Synopses & Reviews
“Psychology has stepped down from the university chair into the marketplace” was how the
New York Times put it in 1926. Another commentator in 1929 was more biting. Psychoanalysis, he said, had over a generation, “converted the human scene into a neurotic.” Freud first used the word around 1895, and by the 1920s psychoanalysis was a phenomenon to be reckoned with in the United States. How it gained such purchase, taking hold in virtually every aspect of American culture, is the story Lawrence R. Samuel tells in
Shrink, the first comprehensive popular history of psychoanalysis in America.
Arriving on the scene at around the same time as the modern idea of the self, psychoanalysis has both shaped and reflected the ascent of individualism in American society. Samuel traces its path from the theories of Freud and Jung to the innermost reaches of our current me-based, narcissistic culture. Along the way he shows how the arbiters of culture, high and low, from public intellectuals, novelists, and filmmakers to Good Housekeeping and the Cosmo girl, mediated or embraced psychoanalysis (or some version of it), until it could be legitimately viewed as an integral feature of American consciousness.
Review
“A fascinating, funny, and fast-paced exploration of how psychoanalysis has become subtly but deeply ingrained in everything from American art and advertising to our aspirations and identities.”—Stephen J. Kraus, author of Psychological Foundations of Success: A Harvard-Trained Scientist Separates the Science of Success from Self-Help Snake Oil
Review
“An exceptionally well-researched, accessible book that will undoubtedly appeal to both professionals in the psychoanalytic field and the interested lay reader.”—Therese Ragen, author of The Consulting Room and Beyond: Psychoanalytic Work and Its Reverberations in the Analysts Life
Review
"[Samuel] takes psychoanalysis off the couch in this fascinating history of the growth of Freud's brainchild. . . . This compelling study will appeal both to proponents and detractors."—Publishers Weekly
Review
"The distinctiveness of Shrink lies in its focus on popular culture. . . . An American book on America and psychoanalysis would not be complete without the extras: the retelling of horror and wonder stories that made news in the 1950s-1970s; the review of the popular terms that emerged to capture the psychoanalytic moment—from getting "psyched" in the 1920s to "hitting the couch" in mid-century; the discussion of films dealing with psychoanalysis; the treatment of the topic in womens magazines, etc. etc."—Liana Giorgi, New York Journal of Books
Review
"A fascinating history."—James A. Cox , Library Bookwatch
Review
"Lawrence R. Samuel successfully explores the role psychoanalysis has had on shaping the country's consciousness overtime. Samuel delivers a powerful narrative of the discipline's ups and downs, packed with lively quotes, anecdotes, and fascinating historical tidbits."—Foreword Reviews
Synopsis
This provocative history of bipolar disorder illuminates how perceptions of illness, if not the illnesses themselves, are mutable over time. Beginning with the origins of the concept of mania -- and the term maniac -- in ancient Greek and Roman civilizations, renowned psychiatrist David Healy examines how concepts of mental afflictions evolved as scientific breakthroughs established connections between brain function and mental illness. Healy recounts the changing definitions of mania through the centuries, explores the effects of new terminology and growing public awareness of the disease on culture and society, and examines the rise of psychotropic treatments and pharmacological marketing over the past four decades. Along the way, Healy clears much of the confusion surrounding bipolar disorder even as he raises crucial questions about how, why, and by whom the disease is diagnosed.
Drawing heavily on primary sources and supplemented with interviews and insight gained over Healy's long career, this lucid and engaging overview of mania sheds new light on one of humankind's most vexing ailments.
About the Author
Lawrence R. Samuel is the author of several books, including The American Dream: A Cultural History and Freud on Madison Avenue: Motivation Research and Subliminal Advertising in America.