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Author Wright, Katie (Katie Jane), author

Title The rise of the therapeutic society : psychological knowledge & the contradictions of cultural change / Katie Wright
Published Washington, DC : New Academia, 2011
Washington, DC : New Academia Publishing, 2011
©2014

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 W'PONDS  616.89140994 Wri/Rot  DUE 11-09-23
Description ix, 279 pages : illustrations (black and white) ; 23 cm
Contents Introduction -- 1. The therapeutic society & its discontents -- 2. Modernity, medicine & the problem of "nerves" -- 3. The legitimation of psychological expertise -- 4. Cultural diffusion of the analytic attitude -- 5. Therapy : inside the talking cure -- 6. Reflections on the therapeutic turn
Summary This book is an examination of the contemporary fascination with psychological life and the historical developments that fostered it. Taking Australia as the focal point, Katie Wright traces the ascendancy of therapeutic culture, from nineteenth century concerns about nervousness, to the growth of psychology, the diffusion of an analytic attitude, and the spread of therapy and counseling. Wright's analysis, which draws on social theory, cultural history, and interviews with therapists and people in therapy, calls into question the pessimism that pervades many accounts of the therapeutic turn and provides an alternative assessment of its ramifications for social, political, and personal life in the globalized West
Analysis Australian
Bibliography Includes bibliographical references and index
Subject Counseling psychology -- Australia.
Counseling -- Australia.
Psychology -- Australia -- History.
Psychotherapy -- Australia -- History.
LC no. 2011921073
ISBN 0983245126 (paperback)
9780983245124 (paperback)