By looking at the interactions between cinema and psychology, Packer offers readers clear and basic insights into some of the most fundamental reasons why film is such an important influence upon our lives today. Movies and the Modern Psyche first describes the basic concepts of psychoanalysis, experimental psychology, behavioral conditioning, and hypnosis, which have all played major roles in the histories of both film and psychiatry. It then goes on to discuss the recent rise in film therapy, drug treatments, treatment for drug abuse, and the closing of asylums, to show how shifts in treatment techniques, theories, and settings are foreshadowed and fossilized by film. Psychology and cinema are kindred cousins, born at the same time and developing together, so that each influences the other. From the mind-controlling villains that occupy early horror films and Cold War thrillers (like Caligari, Mabuse, and The Ipcress File), to the asylums that house numberless political allegories and personal dramas (in Shock Corridor, Spellbound, One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest, and Girl Interrupted), to the drugs, phobias, and disorders that pervade so many of our favorite films (including, as a small sample, Vertigo, Night of the Hunter, Psycho, Rainman, Fight Club, Requiem for a Dream, and Batman Begins), there is no escaping either psychology in the movies, or the movies in psychology. By looking at the interactions between cinema and psychology, this book offers readers clear and basic insights into some of the most fundamental reasons why film is such an important influence upon our lives today. Movies and the Modern Psyche first describes the basic concepts of psychoanalysis, experimental psychology, behavioral conditioning, and hypnosis, which have all played major roles in the histories of both film and psychiatry. It then goes on to discuss the recent rise in film therapy, drug treatments, treatment for drug abuse, and the closing of asylums, to show how shifts in treatment techniques, theories, and settings are foreshadowed and fossilized by film.

Includes section "Current literature."

Humor, a topic that engaged Sigmund Freud both early and late in his career, is richly intertwined with character, with creativity, and with the theory and practice of psychoanalytic therapy. Yet, until very recently, analysts ignored Freud's lead and relegated humor to the periphery of their concerns. Humor and Psyche not only remedies previous neglect of the role of humor in the psychoanalytic situation but opens to a broad and balanced consideration of the role of humor in psychological life. Section I provides historical and theoretical perspectives on the concept of humor. Contributors review Freudian and post-Freudian theories of humor, address the inseparability of humor and play, adumbrate a postmodernist perspective on humor, and focus on the unique cognitive and affective properties of humor. In Section II contributors turn to the relationship of humor to various aspects of the therapeutic process, including the relationship of humor to transference interpretation, the enlivening effects of humor on the therapeutic process, and the multiple meanings of humorous exchanges between therapists and patients. Section III concludes the volume with three fascinating essays on the relationship of humor to character and creativity. They focus, respectively, on the role of humor in the 25-year correspondence of Freud and Sándor Ferenczi, on the interweaving of D. W. Winnicott's comic spirit and theoretical innovations, and on the relationship between humor and creativity in the music of the American composer Charles Ives. Taken together, the contributors reestablish the importance of humor as a topic of psychotherapeutic relevance more than 70 years after Freud's final essay on the topic. Delightfully readable from beginning to end, Humor and Psyche edifies as it entertains.

This engrossing book sums up three decades of Dr. Proskauer’s work relieving symptoms and disabling behavior patterns.It’s all done through:* Deep exploration of past lifetimes,* Memories from the prenatal period and birth, infancy, childhood, adolescence, and adulthood,* Revelation of the karmic cycle* as well as through fascinating and illuminating glimpses of conception and consciousness between lifetimes. Surprisingly, with the help of a skilled guide these experiences are readily available to almost anyone without hypnosis, even you!With verbatim transcripts of sessions contained in this book you’ll understand exactly how the tracking and emotional release process works.Besides cutting the deep roots of suffering, Karmic Therapy reveals the karma cycle as it unfolds from lifetime to lifetime and imparts a cosmic perspective on the meaning of our lives as students in Earth School.In his book “Karmic Therapy: Healing the Split Psyche”, Dr. Proskauer points out how clinical data conforms with both Buddhist insights into the nature of existence and the principles of modern quantum theory.“Karmic Therapy: Healing the Split Psyche” gives experiential meaning to the marriage of psychological and spiritual healing.

In this collection of articles spanning 65 years as a clinical psychologist, Nick A. Cummings selects articles that heralded often far in advance each phase of clinical psychology’s evolution to the present. A pioneer in effecting change, Cummings established the first free-standing professional school of clinical psychology, demonstrated that medical utilization was reduced with psychotherapy, was an early proponent of universal healthcare, fought for the inclusion of psychotherapy in National Health Insurance, established Biodyne, the first private managed care firm for mental health coverage, and battled to maintain psychological services for children against the trend toward medication. This resource will teach not just the history of psychology, but what lies ahead.

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The Social Determinants of Mental Health aims to fill the gap that exists in the psychiatric, scholarly, and policy-related literature on the social determinants of mental health: those factors stemming from where we learn, play, live, work, and age that impact our overall mental health and well-being. The editors and an impressive roster of chapter authors from diverse scholarly backgrounds provide detailed information on topics such as discrimination and social exclusion; adverse early life experiences; poor education; unemployment, underemployment, and job insecurity; income inequality, poverty, and neighborhood deprivation; food insecurity; poor housing quality and housing instability; adverse features of the built environment; and poor access to mental health care. This thought-provoking book offers many beneficial features for clinicians and public health professionals: Clinical vignettes are included, designed to make the content accessible to readers who are primarily clinicians and also to demonstrate the practical, individual-level applicability of the subject matter for those who typically work at the public health, population, and/or policy level. Policy implications are discussed throughout, designed to make the content accessible to readers who work primarily at the public health or population level and also to demonstrate the policy relevance of the subject matter for those who typically work at the clinical level. All chapters include five to six key points that focus on the most important content, helping to both prepare the reader with a brief overview of the chapter's main points and reinforce the "take-away" messages afterward. In addition to the main body of the book, which focuses on selected individual social determinants of mental health, the volume includes an in-depth overview that summarizes the editors' and their colleagues' conceptualization, as well as a final chapter coauthored by Dr. David Satcher, 16th Surgeon General of the United States, that serves as a "Call to Action," offering specific actions that can be taken by both clinicians and policymakers to address the social determinants of mental health. The editors have succeeded in the difficult task of balancing the individual/clinical/patient perspective and the population/public health/community point of view, while underscoring the need for both groups to work in a unified way to address the inequities in twenty-first century America. The Social Determinants of Mental Health gives readers the tools to understand and act to improve mental health and reduce risk for mental illnesses for individuals and communities. Students preparing for the Medical College Admission Test (MCAT) will also benefit from this book, as the MCAT in 2015 will test applicants' knowledge of social determinants of health. The social determinants of mental health are not distinct from the social determinants of physical health, although they deserve special emphasis given the prevalence and burden of poor mental health.

This book chronicles the conceptual and methodological facets of psychiatry and medical psychology throughout history. There are no recent books covering so wide a time span. Many of the facets covered are pertinent to issues in general medicine, psychiatry, psychoanalysis, and the social sciences today. The divergent emphases and interpretations among some of the contributors point to the necessity for further exploration and analysis.