This cautionary tale of pseudo-scientific hubris my well be not only the year’s best book on a mental-health topic, but also...
A very important, sobering study of psychiatric overreach during a quarter-century (roughly 1948—73) in treating three psychotic or near-psychotic illnesses: schizophrenia, autism, and obsessive-compulsive disorder.
Dolnick, a veteran science and health journalist (formerly with the Boston Globe), notes how prone to “parent bashing” leading psychiatric and psychoanalytic theorists were during this period. Thus, Frieda Fromm-Reichmann coined the term ’schizophrenic mother— in 1948, and Gregory Bateson (more an anthropologist than a psychologist) in the mid-1950s alluded ominously to parents of schizophrenics placing their children in highly anxiety-provoking, unresolvable dilemmas termed “double binds.” Bruno Bettelheim, who for many years was seen as a pioneer and kind of national guru in the treatment of autism, wrote in 1981, “All my life I feel I have been working with children whose lives have been destroyed because their mothers hated them.” Theorists also often based their absolutist, increasingly widely held conclusions—that parents had caused the illnesses and that mental-health professionals alone could cure then, largely through talk therapy—on the most unscientific of methods. Sometimes they worked with ridiculously small study samples, as in the case of psychiatrist Theodore Lisz, who wrote for many years about schizophrenic patients after studying all of 17 upper-class New England families. Ultimately, of course, their theories and practices proved almost entirely wrong; psychoanalysis was found to be largely useless in treating the severer mental disorders. In addition, the discovery and effective employment of psychotropic medication, beginning with thorazine in 1952 and culminating with Prozac during the 1990s, demonstrated that severe, and many lesser, emotional and mental disorders are largely rooted in biological imbalances, not in individual or familial psychological dynamics. Dolnick provides valuable information on Freudian, non-Freudian, and contemporary theories about the three illnesses he examines and on how long-held views gradually were debunked during the late 1960s and ’70s, and he writes in a tremendously engaging and informative manner.
This cautionary tale of pseudo-scientific hubris my well be not only the year’s best book on a mental-health topic, but also one of the most compelling works of its kind in this decade.Pub Date: Oct. 1, 1998
ISBN: 0-684-82497-3
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 1998
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Striking research showing the immense complexity of ordinary thought and revealing the identities of the gatekeepers in our...
A psychologist and Nobel Prize winner summarizes and synthesizes the recent decades of research on intuition and systematic thinking.
The author of several scholarly texts, Kahneman (Emeritus Psychology and Public Affairs/Princeton Univ.) now offers general readers not just the findings of psychological research but also a better understanding of how research questions arise and how scholars systematically frame and answer them. He begins with the distinction between System 1 and System 2 mental operations, the former referring to quick, automatic thought, the latter to more effortful, overt thinking. We rely heavily, writes, on System 1, resorting to the higher-energy System 2 only when we need or want to. Kahneman continually refers to System 2 as “lazy”: We don’t want to think rigorously about something. The author then explores the nuances of our two-system minds, showing how they perform in various situations. Psychological experiments have repeatedly revealed that our intuitions are generally wrong, that our assessments are based on biases and that our System 1 hates doubt and despises ambiguity. Kahneman largely avoids jargon; when he does use some (“heuristics,” for example), he argues that such terms really ought to join our everyday vocabulary. He reviews many fundamental concepts in psychology and statistics (regression to the mean, the narrative fallacy, the optimistic bias), showing how they relate to his overall concerns about how we think and why we make the decisions that we do. Some of the later chapters (dealing with risk-taking and statistics and probabilities) are denser than others (some readers may resent such demands on System 2!), but the passages that deal with the economic and political implications of the research are gripping.
Striking research showing the immense complexity of ordinary thought and revealing the identities of the gatekeepers in our minds.Pub Date: Nov. 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-374-27563-1
Page Count: 512
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: Sept. 3, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2011
BOOK REVIEW
IN THE NEWS
These are not hard and fast rules, but Meyer delivers important reading for those engaged in international business.
A helpful guide to working effectively with people from other cultures.
“The sad truth is that the vast majority of managers who conduct business internationally have little understanding about how culture is impacting their work,” writes Meyer, a professor at INSEAD, an international business school. Yet they face a wider array of work styles than ever before in dealing with clients, suppliers and colleagues from around the world. When is it best to speak or stay quiet? What is the role of the leader in the room? When working with foreign business people, failing to take cultural differences into account can lead to frustration, misunderstanding or worse. Based on research and her experiences teaching cross-cultural behaviors to executive students, the author examines a handful of key areas. Among others, they include communicating (Anglo-Saxons are explicit; Asians communicate implicitly, requiring listeners to read between the lines), developing a sense of trust (Brazilians do it over long lunches), and decision-making (Germans rely on consensus, Americans on one decider). In each area, the author provides a “culture map scale” that positions behaviors in more than 20 countries along a continuum, allowing readers to anticipate the preferences of individuals from a particular country: Do they like direct or indirect negative feedback? Are they rigid or flexible regarding deadlines? Do they favor verbal or written commitments? And so on. Meyer discusses managers who have faced perplexing situations, such as knowledgeable team members who fail to speak up in meetings or Indians who offer a puzzling half-shake, half-nod of the head. Cultural differences—not personality quirks—are the motivating factors behind many behavioral styles. Depending on our cultures, we understand the world in a particular way, find certain arguments persuasive or lacking merit, and consider some ways of making decisions or measuring time natural and others quite strange.
These are not hard and fast rules, but Meyer delivers important reading for those engaged in international business.Pub Date: May 27, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-61039-250-1
Page Count: 288
Publisher: PublicAffairs
Review Posted Online: April 15, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2014
© Copyright 2024 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
