Name: Why Psychoanalysis? (European Perspectives: A Series in Social Thought and Cultural Criticism)
SKU: 1655226
Price: 43.88 EUR
Availability: InStock
Author: Élisabeth Roudinesco
ISBN: 9780231122030

portada Why Psychoanalysis? (European Perspectives: A Series in Social Thought and Cultural Criticism)

Why Psychoanalysis? (European Perspectives: A Series in Social Thought and Cultural Criticism)

Type

Physical Book

Author

Élisabeth Roudinesco

Publisher

Columbia University Press

Year

2003

Language

English

Pages

184

Format

Paperback

Dimensions

20.3x16 cm

Weight

ISBN

0231122039

ISBN13

9780231122030

Synopsis "Why Psychoanalysis? (European Perspectives: A Series in Social Thought and Cultural Criticism) "

Why do some people still choose psychoanalysis-Freud's so-called talking cure-when numerous medications are available that treat the symptoms of psychic distress so much faster? Elisabeth Roudinesco tackles this difficult question, exploring what she sees as a "depressive society": an epidemic of distress addressed only by an increasing reliance on prescription drugs. Far from contesting the efficacy of new medications like Prozac, Zoloft, and Viagra in alleviating the symptoms of any number of mental or nervous conditions, Roudinesco argues that the use of such drugs fails to solve patients' real problems. In the man who takes Viagra without ever wondering why he is suffering from impotence and the woman who is given antidepressants to deal with the loss of a loved one, Roudinesco sees a society obsessed with efficiency and desperate for the quick fix. She argues that "the talking cure" and pharmacology represent not just different approaches to psychiatry, but different worldviews. The rush to treat symptoms is itself symptomatic of an antiseptic and depressive culture in which thought is reduced to the firing of neurons and desire is just a chemical secretion. In contrast, psychoanalysis testifies to human freedom and the power of language.

Élisabeth Roudinesco

(Author)

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Élisabeth Roudinesco (París, 1944), historiadora y directora de investigaciones de la Universidad de París-VII, es autora de numerosas obras, entre las que destacan Jacq...

Élisabeth Roudinesco (París, 1944), historiadora y directora de investigaciones de la Universidad de París-VII, es autora de numerosas obras, entre las que destacan Jacques Lacan. Esbozo de una vida, historia de un sistema de pensamiento (1995), Diccionario amoroso del psicoanálisis (Debate, 2019) y El yo soberano. Ensayo sobre las derivas identitarias (Debate, 2022).

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