Opening Skinner's Box by Lauren Slater Buy book: $15.72
Slater documents the drama of extraordinary inquiries into human psychology, bringing to life stories with unforgettable protagonists. She delivers a witty and stunningly perceptive view of the progress of the science of the human mind in the last century.
As a psychology major in college, by the time I'd finished my degree, I was totally disgusted with the so called 'profession'. It will be fun to read Ms Slater's take on it. So far, I am captivated.
I do not really have too much respect for the field of psychology. A brain is a major organ like a heart, but it is treated like a small appendage. Any newbie is allowed to work on it. I just had to laugh when they said it's a respected science. How is a mind game a respected science.
This book appeals to me because they are going to play mind games with the very makers of mind games!
This message has been edited by chapteraday on May 2, 2005 3:35 PM
OOoh,,,,I LOVE Psychology and often wish that was the career path I had taken instead of Nursing. (actually in any interaction with others, no matter the career, there is Psych isn't there? lol)
So why have I been deleting this? I don't know....just too many other things I'm reading right now. :0
A medical doctorate graduate (M.D.) who has taken a few years of postdoctoral internship to study brain disorders becomes a psychiatrist. The psychiatric model of treatment is to “solve” the patients’ problems with medications.
A psychologist (Ph.D.) has studied the science of psychology for 10 years. Psychologists study human behavior, motivation and possibly modification. In an institutional setting they usually do testing and results. The client patient approach involves talking and asking the right questions so the patient can clarify their perspective.
The problem with both of these fields is they define aberrant patterns of behavior. There is no pattern definition for “normal” behavior that has become accepted in mainstream “therapy”. Narayan Singh Khalsa, Ph.D. has written such books defining personal programming that develops the personality in a normal or abnormal way.
As a psych student, we have already learned that things that were acceptable last year, are in question-show up as an illness next year. Almost all my professor's have stated it is is not an exact "science"-and will never be.
I have been interested in Psychology since I took my first Intro to Psych class in college. That eventually led me to major in Anthropology (the study of man and culture) and has now led me to pursue a Masters in Social Work.
I agree that there are many areas of Psychology that have horrific backgrounds and clouded judgements. One has to remember, too, that in the 60s the idea of what caused one to be 'delusional' is much different than it is today.
I am finding this reading to be very interesting. I usually have a hard time reading non-fiction, but this has been a good read so far, especially since it involves a study that I hadn't heard about.
I think, too, that it's refreshing to know that someone tried to challenge the status quo, to delve deeper into the whys and hows instead of just allowing what was, to be.
My grandmother was institutionalized in 50s and I shudder to think of what exactly happened to her while she was in there. The level of humanity that existed then is much different from how it is today. I would like to think that many psychologists now focus more on the human component than just following what they think is the truth.
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"What wild desires, what restless torments seize
The hapless man, who feels the book-disease..."
- Dr. John Ferriar (from the poem Bibliomania, 1863)
Oh boy. I was going to delete but got hooked into reading this. I am fascinated by every new discovery they make in Psych and I also get horrible shudders thinking how mentally ill people were treated in asylums years ago. I did a nursing school Psych rotation at St. Elizabeth's in Wash DC back in the 70s and we were totally freaked by all the older patients who had undergone lobotomies decades before. Unbelievable.
The problem with some mental illnesses is the symptoms come out as "bad" or "wierd" behavior and society then at first wants to punish the person (for having an illness he or she can't control!). I often wonder as time goes on if we won't come to see how very much of behavior/personality etc is linked to genes and brain chemicals. The very fact that Psych is NOT a black and white science is probably what makes it appealing to me. I also think so many mental "illnesses" are on a continuum......in other words, people may have a lesser degree of a chemical imbalance and therefore can still function in life while a full-blown imbalance presents as a much "sicker" person .
