesmen like him are asking for it. The same with all these "we make our reality" New Agers whose mania is matched only by their denial. But Abe Maslow?

In his desire to unmask the humanists and neoanalysts as hypocrites and philosophical dilettantes, Jacoby says next to nothing about their accomplishments--Karen Horney's modification of Freud's useless theory of women, Fromm's illumination of the flight from freedom, etc. Nor about Freud's shortcomings, his reductionism in particular. The word doesn't even appear in the index. Cutting criticism serves a useful purpose, but this verges on throwing out the baby with the bathwater.

Even so, Jacoby's concise, forcible, organized prose is a pleasure to read, even when one flinches at a particularly scathing observation.

still the best4
Jacoby's critique of Neofreudian psychology is still the best there is. With the kind of relentless critical thinking so characteristic of the Frankfurt school, in which Jacoby is deeply schooled, this book is at once penetrating and witty on almost every page. I'm rather shocked by the fact that he's almost always right. An astonishingly original book.
Book Info
Univ. of Naples, Italy. Focuses on the controversial issues surrounding schizophrenia. Discusses pharmacological treatments, psychotherapies, and spectrum disorders. Addresses the prevention of disability and the stigma and economics of schizophrenia. For psychiatrists. Previous edition: c1999. Softcover.

The publisher, John Wiley & Sons
Provides those working in the mental health sector with information that can be helpful in making decisions that are clinically sensitive, economically feasible and socially acceptable. This volume is extremely timely in view of the current problems with mental health care and the funding for treatment of such long term illnesses as schizophrenia.