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Books > Social sciences > Psychology > States of consciousness
This book contains some modern contributions to the understanding and interpretation of dreams developed by contemporary psychoanalysts in the British Society, exploring the connections between dreaming and thinking.
This book explains social dreaming by situating it in the context of thinking, culture, and knowledge and distinguishes how it differs from conventional, therapeutic dreaming, making the case for how it can be used in systems, like business organizations, educational institutions, and hospitals.
This book examines some of the oldest preserved texts on dreams, such as Artemidorus' Oneirocritica, Sigmund Freud's favourite ancient dream theorist, and dream books by Aristotle, the grandfather of modern dream theory.
This book looks at dreams from a twenty-first century perspective. It takes its inspiration from Freud's insights, but pursues psychoanalytic interest into both neuroscience and the modern psychoanalytic consulting room. The book looks at laboratory research on dreaming alongside the modern clinical use of dreams and links together clinical and empirical research, integrating classical ideas with the plurality of psychoanalytic theoretical constructs available to modern researchers. Psychoanalysts writing about dreams have traditionally represented the cutting edge of clinical and theoretical development, and this book is no exception. Many of the contributions, as well as the epistemological position taken by the writers, represent a kind of radical openness to new ways of thinking about the clinical situation and about theory. In line with the ambition of the editors, this volume represents an integration of theories and disciplines, and a scientific context for modern psychoanalysis. The link between clinical research and extraclinical research via the royal road of dreaming is a theme that runs through all the contributions.
After a hundred years of psychoanalysis, what has the psychoanalytic interpretation of dreams now become? Are what Simic calls "the films of our lives" still the royal road to the unconscious or do we now have a different concept both of dreams and of the unconscious? What is the meaning of dreams in the analytic dialogue? Do they still have a key role to play in clinical practice or not? These are just some of the questions that this book seeks to answer. Nowadays psychoanalysts and psychotherapists do not work so much on dreams as with dreams, preferring to emphasise their function of transformation and symbolic creation, rather than decipher their obscure messages. Dreaming is the way in which we give personal meaning to experience and expand our unconscious. As such, it is a necessary activity which, as Bion says, takes place both in sleep and in waking.
A systematic effort to rethink Freud's theory of the unconscious, aiming to separate out the different forms of unconsciousness. The logico-mathematical treatment of the subject is made easy because every concept used is simple and simply explained from first principles. Each renewed explanation of the facts brings the emergence of new knowledge from old material of truly great importance to the clinician and the theorist alike. A highly original book that ought to be read by everyone interested in psychiatry or in Freudian psychology.
This is a comprehensive evidence-based clinical manual for practitioners ofcognitive-behavioural hypnotherapy. Cognitive-behavioural hypnotherapy is increasingly becoming the dominant approach to clinicalhypnosis. At a theoretical level, it adopts a research-based cognitive-behavioural model ofhypnosis. At a practical level, it closely integrates traditional hypnotherapy andcognitive-behavioural therapy techniques. This is the first major treatment manual to describe a fully integrated cognitive-behavioural approach to hypnotherapy, based on current evidence and best practice in the fields of hypnotism and CBT. It is the product of years of work by the author, a cognitive-behavioural therapist and specialist in clinical hypnosis, with overfifteen years' experience in the therapy field. This book should be essential reading for anyoneinterested in modern evidence-based approaches to clinical hypnosis. It's also an importantresource for cognitive-behavioural therapists interested in the psychology of suggestion and the useof mental imagery techniques.
The age-old notion of 'hypnotic induction' receives a fresh look from notable scholars from Canada, England, Sweden, and the USA in this book. These scholars represent a breadth of theoretical perspectives: cognitive-behavioral, Ericksonian, psychoanalytic, and trance-state. It is well known that a wide range of hypnotic induction protocols is used to prepare individuals to enhance their receptivity to test or clinical suggestions. However, despite its popularity of use, it appears that little is known about its relevancy and boundary conditions either for testing for hypnotisability or for enhancing clinical efficacy. In this volume, the authors reflect on issues surrounding its definitions, relevancy, possible components, and approaches; they also suggest considerations and strategies for optimizing inductions. This book will be of benefit to both newcomers to the field and seasoned researchers and clinicians alike - it can stimulate new thinking and research about this important, but often taken for granted, notion of hypnotic induction. This book was originally published as a special issue of the American Journal of Clinical Hypnosis.
This book is a fascinating case study that illustrates the use of multiple levels of consciousness and meaning to access and therapeutically reframe traumatic memories that were the source of very severe phobias and depression. A rare record of Erickson's pioneering genius in facilitating the evolution of new patterns of consciousness and identity in a patient.
Psychologists and philosophers have long grappled with the mysteries of dreaming, and now-thanks largely to recent innovations in brain imaging -neuroscientists are starting to join the conversation. In this groundbreaking book, award-winning journalist Andrea Rock traces the brief but fascinating history of this emerging field. She then takes us into modern sleep labs across the country, asking the questions that intrigue us all: Why do we remember only a fraction of our dreams? Why are dreams usually accompanied by intense emotions? Can dreams truly spark creative thought or help solve problems? Are the universal dream interpretations of Freud and Jung valid? Accessible and engaging, The Mind at Night shines a bright light on our nocturnal journeys and tells us what the sleeping mind reveals about our waking hours.
Near death experiences fascinate everyone, from theologians to sociologists and neuroscientists. This groundbreaking book introduces the phenomenon of NDEs, their personal impact and the dominant scientific explanations. Taking a strikingly original cross-cultural approach and incorporating new medical research, it combines new theories of mind and body with contemporary research into how the brain functions. Ornella Corazza analyses dualist models of mind and body, discussing the main features of NDEs as reported by many people who have experienced them. She studies the use of ketamine to reveal how characteristics of NDEs can be chemically induced without being close to death. This evidence challenges the conventional 'survivalist hypothesis', according to which the near death experience is a proof of the existence of an afterlife. This remarkable book concludes that we need to move towards a more integrated view of embodiment, in order to understand what human life is and also what it can be. Ornella Corazza is a NDE researcher at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London. In 2004-5 she was a Member of the 21st Century Centre of Excellence (COE) 'Program on the Construction of Death and Life Studies' at the University of Tokyo.
Despite the increase in meditation studies, the quality remains variable; many of them are trivial, and most remain unreplicated. Research on meditation has been plagued by insubstantial theorizing, global claims, and the substitution of belief systems for grounded hypotheses. Meditation punctures some of the myths about meditation, while retaining a place of value for mediation as a normal human function. In each chapter includes discussion of the major questions addressed, followed by a detailed critique of important theoretical, clinical, and research issues. In several instances the reader may find that questions seem to beget questions: research bearing upon certain issues may be contradictory, or not yet of sufficient thoroughness. In these cases, the author suggests the specific future research necessary to resolve the questions posed, so that claims about meditation are justified, and which are not. The profession of psychology itself is, and has been, in a polarized debate between the "practitioners" and the "experimentalists." The latter accuse the former of being "soft, non-empirical, non-scientific," while practitioners accuse the experimentalists of conducting research which is essentially irrelevant to human concerns. This approach provides a bridge between research and clinical practice. Meditation provides an encompassing survey of the topic--nearly forty tables and figures; sample questionnaires, evaluations and programs and a detailed overview of a controversial field. Shapiro separates self-regulation with self-delusion, to outline questions and possible answers.
The practice of yoga, hypnosis, and the use of psychedelic drugs to alter psychological and physiological states is not unknown to the study of psychology. They have been called "soft" studies and labeled unimportant. This is mostly because they are difficult to study and understand, often focusing on unobservable internal states such as altered states of consciousness, Samadhi, or hypnotic states. This book, in its approach to thinking about this topic and method for analysis, focuses only on phenomena that can be observed, such as behavioral changes. By centering on only those aspects of the psychological and physiological effects of yoga, hypnosis, and psychedelic drugs which can be measured and analyzed using this new method, Barber distinguishes this book from others in the field. He asks what overt behaviors and verbal reports are clearly observable when psychedelic drugs are taken, yoga is practiced, or hypnotic-induction procedures are administered. Instead of treating the phenomena traditionally associated with psychedelic drugs, yoga, or hypnosis as undifferentiated conglomerates, an attempt will be made to set apart and treat separately each of the many phenomena associated with each of these areas of inquiry. This book does not set out to simply demonstrate the importance of psychedelics, yoga, and hypnosis, or to present substantive material pertaining to these topics. It also treats each topic as continuous with other known psychological phenomena and as an important piece to the puzzle of social psychology. It differs from most previous treatises in that it does not assume that psychedelics, yoga, and hypnosis can bring out unused mental or physical capacities in man, heighten awareness or give rise to enhanced creativity, or produce altered states of consciousness, suspension of conventional reality-orientation, changes in body-image, or changes in perception.
The volume here presented does not assume to be a systematic treatise upon hypnotism, nor even upon its therapeutic uses; for that the works of Bernheim, Moll, Wetterstrand, Tuckey and others may suffice - but there are certain phases of hypnotism which seem to the author to be of special interest and present importance, and it is for the purpose of distinctly presenting these special phases that the following chapters have been prepared.
The main object of this book is to draw attention to the importance of hypnotism and its phenomena, in order to stimulate inquiry into what is still a mysterious and unexplored subject. This the author has already endeavoured to do in an earlier book - Hypnotism and Suggestion in Daily Life, Education and Medical Practice - published in 1910, since when the author has gained so much additional experience that an entirely new work is but justice.
Although research and practice in hypnosis has seen unprecedented
expansion, there has been a definite lack of inclusive and
comprehensive surveys to aid the student and researcher. This
collection of original chapters written by leading experimental
investigators is the first work to offer a current state-of-the-art
in hypnosis research. A compendium of the historical background,
theories, issues, and trends in hypnosis, this volume represents
all major experimental viewpoints while providing a virtual "who's
who" in the field of hypnosis.
Provides clarification of Jung's method of dream analysis. Based upon a previously unpublished series of dreams of one of Jung's patients.
Two premier hypnotherapists collaborate on a new edition of this award-winning text, a collection of techniques and information about hypnosis that no serious student or practitioner should be without. A thorough and practical handbook of various hypnotherapeutic measures, it contains illustrative examples and logically argued selection methods to help practitioners choose the ideal method for a needed purpose. Section by section, it breaks out the various methods and phenomena of hypnosis into easily digested chunks, so the reader can pick and choose at leisure. An excellent practical guide and reference that is sure to be used regularly. The authors have a wide and longstanding experience on the subject and thus can stay on clinically approvable methods.
Avery explores the psychology of altered states among the early Sufis. It examines sama - listening to ritual recitation, music and certain other aural phenomena - and its effect in inducing unusual states of consciousness and behaviours. The focus is on the earliest personalities of the Islamic mystical tradition, as mediated by texts from the tenth to the twelfth centuries C.E. These unusual states are interpreted in the light of current research in Western psychology, and also in terms of their integration into historical Islamic culture. A Psychology of Early Sufi Sama provides new insights into the work of five Sufi authors, and a fresh approach to the relation between historical accounts of altered states and current psychological thinking.
It is commonly known that some individuals are more easily
hypnotized than others. What is less clear is why, and what can be
learnt from these individual differences for hypnosis as a whole.
The Highly Hypnotizable Person is the first book to present an
up-to-date, comprehensive overview of what research and evidence
there is for the existence and features of highly hypnotisable
people.
Alasdair MacIntyre argues that Freud's conception of the
unconscious is complicated by his tendency to use the term in two
different ways. MacIntyre shows how Freud uses the term
"unconscious" both as a straightforward description of
psychological phenomena, and as an evaluative notion to explain the
links between childhood events and adult behavior. This
clarification helps to shed light on the many misunderstandings of
psychoanalysis, and to separate out what is and what is not of
lasting value in Freud's account of the unconscious.
Albert Hofmann, who died in 2008 aged 102, first synthesized lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) in 1938, but the results of animal tests were so unremarkable that the chemical was abandoned. Driven by intuition, he synthesized it again in 1943, and serendipitously noticed its profound effects on himself. Although his work produced other important drugs, including methergine, hydergine and dihydroergotamine, it was LSD that shaped his career. After his discovery of LSD's properties, Hofmann spent years researching sacred plants. He succeeded in isolating and synthesizing the active compounds in the Psilocybe mexicana mushroom, which he named psilocybin and psilocin. During the 60s, Hofmann struck up friendships with personalities such as Aldous Huxley, Gordon Wasson, and Timothy Leary. He continued to work at Sandoz until 1971 when he retired as Director of Research for the Department of Natural Products. He subsequently served as a member of the Nobel Prize Committee, and was nominated by Time magazine as one of the most influential figures of the 20th century. In 2007, Albert Hofmann asked Amanda Feilding if she could publish his Problem Child, and shortly before his death he approved a new and updated translation of his autobiography (first published by McGraw Hill in 1979). It appears here for the first time in print.
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