Anger, Madness, and the Daimonic: The Psychological Genesis of Violence, Evil and Creativity (Suny Series in the Philosophy of Psychology) - Softcover

Stephen A. Diamond

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0791430766 ISBN 13: 9780791430767

Publisher: State University of New York Press, 1996

Synopsis

Explores the links between anger, rage, violence, evil, and creativity and describes a dynamic therapeutic approach that can help channel anger and violent impulses into constructive and creative activity.

Though the causes of violence in our society are complex, the troublesome human emotions of anger and rage play a central role in the genesis of violent behavior and psychopathology in general. In this provocative book, clinical and forensic psychologist Stephen A. Diamond determines where rage and anger originate and explores whether these powerful passions are-as most people resume-purely negative, pathological, and evil or can be meaningfully redeemed and redirected into constructive activity. Using clinical and biographical case studies, as well as striking visual images, he traces anger, rage, and violence through their most destructive expressions to their creative and transcendent functions in art, psychotherapy, and spirituality.

About this title

About the Author

Stephen A. Diamond is a licensed clinical and forensic psychologist practicing in Los Angeles, California. He has taught at Pacific Graduate School of Psychology (now Palo Alto University), the Institute of Transpersonal Psychology, John F. Kennedy University, Argosy University, Ryokan College and the C. G. Jung Institute, Zurich. Currently he is a clinical supervisor for graduate students at The Chicago School of Professional Psychology, maintains a private psychotherapy practice, and works as Consulting Psychologist for a private residential psychiatric facility.  Dr. Diamond serves on the Board of Editors of the Journal of Humanistic Psychology and for many years wrote a popular blog (Evil Deeds) for Psychology Today.

From the Back Cover

Though the causes of violence in our society are complex, the troublesome human emotions of anger and rage play a central role in the genesis of violent behavior and psychopathology in general. In this book, clinical psychologist Stephen Diamond determines where rage and anger originate and explores whether these powerful passions are -- as most people believe -- purely negative, pathological, and evil or can be meaningfully redeemed and rechanneled into constructive activity. Using clinical and biographical case studies, as well as striking visual images, he traces anger, rage, and violence through their most destructive expressions to their creative and transcendent functions in art, psychotherapy, and spirituality.

"An excellent book... I have always felt that Dr. Diamond's emphasis on the daimonic was extremely timely and important in our day. The myth of the daimonic covers vital, archetypal human experiences, as this work clearly illustrates. I find it very readable, and done like the true scholar." -- from the Foreword by Rollo May

"An impressive, prodigious work; so comprehensive, so rich, and very creative. This excellent book is unique in making sense of the 'senseless violence' that permeates American society today. When we understand the root causes of the human need for violence, we will be able to make an ally of the energy it liberates." -- June Singer, author of Boundaries of the Soul

"Diamond shows how existential depth psychology can help us understand the anger and violence so rampant in American society. He explains how we are both subject to and responsible for powerful psychic forces active within us, forces which, depending on how we respond to them, can press toward either creative or destructive expressions. Diamond's book is elegantly written, well researched, and clinically well informed. It is an important contribution." -- Michael Washburn, author of The Ego and the Dynamic Ground and Transpersonal Psychology in Psychoanalytic Perspective

"Written with great vigor, clarity, and conviction, this book is fast paced and a pleasure to read." -- George B. Hogenson, author of Jung's Struggle with Freud

Edition details

• Publisher: State University of New York Press
• Publication date: 1996
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0791430766
• ISBN 13: 9780791430767
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 428