Psychology's ghosts : the crisis in the profession and the way back

Title:

Author:

Kagan, Jerome.

ISBN:

9780300178685

Personal Author:

Kagan, Jerome.

Publication Information:

New Haven : Yale University Press, c2012.

Physical Description:

xxiv, 392 p. ; 22 cm.

Abstract:

Examining popular practices and assumptions held by many psychologists, identifies the four problems with contemporary psychology and discusses solutions that point the way to a better understanding of the mind and mental illness.

Contents:

Missing contexts -- Happiness ascendant -- Who is mentally ill? -- Helping the mentally ill -- Promising reforms.

Subject Term:

Psychoanalysis.

Mental illness.

Psychology, Pathological.

Mental Disorders.

Psychological Theory.

Mental illness. (OCoLC)fst01016547

Psychoanalysis. (OCoLC)fst01081235

Psychology, Pathological. (OCoLC)fst01081609

Psychotherapeut

Klient

Patient

Available:*

Library	Material Type	Call Number	Status	Item Holds
Searching... Sugar Grove - Todd Library	Book	BF173 .K28 2012	Searching... Unknown	Searching... Unavailable

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Summary

A leading psychologist takes a hard look at his profession today and argues for important changes in practices and attitudes

This book is the product of years of thought and a profound concern for the state of contemporary psychology. Jerome Kagan, a theorist and leading researcher, examines popular practices and assumptions held by many psychologists. He uncovers a variety of problems that, troublingly, are largely ignored by investigators and clinicians. Yet solutions are available, Kagan maintains, and his reasoned suggestions point the way to a better understanding of the mind and mental illness.

Kagan identifies four problems in contemporary psychology: the indifference to the setting in which observations are gathered, including the age, class, and cultural background of participants and the procedure that provides the evidence (he questions, for example, the assumption that similar verbal reports of well-being reflect similar psychological states); the habit of basing inferences on single measures rather than patterns of measures (even though every action, reply, or biological response can result from more than one set of conditions); the defining of mental illnesses by symptoms independent of their origin; and the treatment of mental disorders with drugs and forms of psychotherapy that are nonspecific to the diagnosed illness. The author's candid discussion will inspire the debate that is needed in a discipline seeking to fulfill its promises.

Reviews (2)

Choice Review

If anyone has the stature and wisdom to shake a finger at contemporary psychology and say "shame on you," it is Kagan (emer., Harvard). Though this reviewer did not necessarily like the critiques Kagan levied against modern psychology, neither could he dismiss them. With historical perspective and interesting anecdotes, the author outlines four major problems in contemporary psychology that he believes keep the discipline from being able to fulfill its promise to improve the human condition. He points out that psychology largely ignores the importance of setting on the observations that are gathered; it too often bases inferences on single instances of behavior; it defines mental illness on the basis of symptoms independent of the origin of those symptoms; and it too often treats mental illness with medications that are nonspecific to the illness that has been diagnosed. Fortunately, Kagan suggests these are not "fatal" flaws and provides his views on how each of these problems can be addressed and improvements can be made. Though not all will agree with his contentions, few can argue with his intentions. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Graduate students, faculty, practitioners. R. E. Osborne Texas State University--San Marcos

Library Journal Review

Kagan (psychology, emeritus, Harvard Univ.; What Is Emotion? History, Measures, and Meanings) combines a frank but sympathetic critique of the present state of psychological research with a bold call for reform. The author ruminates on the history of the field, from psychology's early attempts to model itself after physics to a split in focus between the United States and Europe, where the former emphasized acquired behaviors and conditioning and the latter, mental states, childhood events, and sexuality. As psychology's search for a grand, unifying theory failed and biological psychiatry has become more important, Kagan believes the field has declined in prominence. Moving from theory to application, the book devotes considerable attention to mental illness. The author recounts the great paradigm shift from talk to drug therapy in the 1960s and successfully points out the limitations of this approach. In conclusion, he challenges psychologists to question common assumptions and accepted dogmas in their field. Verdict A valuable synthesis of ideas forcefully expressed in graceful prose, this book is highly recommended for academic and professional mental health collections.-Antoinette Brinkman, Evansville, IN (c) Copyright 2012. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.