Cultures of Healing: Correcting the Image of American Mental Health Care - Softcover

Fancher, Robert T.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0716730634 ISBN 13: 9780716730637

Publisher: W H Freeman & Co, 1997

Synopsis

This work contends that while mental health care is legitimate, many of its claims to scientific truth and authority are not. Written by a practising psychotherapist, it argues that rather than operating as an objective science, the mental health profession is composed of competing "cultures" built around false ideology and subjective belief.
 
This book provides an analysis of how America came to see various forms of suffering as "mental illness," arguing that social and historical dynamics, not scientific discovery, provided this notion. It critiques four cultures of therapy: psychoanalysis, behaviourism, cognitive therapy and biological therapy--discussing the historical significance, general principles and methods of treatment, world view values and scientific status of each. It concludes with the author's assessment of how best to view mental health care and use it wisely and effectively. An appendix offers an insight into choosing a therapist.

About this title

Reviews

For the layperson, argot-free and persuasive; for the mental health professional, challenging, in both senses of the word.

A masterly analysis of the pretensions and paradoxes of the various schools of therapy.

Edition details

• Publisher: W H Freeman & Co
• Publication date: 1997
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0716730634
• ISBN 13: 9780716730637
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 352