Reviews (1)

Excellent for health providers and caregivers
Excellenct source of information on the basic principles in conducting the psychotherapy of MPD/DID and the tranference and countertransference in the overall treatment of MPD/DID. For both health providers and caregivers.

Issues of Multiple Posttraumatic and the clinical approaches to the Intergration of Personalities is really informative and helpful.

Tactical integrationist of and the treatment of DID/MPD and the aids to the treatment of on a General Psyciatric Unit are a must read for providers and caregivers alike.

Section 3 deals with the issue of Dissociation within the Inner city, Deinstitutionlization of patients with chronic MPD/DID and the use of Amtyal interviews in the treatment of the exceptionally complex caes of MPD/DID. The role of transional objects and phenomena in patients with MPD/DID, Play therapy with minors with MPD/DID, and Ego state therapy with patients and the use of sand trays in the beginning stages of treatment.

The last section is about MPD/DID consulation in Public Psychiatric care, Eating disorders in survivors of Multimodal childhood abuse, be it physical or mental/emotional. Eating disorders in the MPD/DID patient and finally an overall history of MPD/DID and how the treatment has evolved and matured. ... Read more

Book Description

This successful introduction to behavioral research methods—written by two leaders in the field—provides step by step guidance through the processes of planning an empirical study, analyzing and interpreting data, and reporting findings and conclusions. It encourages learners to be analytical and critical, not only in interpreting research findings, but also in investigating what is behind the claims and conclusions in news reports of scientific results. While the primary emphasis is on behavioral and social research, a strong effort is made to connect these disciplines with the empirical reasoning used in other fields in order to underscore the unity of science. Chapter topics cover concepts in five key areas: getting started, observation and measurement, design and implementation, describing and hypothesis testing, and statistical tests. For individuals of diverse interests and backgrounds with a common goal of learning the ins and outs of behavioral research methods.

Reviews (4)

Brilliant, IMPORTANT, Unintentionally Comic
I like to think of Sigmund Freud as the Groucho Marx of socratic philosophers. This ikon's influence upon the surrealist movement in art is surely no coincidence. Read in the proper frame of mind, the essays and excerpts in this volume assume a zany, over-the-top circus quality akin to the deadpan black humor of Pynchon and Burroughs. Combine this High Comedy with the fact that every American you know explicitly or tacitly abuses a Freudian concept in one out of every ten sentences, and you've got more than enough reason to drag yourself away from the t.v. and read it. A nice feature of this volume is that Peter Gay points out Freud's anticipations and rebuttals of what the rising tide of increasingly shrill anti-Freudians are saying today. Careful review of this book will teach you that Freudian psychoanalysis is no more dead, and no more a candidate for death, than Platonic idealism.

A review of Peter Gay's "The Freud Reader"
It is fair to say that "The Freud Reader" is the Freudian Bible...perfect for beginners and still useful for the scholarly. This book is perfect for those of us who have never studied Freud at a tertiary level. It supplies the reader with the relevant background information on the life of Freud in an objective but interesting manner.

The Freud Snoozer
Warning: This book causes extreme drowsiness. Do not read while operating motorized vehicles, batheing or cooking. Do not mix with alcohol.

just a perfect book perfect for the beginner
Followers of Freud across the world should be greatful to Mr Gay for compiling such an enormous and elaborate volume on Sigmund Freud. I have not come across any book on Frued which is so comprehensive yet does not seem to drag on about trivial details. It is like having a converstaion with Freud, perhaps even better because you can skip and chose the subject at will. The book gives a complete run down on all the major and some minor works of Freud, some in the form of lectures for the novice while others are for beginners. It has something for every body. While not many will agree with Freud's prognosis on Da Vinci, Nabokov, Michealangelo etc., we should consider ourselves fortunate enought that soemone offered to traverse through the thought processes of these geniuses and tried to split open their hidden personalities. Until we find a better explanation of what drives humans towards homo sexuality or why success leads people towards melancholy and why do we get recurring dreams about failure or flight fanatasy, Sigmund Freud shall continue to occupy the mantle which is fit only for a 20th century prophet. To bring his work to light in an accessible form, we owe gratitude to Mr Gay ... Read more

Book Description

All the creative art psychotherapies (art, dance, music, drama, poetry) can trace their roots to C. G. Jung's early work on active imagination. Joan Chodorow here offers a collection of Jung's writings on active imagination, gathered together for the first time. Jung developed this concept between the years 1913 and 1916, following his break with Freud. During this time, he was disoriented and experienced intense inner turmoil --he suffered from lethargy and fears, and his moods threatened to overwhelm him. Jung searched for a method to heal himself from within, and finally decided to engage with the impulses and images of his unconscious. It was through the rediscovery of the symbolic play of his childhood that Jung was able to reconnect with his creative spirit. In a 1925 seminar and again in his memoirs, he tells the remarkable story of his experiments during this time that led to his self-healing. Jung learned to develop an ongoing relationship with his lively creative spirit through the power of imagination and fantasies. He termed this therapeutic method "active imagination."

This method is based on the natural healing function of the imagination, and its many expressions. Chodorow clearly presents the texts, and sets them in the proper context. She also interweaves her discussion of Jung's writings and ideas with contributions from Jungian authors and artists. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Active imagination is a must-read for introverts.
If you fit the following profile, then you owe it to yourself to read about active imagination: introvert, deep thinker, and aged in the mid 20s while not yet settling into married life. This book can be looked at as a self-help book if you possess those qualities because it will gently remind you of sources of unhappiness that you would not readily accept consciously as being a valid reason for getting depressed. The danger of ignoring these sources of conflict is that your mind will take over and cope with the use of the imagination leading to fantasies. Order springs out of chaos when you are armed with the knowledge of this book and are at a loss to explain the behavior of yourself and others. ... Read more

Reviews (3)

wow
In middle age,life can seem to drag to a halt. Marion Woodman and her coauthors demonstrate that the richest part of inner work is possible when we no longer are focusing most of our energy on the outer world of our families,or our careers. the stories these women tell of their own dream journeys are almost beyond belief, and inspired me to resume dream work i abandoned years ago. the journey never ends, and Leaving My Father's House begins a whole new ring on the spiral to wholeness. my only complaint is that at times the book felt too wordy.

Required Reading For Women (& Men)
If life had a reading list, this book would certainly be on it. Woodman does a supreme job of linking the women's narratives -- clarifying and filling in their experiences in archtypical and Jungian terms -- without dimming the spotlight on their individual experiences.

How long will we live our lives unwhole and blaming others (or even ourselves!) for our unhappiness? Until we all read this book and others like it, I'd guess.

An honest and heartfelt look at woman's path.
With this book, Marion Woodman guides us through a complex and difficult journey. Her work with women through the often painful and lonely process of coming into their own life is shared with wisdom, compassion and deep love. I have found this book to be fundamental to my growth and my process. The women who shared their stories have enriched my life and have helped guide me on my way. I've given this book as a gift to many women friends, and I feel it can be a helpful and useful tool for anyone embarking on the inner journey. ... Read more

Reviews (3)

an adlerian must-have book
this is exactly the kind of book that real adlerians like me must have in our shelves.

An excellent book covering the major ideas of Adler
The book presents the major works written by Adler himself. The editors give excellent commentary through out the book to help elucidate Adler's main ideas. The editors frequently compare and contrast Adler and Freud, making for very interesting reading. A must for any clinician.

An excellent introduction to Alfred Adler's work
For someone seeking to understand Alfred Adler's work and his relationship to other psychologists of the day, this work is a must. Instead of reading through all of his written works you can study his writings as arranged and discussed in this book. There is an overview of each major thought/idea, and selected quotes from his work itself. The author helps you to place Adler's teachings in context. It has earned a permanent place on my psychology bookshelf. ... Read more

Book Description

The language of Jung's writings, and of analytical psychology generally, is sometimes difficult to understand. This first guide, in dictionary format, combines scholarship and historical accuracy with a stimulating, critical attitude. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

well written and researched
I found this to be a very well written and researched bookwith extensive documentation to support the author's work. This isnot a Freud bashing book in the Fredrick Crewes model at all. I found it to be more of a historical documentation of the development of and influence's on Freud's theories. It discusses in more detail than I have seen elsewhere how Fliess (among many others) influenced Freud's thinking. The only reason I can surmise someone would react negatively to this book is if they cannot tolerate the realization that Freud was not working in a vacuum and many of his ideas were not unique to him (such as infantile sexuality) although his theories were more comprehensive and extensive in their scope. For anyone interested in the history of psychiatry, psychoanalysis and Freud, I highly recommend this book. END ... Read more

Book Description

"At a time when slick, superficial, psychological works are foisted on the lay-public, Allen Wheelis has written a serious treatise."--San Francisco Sunday Examiner-Chronicle ... Read more

Reviews (8)

Beautiful, almost poetic
This thin book is so refreshing. It is anything but predictable to the self-help junkie. This is not self-help. This a realistic look at the discipline that it takes to change oneself. It takes an unexpected turn, bringing the reader closer to the author's own struggles. A great compassion came over me after reading this book.

Will You Change?
Wheelis might argue that my writing this review is a conundrum: mandatory necessity versus arbitrary necessity. I cannot or will not answer that question. Suffice it to say that you the reader ought to make the time to read this slim book.

His writing is embarrassingly succinct and refreshingly frank. Thus, the book invites several readings; I have read it several times. Keep in mind that the subject of this book is self-directed change. "So long as one lives, change is possible; but the longer such behavior is continued the more force and authority it acquires." How then do we change? "Insight is instrumental to change, often an essential part of the process, but does not directly achieve it."

The author, to his credit, includes himself as a portrait of one who struggles with change. Read the chapter entitled "Grass." A friend, reading it, refused to borrow the book. She condemned the story as an example of child abuse. Superficially, it certainly seems so. One cannot avoid, however, the poignancy of the father's heartfelt remarks, "I wish you could understand, though, that I wouldn't be trying to teach you so fast if I knew I would live long enough to teach you more slowly." The father lay sick with tuberculosis, dying but months later.

Wheelis puts the story in context that will resonate with all who read it: "Thus I was made a psychological slave." But, "A slave is one who accepts the identity ascribed to him by a master." So, can one change? How? I cannot answer that question. I can give you one last quote from Wheelis, "The new mode will be experienced as difficult, unpleasant, forced, unnatural, anxiety-provoking. It may be undertaken lightly but can be sustained only by considerable effort of will. Change will occur only if such action is maintained over a long period of time."

Or, was B.F. Skinner more correct? "A person does not act upon the world, the world acts upon him."

A Timeless Gem
This book was written in the early '70s and, as such, touches tangentially on issues of the day such as homosexuality. With hindsight, we can easily condemn Wheelis' statements on that topic; but I firmly believe that the author himself would think differently today. Criticism of this book on that basis is specious at best and dishonest at worst. Wheelis draws on his own insight to discuss in a wonderfully accessible way what can happen when we make profound change. It is a very small book -- Wheelis does not mince words. He gets to the heart of the matter and stays with it. Most of us shrink from change, we are afraid of the dark. Wheelis shines a light of hope that inspires courage without minimizing the difficulties of change. To a great extent, he demystifies it while keeping its wonder.

almost a recommendable book
I loved this book when it dealt with very deep issues of personal choice in the therapeutic process, and I hated it when the author dated himself by insisting on treating homosexuality as if it were a mental disease. This was obviously written several decades ago, before the American Psychiatric Association finally removed homosexuality from its list of disorders. And Wheelis seems to bring up the issue a lot, even if he seems well-intentioned. I really would love to recommend this book to people, and have even given it out with apologies and explanations, but it really should be re-written with all homophobic comments removed.

What if I never found this book ?
I am so glad that I make a habit of paying attention to references from other authors. As I'm reading The Road Less Traveled, I noticed in M. Scott Peck's book, that he quoted Wheelis's book. I don't know if I would have ever heard of this of little gem of a book, so full of powerful words, if I hadn't noticed the title looking at me at the bottom of page 43 in TRLT. As someone who was treated as target practice physically as a child by my mother, but damaged even more so psychologically, it was so soothing to be able to relate to Wheelis's account of his father's treatment of him and how the author's acceptance of his father's opinion as fact, maintained a stronghold on the choices he made through adult life. He so articulately, using some great analogies to really drive in the concepts, demonstrated that it's only your *acceptance* of the verdict brought upon by adults in your childhood life that make your life tough now. Once you can trace your current behaviour to experiences as a youth, you see the freedom you really have in your reactions to life in the present. I'll stop now, because It's obvious I'm not a writer - just very passionate about letting people know how effective this book can really be. Look at it like this guy Wheelis met you in person, took you to lunch, and he let you in on what he found out as a psychoanalyst, about how the guilt brought upon him in childhood, and the value judgements that he accepted as true, truly messed with the actual physiological reactions (steel fingers around the heart when he's put on the spot socially) to social situations he still experiences in his 60's. But this book is way better than that lunch with him in person. There's a lot more material than just an hour of conversation, and it's always there, and you can understand so much by re-reading and re-reading, and that's what I've done, with more understanding each time I re-read it. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Water in the desert
For anyone who has wandered out beyond the usual borders of psychology and religion, Richard Moss's work is a pure gift, an oasis, and a place to heal. Despite his extraordinary experiences and profound realization, he is straightforward, unpretentious, and lucid. Better than anyone I know, he brings the transcendent truth into incarnate ordinariness, with humility, humor, and the grace of compassion. I have found his works, particularly this one, to be friends on the path--friends I keep going back to time and again. I cannot recommend his work highly enough to those on the journey of consciousness.

A beautiful experience for any awakening person.
Dr. Moss writes of his own powerful, beautiful, and totally spontaneous awakening experience and how he struggled to understand it and, through it, begin the process of living a life of "radical alivesness". In the book he shares his awakened understandings and the experiences of some of his patients and members of his classes and groups.

I first read the book ten years ago and it had such a tremendous and beautiful impact upon my consciousness that I am still telling people about it today. I was so glad to see it listed on Amazon.com because it was unavailable for awhile.

The message of the book is just as beautiful and important today. Dr. Moss writes that "Awakening is going on in varying degrees in every person. It is not something from which we can turn away".

In the closing chapter Dr. Moss relates the story of a patient whose awakening during a retreat was so powerful that it resulted in a spontaneous healing of cancer and other negative physical conditions.

A must read for evryone who is coming "awake". ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Freud loosens up a little
The logic of Freud can sometimes be overbearing when he is dealing with the makings of a joke. However, he does at times seem to drop his guard, speak in easy to understand terms, and give information that can be understood. If anyone is pursuing comedy in any form, this book would be helpful, and will help you compare your analyzation of what you do with someone who knew very well how the human mind worked. I've applied several of his concepts on stage and have found them successful. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

That Nation's Saving Grace
In the postwar US, Freudianism was an art of those concerned with the temporary suspension of unpleasant "realities": artists and intellectuals, persons intent on the maintenance of certain standards in the face of certain social leitmotifs. But "ego psychology" and the Lacanianism which challenged it in the name of scientific ethics were not the only Freud booms to occur, and the most poorly-remembered influence of Freud is perhaps that of James Strachey's Standard Translation on 20th-century Britain. Strachey's choices for translation of Freud's German are almost downright misleading from the standpoint of Freud's own concerns as a steward of Austro-Hungarian culture, but it is to be remembered that Freud's early work was read intensively by European intellectuals; and the group of British intellectuals centered around the Independent Labour Party was no exception, as the tendency of Freud's thought corresponded nicely to the ILP's already-existing concern with the "delinking" of moralism from the politics of everyday life. In other words, it would perhaps be a good idea to consider Strachey's Freud not as anticipating further developments in the line of positivistic decomposition of social mores but as a response to Shavian refusals of certain arrangements (such as enfranchised Britons were offered in lieu of the rapidly expanding social services of their Continental contemporaries): perhaps Bloomsbury can be taken to have codified the rules of this form of *epater*, rather than reinvented it with any "singlemindedness", and perhaps this work deserves to be taken as exemplary of this succor rather than scientifically "exceptionable" in its conjecture -- no matter how much we scruple to rigorize, no "research program" can be attributed to those whose assays produce no viable counterexamples.

best intro to the thought of a great humanist
Here you can witness Freud not as the straw man stereotype that so many despise but as a warm, humorous man with a great deal of vision. The man you encounter in this book is so different from what you would expect that I warmly recommend this to anyone with an inquiring mind.

He was a genius. ... Read more

Book Description

Reviews (5)

Australian Aborigines and Freud's "Neurotic" Patients
This is the first Freud book I have ever read. I am not a trained psychiatrist, or sociologist, or ethnologist, so I am going to review the book from a layman's standpoint.

In this work, Freud draws heavily on observations and theories of ethnology, emphasizing on studies of Australian aborigines and Frazer's work. He draws a parellel with his personal observations from treatment of "neurotic" patients and claims to have found common patterns in these two classes of subjects, which tend to explain certain social and psychological phenomena, as well as the "birth" of religion.

He focuses on the concepts of "Totem" and "Taboo". While familiar with taboo (although our understanding of the term is narrower than Freud's), totem is remote to us. Certain aboriginal peoples were grouped in social groupings, centered on the cult of and belief of descent from a certain animal. So, you are the "Kangaroo tribe", we are the "Ostrich tribe" etc. The topic most interesting Freud, to which he devotes the first essay in the book, is "exogamy", i.e. marriage outside one's group. This practice of exogamy seems to be in contradiction to what is pursued by some ethnic groups in America (Jews and Greeks come to mind) i.e. "endogamy" - a push to have children marry within their parents' ethnic group. This practice of exogamy in Australian aborigines is attributed by Freud to fear of incest, with quite convincing arguments.

What is challening is to concoct a theory that suggests totemism and exogamy are not orthogonal social institutions that just happenned to coexist, but intricately bound together. Freud accomplishes that through intricate reasoning that draws heavily on religion (in his 4th essay). His argumentation may seem far-fetched to many, but is plausible, although it is hard to get convinced that it is the single, or most probable, theory explaining the issue.

Freud makes the analogy that what primitive people are to ethnography, "neurotics" are to psychoanalysis and tries to map patterns from one domain to the other. Another goal is to establish the theory of totemism as the primordial religion from which all known religions and beliefs have spawned over time. The fact that Hinduists rever and never kill cows, seems to me (my example, not Freud's) to support this theory; Hinduists could be considered an outgrowth of a "Cow totem". Also, in modern Judeochristian societies, the totem, for intermarriage avoidance, has been replaced by the blood relatives group. Greek civil law for instance, forbids marrying blood relatives to the 4th degree and relatives through marriage to the 3th degree (i.e. after marriage your also become a member of your spouse's "totem" - for life).

His 2nd essay discusses the concept of taboo. He defines it as "a set of limitations that primitive people apply to themselves". He contends that people who do "taboo things" become taboo themselves (certainly prostitutes would fit that profile). In our modern society, one's car is taboo, such as one's tools and guns were in prehistory.

Deists may have a hard time with Freud, especially since he states "we know well that just like gods, demons too are figments of the human imagination". Freud was an atheist and his train of thought is naturally and instictively atheistic, and this could be challenging for a deist.

Amazing is how some taboos of primitive times, remain alive, even in a degenerate form, in our times. For instance, just as primitives of New Guinea don't eat meat after killing an enemy (a taboo), modern Greek Orthodox people don't eat meat in the lunch following the funeral ceremony (only fish and veggies allowed). Also, the "dirtiness" taboo, where primitives were subjected to purification ceremonies, seems to be alive in the Eastern Orthodox sacrament of baptism where the to-be-christened baby is washed in the baptisery. Female "uncleanliness" during menstruation is also taboo in the Eastern Church; women are never allowed in the santum (blood taboo). It is considered taboo in Greek to say that a woman is menstruating, whereas politeness calls to say that "she feels sick". Also, the death taboo is alive in an incomprehensible to me (but "self-evident" to them as Freud would say) avoidance by many to refer to cancer by its name, opting instead the expressions "the bad thing" or "the cursed disease".

Also, the taboo, Freud mentions, whereby the archpriest of Zeus in Rome, was forbidden to ride horses, seems to be alive, in that the heads of states rarely drive cars themselves, but are rather given a ride by their chauffers. Regarding king-priests, last time I checked the Queen of England was also the head of the Church of England...

The third essay (animism and magic) is also important. Interestingly, Freud considers animism as the only weltanschaung completely and comprehensively (albeit incorrectly) explaining world's nature. He does not believe that subsequent religious and scientific weltanschaungen have achieved this. The animism->religion->science progression of world views discussed is extremely important and core for understanding his work. I guess that were he alive and learned that 90% of Americans are religious (Source: Euronews) he would be rather skeptical of the "progress" of mankind...

In his fourth essay, he returns to totemism, reaching the culmination of this work, in an awe-inspiring scene, where the young brothers kill and devour their own father. This vivid scene of patricide, which he subsequently manages to mitigate, suggesting the possibility that it was perpetrated only in people's minds (temptation), he proclaims as the original sin of mankind, which young males throughout the millenia try to redeem. This theory is highly controversial, albeit very interesting and thought-provoking. This scene is worth the whole book not only for its intensity, but also for the dexterity with which Freud creatively combines and correlates findings from fields so diverse, such as psychiatry, psychology, sociology, ethnology, religion, and philosophy, along with deep understanding of the human psyche, to reach a conclusion of such importance, and arguably impact, regarding who we are, and why we are doing things the way we are.

Sorry Daddy, I have to cut you off
Parricide, guilt, cannibalism--what's not to love?

The unconscious rides again!
And this time trough those primitive manifestations performed by that very primitive peoples like aborigenes from Australia, North and South America indians and many others discovered by colonization european, manifestation that we are used to call by Totem and Taboo. This is the standard Freud's view on the subject and to understand this book is a necessary step to proceed to other important Freud's work like Moses and Monotheism, The Future of an Ilusion and many others, where he approaches with reluctance the idea of religion as an offspring of early animism.

The prior standard way of seeing these types of primitive manifestation was to see them trough the amount of dread the primitive men have against the manifestation of some praeternatural agency, to use a term used by Mr.Thorstein Veblen, a contemporary of Freud, in his magnificent book on the leisure class (The Theory of the Leisure Class). It is worthy to note that nobody can be sure on the origins of this type of tradition and that adds substance to Mr.Freud's arguments.

Sigmund Freud goes a step further to the classical view and says that totemism and taboo as animism are the manifestation of something not outside ourselves but rather inside human minds of the primitive people, where the unconscious played a good part to the forming of this kind of culture manifestation and where there is an intricate and unconscious and almost mathematical calculation in order to attribute to the priest-king, who typifies the carrier of this tradition, both the pleasures and the burden of the function. In Freud's view, both totem and taboo are traditions that have to find their origim in the unconscious of that primitive folks and not in the concurrence of fear to the dead, following the tradition of his many other books on the latent manifestations of the unconscious. The ritual and actual killing of the father by the Horde or Band of Brothers, who are in search of vital space for their development, is the real reason behind all that happens afterwards and, following Freud's hypotheses, are the groundwork of modern and ancient religion.

The concepts here explained will be fundamental to the development of the hypotheses developed latter in Moses and Monotheism.

A perfect exemplar of Freud's central arguments
Totem and Taboo, along with _The Future of an Illusion_, should be necessary reading for any serious student of social science. Of course, there are massive holes in Freud's arguments (such as his tendancy to make sweeping generalizations about other cultures from his armchair in Europe), but people who disagree with him for moral and ethical reasons tend to amplify those holes and simply ridicule Freud the man instead of intelligently approaching his arguments.
The fact is, his suppositions about parental relations (as they relate to "totem" cultures), about religion, and about sexuality are extremely relevant and have proven, over the years, to possess an extraordinary predictive power. Even if one disagrees with this literature, one should read it and know exactly what they disagree with.

Draws the age of antiquity up to the present.
Draws the age of antiquity up to the present in a way that demonstrates how far away we really are not from the savages. It helps to shed the light on some of the really neurotic impulses we still exhibit today!! we're fast approaching Y2K but we are as primitive in many regards when compared to our ancestors. ... Read more

Reviews (4)

introversion extraversion intuition sensation thinkng feelng
If you're familiar with the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) and want to know more about it then _Psychological Types_ is one title you'd certainly want to read. It is the definitive work on which the MBTI is based. In this volume Jung explains in detail what the nature of the two attitudes--introversion and extraversion--really are, as well as that of the four functions--intuition, sensation, thinking, and feeling. He also discusses various combinations of these attitudes and functions, such as Introverted-Thinking, Introverted-Feeling, Extraverted-Sensation, etc.

It is Jung who gave us the terms introversion and extraversion. But our colloquial understanding of these terms are not exactly what Jung had in mind. For instance introversion he says means "an inward-turning of libido [psychic energy]." Moreover, the introverted person is one who orients himself predominantly by subjective views in contrast to the extraverted who orients himself by objective (external) conditions. Therefore, extraversion and introversion have to do with which realm--outer or inner--the person is drawn to and invests his energies in. So much for our simplistic notions of what these now household words mean!

Personally, I have not read the first half of the book. When I got my copy I went straight to Chapter 10 "General Description of the Types" since that's where the meat of Jungian typology can be found. And let's not forget the four essays in the appendix. They too offer additional insights into typology.

As a bonus there is an entire chapter (some 80 pages) entitled "Definitions" which is actually an in-depth glossary of some of the more important terms and ideas that Jung uses throughout the Collected Works.

If you'd like to learn about (Jungian) personality typology then I suggest you get this relatively inexpensive paperback edition. I've read many works on Jungian typology but nothing beats getting it straight from the horse's mouth.

an interesting typology....
...but a tiring survey of previous typologies that must be read before you get to Jung's version.

Jung is fantastic!
Jung's theories are absolutely amazing. Anyone who is interested in psychology should read this book!

professionals masterpiece, addressible for laymen
A deep look at the mechanisms of the "psychic functions". Surely instructive for layman with its analysis of human behaviour in everyday life. This work best explores the Jung's concept of the unconscious and proves that his concept is far from being a mystical one as some critics wrote. It also gives a historical perspective of the thoughts of some great thinkers (Schiller, William James and some others )on the problem of psychological types. ... Read more

Reviews (3)

A superb book for anyone interested in Reich
Wilhelm Reich was many things in his lifetime- a student of Freud, a political activist, a research scientist, and an inventor. His work was decades ahead of its time and is finally being rediscovered and reevaluated by the public. If, like me, you are interested in Reich and his work, you might want to check out a novel called We All Fall Down, by Brian Caldwell. it draws heavily on Reich's theories, particularly Listen Little Man and The Mass Psychology Of Facism. It's a great introduction to Reich's work and the entire novel draws heavily on his theory. It's very interesting watching an author explore his theories in a fictional setting. Well worth reading.

An Astonishing Biography
This has to be one of the best biographies ever written. It is certainly the best ever written about Reich. You will not be able to put it down or forget it after you've read it. The effort that went into presenting all of the aspects of Reich's life and work is staggering. That extraordinary flame of humanity, Willhelm Reich, is presented here as never before. Bravo!

Mad, bad and dangerous to know.
An extraordinary read, totally compelling as you follow Reich through the traumas of the twentieth century, his own grip on reality fragmenting all the time. And yet he remains a strangely attractive character - sure he is a "crackpot" but the book forces you to re-examine conventional views of society and science. The author, although obviously an enthusiast for Reich's idiosyncratic "Weltanschauung", never flinches from describing Reich's rampant excesses. Ultimately, you're left with a sense of sadness that the world proved too small a space for Reich and the nagging feeling that time will increasingly vindicate his extraordinary ideas. ... Read more

Reviews (6)

Christian Symbolism and Equilibrium of the Self
I found a lot of this book formidably dense. Recently I read an introductory book on Jung by psychoanalyst Anthony Storr that sheds some light, even though Storr never specifically mentions AION. Storr observes a tendency in Jung's thinking to describe the psyche as a self-regulating mechanism, like the human endocrine system. For example, extraverted activity in the unconscious compensates for introverted activity in the conscious (or vice versa). Also, a neurosis may be the unconscious's way of compensating for overly one-sided thinking in the conscious. Similarly, a schizophrenic delusion may be the psyche's (unsuccessful) attempt to restore a lost mental balance.

Examples of this balance/compensation principle in AION:
(1) The Christ symbol. It's a symbol of the Self (like most of the symbols and archetypes discussed in the book), but it lacks a Shadow or inferior component; consequently, the early Christians were compelled to generate the Anti-Christ symbol. However, since the Christ and Anti-Christ are separate entities in traditional Christian thinking, the Western worldview has become highly dualistic and Manichaean, good vs. evil.
(2) The God archetype. As Western thinking has become increasingly secular over the centuries, the God-image has become repressed into the unconscious, where it emerges in savage political forms such as fascism, a worship of the State. (Jung wrote this a few years after World War II.)
(3) Leviathan and Behemoth. "God's monstrous antagonist produces a double because the God-image is incomplete..." (pg. 120).
(4) Sons of God in Catharist legend: Satanael the elder son, Christ the younger son. Similar to the Christ/Anti-Christ dichotomy.
(5) The "higher" and "lower" Adam figures in some Gnostic legends. The higher Adam represents higher states of consciousness; the lower Adam, the unconscious.
(6) The two thieves crucified with Christ. One is destined for heaven (higher consciousness), the other for a warmer climate (unconscious).

Of course, there's more to the book than this equilibrium-of-the-Self aspect. But that aspect ties in with the main theme, the process of individuation (or ascending to a higher state of consciousness) in the Western mind.

Jung really assaults the reader here with his encyclopedic knowledge of religion and alchemy. A lot of his later work deals with esoteric subjects (alchemy, gnosticism, hermeticism, kabbalah). I found a few of the religious subjects, like the medieval "Holy Ghost" movement, to be pretty interesting in themselves, but unfortunately Jung discusses only those elements that relate to his psychological theories.

One of his greatest works
_Aion_ is part 2 of volume nine of Jung's collected works. Although _Aion_ is unquestionably a stand-alone work, ideally it should be read after part 1, which is _Archetypes of the Collective Unconscious_.

That said, _Aion_ is one of Jung's greatest works and is one of the first three that anyone who is new to Jung should start with. The first part deals with Christianity, and the significance of the death of Christ. This is treated as a legitimate, factual historical event, yet it is also explained as a collective pschic phenomenon in the general sense. The middle part of the book deals with ancient alchemy, and the symbolic parallels between alchemy and modern conceptions of psychology. This might sound dull, but trust me - you will be surprised to see the uncanny symbolic parallels between ancient magical practices and the most modern, up to date theories of the psyche. This is discussed at length in the section on the "Two Fishes", which is one of Jung's greatest essays (although quite difficult). The final section deals with quaternity symbolism, and features a wide array of strange diagrams. About 200 pages in, these diagrams will become more frequent, and the reader might get frustrated trying to see the significance of these rudimentary drawings. Personally, my advice is to stop reading after 200 pages. All of the useful essays are contained within these first 200 pages, while the final 50 or so pages contains esoteric essays which can be considered, at best, curiosity pieces for the insatiable, die-hard Jungian. The editiors wisely confined this esoterica to final few pages of the book. This is not to take anything away from the book as a whole. Overall, _Aion_ is extremely profound and insightful, and is a must read for Jungians and non-Jungians alike.

Jung At Heart, CW9, Part 2
"In psychology one possesses nothing unless one has experienced it in reality." (Jung p. 33) In this volume Jung provides us with his experiences with the human psyche and conclusions about these experiences.

Jung suggests that humans have a psychological makeup that generally exceeds their ability to comprehend it. In this volume he defines and describes these "hidden" aspects of the human psyche, such as: the Ego, the Self, the Shadow, the Anima and others. Jung makes suggestions as to how modern Western humans can discover these unconscious aspects of themselves and how they can be integrated into human consciousness.

This volume hints at a process Jung called individuation, in which the personally unconscious aspects of a human being are united with their normal consciousness, and then this expanded consciousness becomes subservient to a new meta-consciousness, which he called The Self, and which transcends human comprehension, except as an experience. (It is beyond names and forms.) Jung spends a good deal of time describing The Self using Western religious metaphors to make his examples.

Most of Jung's theories have slipped into our collective Western unconsciousness, so that they are now part of our unconscious assumptions, (e.g. projection, shadow, denial, the unconsciousness of our faults) and if you would like to become conscious of these assumptions, a reading of this book might facilitate that experience.

If you are familiar with Jung's work, this will increase your understanding of his concept of the human psyche, its parts and the goal of unification of those parts.

A Brilliant Work
A brilliant and astonishing work from one of the world's most original and important thinkers. Essential reading for anyone interested in the Human psyche. Jung truly understands the connection and importance of Christ in relation to Mankind's present evolutionary state, as he is poised to enter into the new "Aion". The best "New Age" book of all!

Jung's seminal work on the Self...
....and very technical for non-beginners. For those up on Jung, indispensable. (See also Edward Edinger's AION Lectures.) Jung's demonstration of the archetypal Self's embodiment in history and myth is wonderful. ... Read more

Book Description

"A radical departure from most of current cognitive development theory.... Nativists, structuralists, empiricists and social constructivists will disagree with different parts of this book. Yet this landmark volume is essential reading for all of them." -- Annette Karmiloff-Smith and Mark H. Johnson, Nature

A Dynamic Systems Approach to the Development of Cognition and Action presents a comprehensive and detailed theory of early human development based on the principles of dynamic systems theory. Beginning with their own research in motor, perceptual, and cognitive development, Thelen and Smith raise fundamental questions about prevailing assumptions in the field. They propose a new theory of the development of cognition and action, unifying recent advances in dynamic systems theory with current research in neuroscience and neural development. In particular, they show how by processes of exploration and selection, multimodal experiences form the bases for self-organizing perception-action categories. Thelen and Smith offer a radical alternative to current cognitive theory, both in their emphasis on dynamic representation and in their focus on processes of change. Among the first attempt to apply complexity theory to psychology, they suggest reinterpretations of several classic issues in early cognitive development. The book is divided into three sections. The first discusses the nature of developmental processes in general terms, the second covers dynamic principles in process and mechanism, and the third looks at how a dynamic theory can be applied to enduring puzzles of development. Cognitive Psychology series ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Complexity Theory and Psychology
This book is among the first to apply complexity theory to developmental psychology, and is definitely a must read for anyone interested in either topic. When read in conjunction with Port and Van Gelder's Mind as Motion, Walter Freeman's How Brains Make Up Their Minds, and Alicia Juarrero's Dynamics in Action, one begins to see aborning the outline of a new framework for a naturalized philosophy of mind. ... Read more