This unique work looks at the relationship between psychopathology and world politics. What happens when the brain/mind ceases to function properly? How does this impinge on world affairs? What is to be done, for example, when a leader ceases to act in a seemingly sane fashion and yet still commands the loyalty of those who maintain him or her in office? What is to be done when a leader's advisers seem rational but are clearly not? Indeed, what is to be done when a whole society goes insane? This is to raise more questions than a single work can adequately answer.In lieu of a comprehensive account, which would be beyond the scope of one study, what this book does is first describe psychopathology in general terms and its relationship to world affairs. It then looks at denial in particular and at ?speaking the truth? as a potentially therapeutic antidote, especially in relation to nuclear weapons. It follows this by looking at delusion in general and at what being ?in touch? with reality might entail with regard to a so-called ?failed state?. With topics ranging from Hitler's mental health to the continuing threat of nuclear Armageddon, this book is a valuable contribution to the field of international politics and modern psychology, and will hopefully lead to a better understanding of contemporary world affairs and the global issue of conflict resolution.

This unique work looks at the relationship between psychopathology and world politics. What happens when the brain/mind ceases to function properly? How does this impinge on world affairs? What is to be done, for example, when a leader ceases to act in a seemingly sane fashion and yet still commands the loyalty of those who maintain him or her in office? What is to be done when a leader''s advisers seem rational but are clearly not? Indeed, what is to be done when a whole society goes insane? This is to raise more questions than a single work can adequately answer. In lieu of a comprehensive account, which would be beyond the scope of one study, what this book does is first describe psychopathology in general terms and its relationship to world affairs. It then looks at denial in particular and at OC speaking the truthOCO as a potentially therapeutic antidote, especially in relation to nuclear weapons. It follows this by looking at delusion in general and at what being OC in touchOCO with reality might entail with regard to a so-called OC failed stateOCO. With topics ranging from Hitler''s mental health to the continuing threat of nuclear Armageddon, this book is a valuable contribution to the field of international politics and modern psychology, and will hopefully lead to a better understanding of contemporary world affairs and the global issue of conflict resolution.

Psychopathology and Politics by Harold D. Lasswell is a study of personality types as they relate to politicians, business leaders, and church officials. First published in 1930, the work applies the concepts of clinical psychology to the future prediction and prevention of societal and political conflict. Born in 1902 to a schoolteacher mother and clergyman father, Lasswell was devoted to scholarship and philosophy from a young age. He dedicated his life to studying, teaching, and writing about the intersection of political science, psychology, and sociology. Lasswell received his Ph.D. from the University of Chicago in 1926. His dissertation, Propaganda Technique in the World War, analyzed the various government "information" campaigns of WWI. This expertise in propaganda would later lead to Lasswell's appointment as Chief of the Experimental Division for the Study of War Time Communications at the Library of Congress during WWII. His role was to review and evaluate Nazi propaganda films to understand how their persuasion methods earned the Nazis the support of the German people. Upon completing his Ph.D., Lasswell became an Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of Chicago. Shortly after, he began work on Psychopathology and Politics, the first of over 30 books he would write over the next 45 years. The book argues that we must have insight into the hidden motivations and impulses of societal leaders in order to channel the desire to lead into healthy expression. Lasswell uses case studies to explore how early experiences inform the opinions that leaders hold later in life. As an example, we follow the preacher "A" through his childhood, youth, and adulthood. We learn about A's intense competition with his brother for their father's affection in childhood. And we're told that this is the cause of A's support for socialism. Looking after one's "brother" is compensation for his own fraternal dislike. Instead of relying on politicians to resolve conflict, Lasswell argues that it should be the purview of political psychologists to prevent it altogether by "reducing the strain and maladaptation in society." The "politics of prevention," he theorized, would require intense auditing of the effects of politics upon the politicians. For example, "When a judge has been on the bench thirty years, what manner of man has he become? When an agitator has been agitating for thirty years, what has happened to him?" After WWII, Lasswell became a Professor of Law and Political Science at Yale Law School and served as the President of the American Political Science Association and continued to write dozens of books and hundreds of scholarly articles. In one of these works, he pioneered the "five-questions model of communication." Also known as the Lasswell Communication Model, it requires identifying and analyzing each of the following five questions: Who (says) What (to) Whom (in) What Channel (with) What Effect This model is still in use in the studies of communication and public relations. Lasswell's works are still studied today. After his death in 1978, political scientist Gabriel Almond said that Lasswell "ranked among the half dozen creative innovators in the social sciences in the twentieth century."

Breathing fresh air into debates surrounding foreign policy and interstate relations, Bianca Naude presents a holistic theory of states as collectives of people that cannot be reduced to their individual constituents. Moving among current research on the ontological status of the state alongside important arguments in support of the state personhood thesis, Naude begins by exploring Freud’s personality theory and the ways in which this theory has evolved over time in response to newer insights from the field of experimental psychology. Recognizing that Freud’s work is in many ways outdated, she considers more recent literature on narcissism as an aspect of self-esteem rather than a form of psychopathology, drawing specifically on Kohut’s expansion of the concept of narcissism as a normal feature of personality development. Using the South African state as a case study, Naude demonstrates the various ways in which the state presents itself to the outside world on the one hand, and how it wishes to see itself on the other. She further considers how narcissistic defenses help protect the state's ego from criticism and self-judgments. Revisiting State Personhood and World Politics will help readers understand how the state sees itself, why or when the state experiences shame, humiliation, guilt or pride, and how it responds to these self-conscious emotions. It will be a valuable resource to researchers and students of International Relations.

This edited volume brings together some of the most prominent scholars in the fields of theoretical, critical, and political psychology to examine crisis phenomena. The book investigates the role of psychology as a science in times of crisis, discusses how socio-political change affects the discipline and profession, and renders psychological interventions as forms of political action. The authors examine how notions of crisis and the interpretation of crisis scenarios are heavily intertwined with governmental and state interests. Seeking to disentangle individual subjectivity, subjectification, and science as forms of politics, the volume works toward an explicit goal to decolonize psychology. The chapters elaborate on the importance of the psychological sciences in times of crisis and the role of psychologists as practitioners. Ultimately, the diverse contributions underline the connection of scientific theory, practice, and politics. Interdisciplinary in scope and wide-ranging in its perspectives, this timely work will appeal to students and scholars of theoretical and political psychology, critical psychology, and cultural studies.

Psychopathology is the study of the signs and symptoms of psychiatric disorders - delusions, hallucinations, phobias, depression, for example. This book gives an account of the terms currently in use and attempts an in-depth analysis of the nature of each. The matter is examined both from a philosophical perspective and from the point of view of what is known about the function of the hemispheres of the brain.

The emerging field of ‘psychoanalytic political theory’ has now reached a stage in its development and rapid evolution that deserves to be registered, systematically defined and critically evaluated. This Handbook provides the first reference volume which showcases the current state of psychoanalytic political theory, maps the genealogy of its development, identifies its conceptual and methodological resources and highlights its analytical innovations as well as its critical promise. The Handbook consists of 35 chapters offering original, comprehensive and critical reviews of this field of study. The chapters are divided into five thematic sections: Figures discusses the work of major psychoanalytic theorists who have influenced considerably the development of psychoanalytic political theory. Traditions genealogically recounts and critically reassesses the many attempts throughout the 20th century of experimenting with the articulation between psychoanalysis and political theory in a consistent way. Concepts asks what are the concepts that psychoanalysis offers for appropriation by political theory. Themes presents concrete examples of the ways in which psychoanalytic political theory can be productively applied in the analysis of racism, gender, nationalism, consumerism, etc. Challenges/Controversies captures the ways in which psychoanalytic political theory can lead the way towards theoretical and analytical innovation in many disciplinary fields dealing with cutting-edge issues. The Routledge Handbook of Psychoanalytic Political Theory will serve as scholarly reference volume for all students and researchers studying political theory, psychoanalysis, and the history of ideas.

A philosophical account of the structure of experience and how it depends on interpersonal relations, developed through a study of auditory verbal hallucinations and thought insertion. In Real Hallucinations, Matthew Ratcliffe offers a philosophical examination of the structure of human experience, its vulnerability to disruption, and how it is shaped by relations with other people. He focuses on the seemingly simple question of how we manage to distinguish among our experiences of perceiving, remembering, imagining, and thinking. To answer this question, he first develops a detailed analysis of auditory verbal hallucinations (usually defined as hearing a voice in the absence of a speaker) and thought insertion (somehow experiencing one's own thoughts as someone else's). He shows how thought insertion and many of those experiences labeled as “hallucinations” consist of disturbances in a person's sense of being in one type of intentional state rather than another. Ratcliffe goes on to argue that such experiences occur against a backdrop of less pronounced but wider-ranging alterations in the structure of intentionality. In so doing, he considers forms of experience associated with trauma, schizophrenia, and profound grief. The overall position arrived at is that experience has an essentially temporal structure, involving patterns of anticipation and fulfillment that are specific to types of intentional states and serve to distinguish them phenomenologically. Disturbances of this structure can lead to various kinds of anomalous experience. Importantly, anticipation-fulfillment patterns are sustained, regulated, and disrupted by interpersonal experience and interaction. It follows that the integrity of human experience, including the most basic sense of self, is inseparable from how we relate to other people and to the social world as a whole.

This forward-thinking volume grapples with critical questions surrounding the mechanisms underlying mental disorders and the systems used for classifying them. Edited and written by leading international authorities, many of whom are actively involved with the development of DSM-V and ICD-11, the book integrates biological and psychosocial perspectives. It provides balanced analyses of such issues as the role of social context and culture in psychopathology and the pros and cons of categorical versus dimensional approaches to diagnosis. Cutting-edge diagnostic instruments and research methods are reviewed. Throughout, contributors highlight the implications of current theoretical and empirical advances for understanding real-world clinical problems and developing more effective treatments.

The first edition of Comprehensive Handbook of Psychopathology was published in 1984, al most a decade ago. In the interim there has been an explosion of information in psychopathology. Proliferation of knowledge has included a widening base of research data and changing or new concepts and theories regarding classification, measurement methods, and etiology of abnormal behaviors and mental disorders. It has been an active and productive period for biological and behavioral scientists and clinicians, particularly in terms of changing notions of the complex interaction of environmental and biological factors in many disorders. For example, with the classic disorders-such as anxiety and dissociative disorders-our understanding, while far from perfect, has been greatly enhanced in recent years. Whereas there was almost a vacuum of empirical knowledge ten years ago about the personality disorders, concentrated efforts have been undertaken to investigate classification, comorbidities, and expression of the personality disorders, and variants in normal personality traits. In addition, scientific advances in the fields of behavioral medicine, health psychology, and neuropsychology have greatly contributed to our knowledge of psychopathology and the interplay of psychobiological factors. It is now commonly acknowledged that psychopathology is not limited to the traditional mental illness categories; it also plays a significant role in many physical illnesses, such as cancer and AIDS. With these developments, it became clear that the first edition of this handbook was outdated and that a revision was needed.