In Virtue Ethics for the Real World: Improving Character without Idealization, Howard J. Curzer argues that character ideals seduce virtue ethicists into counterintuitive claims, mislead and psychologically harm people seeking to improve their characters, and sometimes become tools for exploitation. Curzer offers a theory of Aristotelian virtue ethics that eschews idealization and that harmonizes with common sense. To explain the many dilemmas of ordinary life, he allows that different virtues sometimes enjoin incompatible actions and even enjoin actions that conflict with duty. Curzer defends the doctrine of the mean, arguing that idealized traits such as unilateral forgiveness, universal civility, unconditional commitments, and unlimited generosity are not virtues. He shows that the reciprocity of virtues doctrine depends upon idealization and rejects it. When undergirding his theory, Curzer wears several hats. He is a eudaimonist when grounding virtue, a constructivist when grounding value, and a perspectivist (a la Nietzsche) when grounding virtuous action. How can people improve without aiming at an ideal? Curzer offers an individualized approach to character improvement modeled on contemporary medicine. First, diagnose each person's character flaws. Then tailor treatment plans to each flaw. An important tool is a fine-grained table of the components of character, their failure modes, and corresponding therapies. Curzer provides the beginnings of such a table.

Traditionally, alchemy has been understood as a precursor to the science of chemistry but from the vantage point of the human spirit, it is also a discipline that illuminates the human soul. This book explores the goal of alchemy from Jungian, psychological, and philosophical perspectives. Jung's Alchemical Philosophy: Psyche and the Mercurial Play of Image and Idea is a reflection on Jung's alchemical work and the importance of philosophy as a way of understanding alchemy and its contributions to Jung's psychology. By engaging these disciplines, Marlan opens new vistas on alchemy and the circular and ouroboric play of images and ideas, shedding light on the alchemical opus and the transformative processes of Jungian psychology. Divides in the history of alchemy and in the alchemical imagination are addressed as Marlan deepens the process by turning to a number of interpretations that illuminate both the enigma of the Philosophers' Stone and the ferment in the Jungian tradition. This book will be of interest to Jungian analysts and those who wish to explore the intersection of philosophy and psychology as it relates to alchemy.

This book bridges a scholarly divide between empirical and normative theorizing about procedural justice in the context of relations of power between citizens and the state. Empirical research establishes that people's understanding of procedural justice is shaped by relational factors. A central premise of this volume is that this research is significant but needs to be complemented by normative theorizing that draws on relational theories of ethics and justice to explain the moral significance of procedures and make normative sense of people's concerns about relational factors. The chapters in Part 1 provide comprehensive reviews of empirical studies of procedural justice in policing, courts and prisons. Part 2 explores empirical and normative perspectives on procedural justice and legitimacy. Part 3 examines philosophical approaches to procedural justice. Part 4 considers the implications of a relational perspective for the design of procedures in a range of legal contexts. This collection will be of interest to a wide academic readership in philosophy, law, psychology and criminology.

Introduction to Political Psychology explores the many psychological patterns that influence individual political behavior. The authors introduce readers to a broad range of theories, concepts, and case studies of political activity, arguing that individuals are driven or motivated to act in accordance with personality characteristics, values, beliefs, and attachments to groups. The book explains many aspects of political behavior-whether seemingly pathological actions or normal decision-making practices, which sometimes work optimally, and sometimes fail. Thoroughly updated throughout, the book examines patterns of political behavior in areas including leadership, group behavior, voting, race, nationalism, terrorism, and war. This edition features coverage of the 2016 election and profiles former U.S. President Donald Trump, while also including updated data on race relations and extremist groups in the United States. Global issues are also considered, with case studies focused on Myanmar and Syria, alongside coverage of social issues including Black Lives Matter and the #MeToo movement. Accessibly written and comprehensive in scope, it is an essential companion for all graduate and upper-level undergraduate students of psychology, political science, and political psychology. It will also be of interest to those in the policy-making community, especially those looking to learn more about the extent to which perceptions, personality, and group dynamics affect the policy-making arena. It is accompanied by a set of online instructor resources.

Introduction to Family Processes: Diverse Families, Common Ties serves to provide an explanation of the complex workings of inner family life. The text primarily focuses on family processes and dynamics (the "inside" of families) as opposed to sociological trends, political topics, or the individual psychological approach. The text further presents the research underlying these processes and effectively presents ways to increase the positive aspects of family life. This edition has been updated to include current research and contemporary topics. The text has been divided into four parts: Foundations, Building and Establishing Families, Maintaining Families, and Change/Turbulence/Gains/Losses. While the research methods chapter still provides an introductory examination of family science research, it now includes an expanded discussion on research design, methods, and advances in the area. A new chapter, titled "Forgiveness, Kindness, Hope, and Gratitude" has been incorporated to amplify positive family processes and highlight emerging research. This edition provides added emphasis on diverse families (e.g., race/ethnicity, family structure, LGBTQIA, ability, culture, and family formation), and each chapter includes a new "Discussions in Diversity" section related to that chapter. The authors have consciously included an epilogue as a way of reflecting on what they have learned, along with what they hope to learn in the future. Aimed at courses related to family studies and family dynamics, this text provides a comprehensive review of family processes. Whether it is used for undergraduate or graduate classes, professional growth, or personal enrichment, the text assists readers in enhancing the positive aspects of family life, avoiding undesirable aspects, and more effectively managing the challenges and obstacles families face that cannot be avoided. Thus, the text holds an appeal for people who live (or will live) in families, as well as those who want to work with families.

The book Psychoanalysis and Severe Handicap: The Hand in the Cap introduces an original look at handicap, a look aiming at capturing the subjectivity, no matter how weak or uncertain it may be, of the ill Other. In this light the work of operators can become an invaluable support to the creation of the self, a crucial help to self-narration, and a valid contribution to making one's way through the entangled intricacies of language. The text falls into six chapters, which elegantly and accurately lead us into the core of the problem tackled. Focusing on the difficulties implied by the recognition of the ill Other and the acceptance of the otherness, the author attacks those cultural policies which set autonomy and integration as absolute objectives to be achieved in the work on handicap. Instead, the author highlights the need of a path aiming at the structuring of the individuality of the disabled and at the molding of their subjectivity, starting from the subject's peculiarities.

Some of the worst selection practices to be found anywhere can be found at the top of organisations. Even when senior selection is not egregiously bad, rarely is it as good as it could be. Front-line staff and middle managers are selected with much more rigour today than 30 years ago - but not the chairmen, chief executives and chief officers who lead them. So says Douglas Board in Choosing Leaders and Choosing to Lead. Dr Board draws on his extensive experience in executive search and in leadership, coupled with his own academic research embracing the sociology and psychology of scholars such as Pierre Bourdieu and Karl Weick to offer ground-breaking insight into the value and limitations of established selection practice. This book illuminates ways in which senior roles differ from other positions and will help those charged with selecting individuals for senior positions, as well as potential candidates, those concerned with regulating selection policy, and researchers. Examining the classic mix of competency frameworks and selection tools such as psychological and skills assessments, simulations, reference-checking and interviews, the author concludes that senior selection choices are holding back organisations and individual careers, with implications for diversity, effectiveness, and social justice. He contends that while complacent, self-regarding elites will always need vigilant challenge, the scientific approach to selection has weaknesses as well as strengths. Those weaknesses become more pronounced at senior levels, posing particular questions about, amongst other things, the role of intuition and politics.

This book develops models and hypotheses about the mechanisms of the origin of language and the self. It offers a highly original discussion of language acquisition in relation to Freud's paper on aphasia. The book is useful for psychiatrists, teachers, social workers, and parents.

"Understanding Religion and Spirituality in Clinical Practice" is a volume in the clinical practice monograph series from the Society of Analytical Psychology. This series is intended primarily for trainees on psychotherapy and psychodynamic counselling courses, and for those who are newly qualified.Here, Margaret Clark considers the difficulties clinicians may encounter when patients talk about God or about their spiritual life, and how necessary it is for therapists to examine their own image of God and their own understanding of spirituality, so that they can distinguish these from those of their patients. She emphasizes how varied are people s images and understanding of what God stands for, and how in healthy development these will change over time.The book demonstrates, through numerous clinical vignettes, how clinicians can understand a patient s talking about religion or about God hearing the voice of God, having a vision of God, or being convinced that God wants them to act in a particular way; or, equally, seeing the Devil.The book differentiates between religion and spirituality, and between religious and spiritual aims and practices. It also distinguishes some mystical and spiritual experiences from those which are considered psychotic.There is reference to major theorists throughout, particularly to Freud, Jung, and Winnicott."

The book reviews psychoanalytic theory with the aim of developing a evolutionarily feasible model of social behavior and personality that can help to bridge the gap between psychoanalysis and neuroscience.In bringing together various psychoanalytic theories with aspects of ethology, sociology, and behaviorism, the book seeks to overcome the theoretical impasse faced by cognitive psychology and cognitive neuroscience in their endeavors to understand how the brain has evolved to organize complex social behavior in humans. The book is of academic interest, addressing those working in behavioral sciences who want to gather what can be learned from the rich body of psychoanalytic theory for the sake of advancing the goal shared by all behavioral sciences: to elucidate the principles of regulation of social behavior and personality and understand where and how we can find their neural underpinnings. It advocates that brain-social behavior relationship can only be understood if we learn from and integrate psychoanalytic insights gained across the last century from clinical work by what are often considered to be rival schools of thought. The book should also be of interest to psychoanalysts looking for a systematic and integrative overview of psychoanalytic theories, an overview that reaches across ego psychology, object relations theory, attachment theory, self psychology, and Lacanian theory. The book is not, however, a critique of psychoanalytic theory or a review of its historical development; it emphasizes consistencies and compatibilities rather than differences between psychoanalytic schools of thought.

The main theme of this book concerns the continuing psychic centrality of parents for their children. Several chapters examine an author and his works, outlining that author s relationships with parents, good-and-bad, and making descriptive comments about these based both on information gleaned from the author s life and writings as well as from observations found in autobiographies, biographies and critical works. Since these studies in part concern stories of child abuse and deprivation, the book predominantly illustrates bad parenting that seems to have contributed to the child s psychopathology. Yet in most cases there has also been an evocation by the trauma and deprivation of adaptive and even creative reactions--this positive effect also of course largely attributable to concomitant good parenting--and yet there are some cases where little of this seems to have existed and yet the children still turn out to be able to make something of themselves. The conditions that make for psychic health in a traumatized childhood are mysterious and can t always be accounted for.The central mental and emotional importance of the parents in the earliest development of the child s body and mind is generally accepted. The continuing lifelong centrality of parental actual and (predominantly unconscious) psychic presences that can motivate emotions, thoughts, and actions, and persist for the rest of a person s life, is frequently not recognized, acknowledged, nor denied. As the author notes, "We spend so much of our lives, especially as middle age and old age approaches, waiting for a magically endowed good parent who will fulfill the promise of our earliest years, waiting, as Becket puts it, for Godot to restore us to our narcissistic beginnings, at least intermittently full of the promise of eternal happy existence."

This book is Francoise Dolto s 1939 medical thesis and is dedicated to medical practitioners, paediatricians, and parents without prior knowledge of psychoanalysis. Francoise Dolto s aim was to sensitize people to the unconscious dimensions of many problems in children. She demonstrates here, through sixteen case studies, how often children s difficulties at school and at home be they behavioral or due to impaired learning abilities are the expression of psychological issues linked with their developing sexuality and castration anxiety, and result in physical symptoms such as enuresis and encopresis.Dolto points out that the awareness of the self and self-responsibility often develops for young people in families in which the parents do not know how to listen or even more importantly cannot be listened to with trust. There is also a summary of Freud s theories of the different stages of the evolution of the drives, as well as the central developmental role played by the castration complex, castration anxiety, and the Oedipus Complex."

Theoretical understanding of perversion is neglected in analytical psychology, and narrowly developed in psycho-analysis, where it traditionally refers to sexual perversion. Etymological exploration of the word perversion, including its use in religious, moral, sociological and legal contexts, reveals a wider meaning than that adopted in psychoanalysis. The aim of the author is to revise the psychoanalytic model through the introduction of Jungian concepts that extend the understanding of perversion beyond the bounds of sexuality to a more general relational context.By describing the development of psycho-analytic thinking on perversion in detail, the author is able to highlight the central differences between the Freudian and Jungian interpretive traditions and to explain why Jungian ideas on perversion have remained underdeveloped, leading to the absence of a unique or available Jungian contribution to the theory of perversion. Jungian concepts, together with some from outside the psychoanalytic domain, are combined with psycho-analytic theory in the formulation of an integrated formulation in which perversion is presented as a response to early trauma with intrapsychic deception enacted relationally in the outside world through vengeful behavior, that is not necessarily sexual, but is addictive and symptomatic of a defensive psychic structure that establishes and perpetuates self-deception. The formulation is presented in stages with illustrations drawn from three biographies, exemplifying sexual perversion, bodily perversion, and emotional or cognitive perversion.

"On beginning the treatment" (1913) is one of the most important of Freud's technical articles, a theme he examined between 1904 and 1918. This text, which sets out the basis of the treatment and the conditions of psychoanalysis, still provides a solid reference for the analytic practice. Far from a group of rigid rules, Freud spoke of the technique as an art, thinking always of the singularity of each case, even if the fundamental methods of free association and suspended attention specify the psychoanalytical method that differentiates it from the suggestion. In this book, ten eminent analysts, coming from different schools of psychoanalytic thought, confront the contemporary technical proposals to the freudian precepts. The book reexamines, in the light of the latest advances in the analytic practice, such important questions as: the conditions of starting an analysis today; tranference and associativity; the play of the person of the analyst and intersubjectivity; the fundamental rule enunciation in contemporary practice; the conditions and functions of the interpretation; and the energetic drives in action during the treatment.Contributors: Alice Becker Lewkowicz, Hugo Bleichmar, Marie-France Dispaux, Antonino Ferro, Theodore Jacobs, Lewis A. Kirshner, Sergio Lewkowicz, Norberto Marucco, Patrick Miller, Rene Roussillon, Gennaro Saragnano, Christian Seulin, Rogelio Sosnik"

"Midlife" is a concept used everywhere and from many different vertexes, though mostly imprecisely, even within the psychoanalytic paradigm. This book tries to settle its proper meaning through the challenge of laying the foundations for the development of a true psychoanalytic metapsychology for "midlife", something that the editors believe in psychoanalysis was lacking. From this viewpoint, they invited fourteen renowned psychoanalysts to share their ideas about the issue. The outcome of that work is Updating Midlife: Psychoanalytic Perspectives, which, in addition to the various contributions, includes an introductory paper by the editors. This book is a true step forward in the development of a specific metapsychology for "midlife".

The main purpose of this book is to look at a range of ubiquitous phenomena that make up our daily life and to ask not so much whether but what psychoanalytic thinking can add to our current understanding of these phenomena. Could there be another layer, below the obvious surface-layer that needs to be explored further? If so, can psychoanalytic light reflect upon and illuminate some of the new contours and shapes perhaps previously not fully seen or appreciated? What interim conclusions can we reach as a result of this reflection upon our modern world? This book is linked to its immediate predecessor, "Psychoanalytic Perspectives on a Turbulent World," but it differs significantly in tone, light and composition. This new book no longer addresses itself to the complex and troubling issues such as war, conflict, the global financial crisis and our struggle with leadership, instead it focuses on the lighter side of life.

The normal approach to the study of the foundations of psychoanalysis is to focus on Sigmund Freud's classical texts. In this book, however, Vesa Talvitie approaches the issue from the perspective of the foundations of behavioral sciences in general. He studies the nature of psychological terms and explanations, and the relation between neuroscience and psychology. Due to the wide perspective, the author is able to create a fresh view to the stubborn debate concerning the scientific status of psychoanalysis.The author shows that both advocates and critics of psychoanalysis have a tendency to misconstrue the nature of psychoanalytic theorizing, and thus have had unrealistic expectations of psychoanalytic explanations. The book tries to differentiate between those aspects of psychoanalysis which should be considered scientific, and those aspects of psychotherapies in general which should not come into the scientific category. This book will be found to be a valuable contribution to the field of psychoanalytic studies.

This book presents a detailed account of two analytic treatments viewed through the prism of creativity. The book is unique in that it examines analysis from this particular viewpoint, as illustrated by these case studies.The first part of the book contains a review of the classical and contemporary literature on the source and function of creativity. Creativity is then examined from the perspective of several analytic models Freudian, Kleinian, and post-Kleinian.The second and third parts of the book present case illustrations that deal with the use of creative activity in analysis. The creative use of biblical stories in the case of David, or the use of paintings and poems in the case of Rachel, portrayed the inner reality of these patients. David s violent and incestuous biblical stories reflected his world of incestuous and destructive wishes towards his primary objects (and towards the therapist in the transference). Rachel s paintings and poems conveyed her unconscious conflicts, depressive fantasies and anxieties, stemming from her fusion with her mother who was a child Holocaust survivor. Working through their relationships with their primary objects and their self perception, as revealed by these creative activities in analysis, facilitated the patients mourning. The work of mourning incurred in this process helped both David and Rachel achieve a better perception of reality and of their self, unite the fragmented aspects of the self into a whole, and improve their relationships with their primary objects.The book concludes with the therapist s role in facilitating the creative process, which in turn facilitates the therapeutic process. It contains a summary of the role of creative activity in treatment, a discussion of some of the ways in which the therapist facilitated the creative process in order to arrive at the amazing discoveries which it engenders, and a discussion of the way in which the patients creativity was successfully incorporated in their treatment.The therapist s awareness of the patients creativity and its important role in solving the patients conflicting life and death wishes enabled her to help them recognize their aggressive and destructive wishes and work them through. Both patients emerged from a long analysis better integrated."

"Anatomy of Regret" has a highly clinical focus, with cases that illustrate how critical psychic change can emerge from the mourning of the grief of psychic regret. This book highlights the developmental achievement of owning the guilt of aggression, and of tolerating insight into the losses one had produced. The author uses the term psychic regret to capture the essence of the process of facing regret consciously. This is in contrast to the split-off and persecutory dynamics of unconscious guilt. Unconscious guilt exposes itself through visceral and cognitive impingements, which are related to internal world enactments, and it relies on unconscious avoidance of the pain and loss involved in facing psychic regret.Dr. Kavaler-Adler s theory of developmental mourning is illustrated in this book through in-depth lively clinical processes (cases and vignettes). The reader is able to witness how those who have faced consciousness of their resistances to experiences of loss and guilt (as referred to by Melanie Klein in her theory of the depressive position) go through the critical psychological transformation, which allows for authentic psychic change. This is a psychological change that has meaning and meaning creativity within it."Anatomy of Regret" weaves the themes of psychoanalysis in its early days with those of current practice. It simultaneously offers vivid case examples, where theory becomes a retrospective way of organizing the progress in the clinical work, and in the lives of patients. Dr. Kavaler-Adler addresses both theoretical and clinical conundrums, as she offers the opportunity for readers to immerse themselves in the journey from internal emptiness to both internal and external richness."

The systems approach to the family is based on the assumptions that there is equality between men and women in the family, and that women and men are treated equally in clinical practice. The contributors to this book challenge these hidden assumptions, discussing the issues from both a conceptual and clinical viewpoint. They argue strongly that questions of gender and power should be central to family therapy training and practice.

Psychoanalytic infant observation is frequently used in training psychoanalytic psychotherapists and allied professionals, but increasingly its value as a research method is being recognised, particularly in understanding developmental processes in vulnerable individuals and groups. This book explores the scope of this approach and discusses its strengths and limitations from a methodological and philosophical point of view.

Infant Observation and Research uses detailed case studies to demonstrate the research potential of the infant observation method. Divided into three sections this book covers

• infant observation as part of the learning process
• how infant observation can inform understanding and influence practice
• psychoanalytic infant observation and other methodologies.

Throughout the book, Cathy Urwin, Janine Sternberg and their contributors introduce the reader to the nature and value of psychoanalytic infant observation and its range of application. This book will therefore interest a range of mental health practitioners concerned with early development and infants' emotional relationships, as well as academics and researchers in the social sciences and humanities.

* This book has two goals: to introduce a relevant interactive experience for undergraduate students involving the visual arts and community service, and to provide an instructional how-to for social service and mental health providers to use in a range of institutions which benefit by including art making activities to enhance their therapeutic objectives * The text is in the form of a manual with detailed instruction provided as to how to institute the course in a college setting and as a supplemental program in human service institutions * The program which the book describes is unique as either an undergraduate course or supplemental internship and there exists no other text that covers this material

* Links between philosophy and psychoanalysis remain very popular * First book to cover therapeutic aspects of Spinoza's work specifically * Covers key aspects of analytic theory and clinical practice

What is 'mentalization'? How can this concept be applied to clinical work with children, young people and families? What will help therapists working with children and families to 'keep the mind in mind'? Why does it matter if a parent can 'see themselves from the outside, and their child from the inside'?

Minding the Child considers the implications of the concept of mentalization for a range of therapeutic interventions with children and families. Mentalization, and the empirical research which has supported it, now plays a significant role in a range of psychotherapies for adults. In this book we see how these rich ideas about the development of the self and interpersonal relatedness can help to foster the emotional well-being of children and young people in clinical practice and a range of other settings.

With contributions from a range of international experts, the three main sections of the book explore:

the concept of mentalization from a theoretical and research perspective
the value of mentalization-based interventions within child mental health services
the application of mentalizing ideas to work in community settings.

Minding the Child will be of particular interest to clinicians and those working therapeutically with children and families, but it will also be of interest to academics and students interested in child and adolescent mental health, developmental psychology and the study of social cognition.

Mary J. Maher writes for all those interested in the dynamics of racism, from professionals in counseling, group analysis and psychotherapy working in multiracial and multicultural societies to those exposed to racism who need help in dealing with the impact of their experiences. She also addresses the concept of victims becoming perpetrators if support is not given to contain the process. Herself a group analyst, the author experienced at first-hand racial discrimination within the system, but rather than succumb has instead produced an enduring and proficient work that draws heavily on personal experience. Combining years of counseling skill with a natural compassion, she makes the subject of racism approachable, thus motivating all those wanting to explore the issues. For people whose experience of broken attachments crosses racial lines, this book is possibly the first to use Bowlby s Attachment Theory as a framework for understanding racism. In her endeavor to create harmony among differing cultures, Maher has written an insightful must-read for working with, and understanding, people of diverse races."