A currently major concern and ‘abnormal’ behavior on the rise in contemporary Western societies is substance and drug abuse. Psychoactive drugs can alter people's moods and behavior, and in many cases cause mental disorders. Their use and abuse is an important topics...
Psychology
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Anxiety disorders
Fear is acknowledged to have an important place in our lives, but it should not be allowed to take control over us. We must learn how to manage these feelings, and not let them lead to irrational behaviors. Anxiety disorders can include a whole range of problems such...
Mood and personality disorders
Initially classified as manic-depressive disorder, mood disorders (also called affective disorders) are mental illnesses characterized by extreme emotional states such as joy, sadness, anger, fear, and confusion. These conditions can last for weeks or months, and may...
Happiness is not normal
Mental health disorders can be seen as extreme forms of emotional states rather than illnesses in themselves. They are also often viewed as undesirable, due to the stigma surrounding them. Therefore, we may consider happiness to be a mental illness, since it does not...
Crazy people?
Several psychologists have questioned whether the traditional classification of mental illness is valid. Elliot Aronson says that people who behave strangely aren't necessarily mentally ill. We can all act irrationally in extraordinary circumstances. Social...
Problems in living
Aronson was one among many psychologists who believed that conventional notions of mental illness failed to take into account individual conditions. This led to questions about whether some disorders, particularly those classified as mood disorders or anxiety...
Telling the difference
In the 1960s a group of psychologists and psychiatrists rejected any idea that mental illness could be described by reference to disease, a medical condition where symptoms can be identified and treated. They argued instead that mental disorder should not be seen as...
Clinical psychology
Psychotherapy and psychiatry have both had an impact on clinical psychology. During the 1950s and 1960s, behaviorism became popular in psychology, and cognitive therapy began to replace Freudian psychoanalysis. It is the combination of these two schools of thought...
Psychiatry vs. psychology
Psychiatry is distinct from psychology as it is an area of medicine rather than a field of study. Unlike psychologists, psychiatrists focus almost entirely on physical health. The treatments they prescribe include medication and psychotherapy, both forms of counseling...
Treatments and therapies
Treatment of mental disorders has taken two main directions. At one end of the spectrum, psychiatrists were treating mental illness as a physical problem and developed new techniques such as lobotomy and electroshock therapy. At the other end of the spectrum,...
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True self and False self
Donald Winnicott was a pediatrician who later became an analyst. He applied the ideas of Melanie Klein (who studied under Freud) to children and adults, developing the concept of the True Self. He believed that we can only grow if we can express our authentic selves...
Humanistic psychoanalysis
The humanistic psychology associated with Abraham Maslow and Carl Roger inspired psychoanalytic practices that would distinguish them from earlier psychoanalytic theories. Their identification of needs beyond those described by Freud prompted a change towards therapy...
A meaning in life
Different interpretations of Freud's theories of the subconscious emerged fifty years after he first introduced his idea of psychoanalysis, however, it was not until after the Second World war that some of his basic notions were challenged. At the core of Freudian...
Existential psychotherapy
Humans have an innate desire to seek pleasure, but they also have an equally strong aversion to pain. Freudian psychoanalysts describe this as the primary motivation behind human behavior. Yet Existentialists such as Søren Kierkegaard and Friedrich Nietzsche argued...
Gestalt therapy
In the years following World War II, society in the western world became increasingly individualistic. This was reflected in the prevalence of the psychological theory of humanistic and existentialism thinking during this period. Among the new forms to emerge at this...
Free Course in Semiology
A completely and truly free course on Semiology (Semiotics). Learn about the meaning of signs, how and why did the field emerged. What is the relationship between the street signs and the signs that we use every day - words.
