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Evolutionary Psychiatry: A New Beginning

Evolutionary Psychiatry: A New Beginning

List Price: $31.95
Your Price: $31.95
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Jungian psychology
Review: Interesting book, but it doesn't deliver. It hasn't suceeded in bringing an up to date evolutionary account of development.

J.R. Harris The Nurture Assumption and S. Pinker's The Blank Slate: the Modern Denial of Human Nature discredits attachment theory with astounding empirical strength. Evolutionary Psychiatry seems to be bogged down by its freudian/jungian heritage in its emphasis on attachment. Not to mention the psychoanalytic/dynamic tradition general lack of empirical soundness.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Exceptional and very rare scholarly work
Review: It is an exceptional and very rare scholarly work of incredible science that tries to avoid human biases that can easily creep into the evaluation of psychoanalysis, psychotherapy, and other therapies. As other good reviewers have said this book is very
comprehensive and written for the advanced reader but it is a MUST for ALL and should be mandatory reading for any
progressive school or person. The book discusses several human brain conditions from anxiety all to way to schizophrenia and
discusses their definition, diagnosis, origins, prevalence, reasons for existing, etc.... What I specifically noted about this book, apart from all the good that has been written, is its attempt to remove, as much as possible, human biases in the science of psychology and psychiatry and to just state "Just the facts mam". They even admit to the pitfalls of the traditional fields of psychology and psychiatry (e.g. psychoanalysis). A MUST for those wanting to move on beyond the traditional psychobable
and self-help; towards real science.

An extremely interesting book detailing evolutionary human behavior. Covers a very wide range from the history of evolutionary
thinking to the latest views. Includes: kin selection, friendship, family, group, and tribal behavioral dynamics as viewed from an
evolutionary point of view.

For further reading:
The Moral Animal : The New Science of Evolutionary Psychology by Robert Wright
Charles Darwin by John Bowlby
Darwinian Psychiatry by Michael T. McGuire, Alfonso Troisi

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: A useful re-visioning of Jungian psychology
Review: Stevens has long been an almost lone champion of the biological aspect of Jungian thought. While Jung himself spent most of his energy on the products of the psyche --dreams and mythology-- he was very clear that at base he was talking about the common biological and genetic inheritance and structures of the human species. The archetypal theory is rooted in an observation of the instinctual patterns of the species. Beginning a dialogue with the emerging work of evolutionary psychology helps to anchor some of Jung's basic theories in a more contemporarily scientific frame (something he himself always insisted was crucial to his self-understanding as an empiricist). Stevens' contribution can help to balance the sometimes lopsided captivity of Jungian thought to such disparate enterprises as psychoanalysis and Goddess ecofeminism.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Toward Objective Psychiatry
Review: This book is an exciting attempt to lay the groundwork for a new, Darwinian science of psychiatry. It clearly shows that most if not all psychiatric disorders can be understood in terms of rank and status deficits.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Confused
Review: This is the kind of book that creates the impression that psychiatry deals with arbitrary collections of symptoms, with little understanding of what causes the symptoms. The book's occasional attempts to describe evolutionary influences rarely describe any connection between the symptoms and reproductive fitness, leave me wondering whether they have a clue about evolutionary theory.
For better insights into this subject, read the book Shadow Syndromes, which describes some disorders as extremes of traits which provide benefits in more moderate forms. And read The Nurture Assumption to see what's wrong with Bowlby's attachment theory that Stevens and Price mention approvingly.


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