Persuasion and Healing: A Comparative Study of Psychotherapy

Front Cover
JHU Press, 1993 - Medical - 343 pages

This popular study of "psychological healing"treats topics ranging from religious revivalism and magical healing to contemporary psychotherapies, from the role of the shaman in nonindustrialized societies to the traditional mental hospital. Jerome and Julia Frank (who are father and daughter) contend that these therapies share common elements that improve the "morale"of sufferers. And in combating the "demoralizing meaning"that people attach to their experiences, the authors argue, many therapies are surprisingly similar to rhetoric (the art of persuasion) and to hermeneutics (the study of meanings).

Highly acclaimed in previous editions, Persuasion and Healing has been completely revised and expanded. In addition to a broadened exploration of the role of demoralization in illness, this latest edition offers updated information on topics including self-help, family therapy, psychopharmacology, psychotherapy for the mentally ill, and techniques such as primal therapy and bioenergetics. As they explore the power of "healing rhetoric"in these activities, the authors strengthen the ties among the various healing profession.

 

Contents

A Conceptual Framework for Psychotherapy
21
Psychotherapy the Transformation of Meanings
52
Religious Revivalism and Cults
74
The Effects of Cults and Revival Meetings
81
Religiomagical Healing
87
The Role of the Healer in Nonindustrialized Societies
94
Lourdes and Religious Healing in the Western World
102
Other Forms of Nonmedical Healing
109
Summary
152
Evocative Individual Psychotherapies
185
Psychoanalysis and Psychodynamic Psychotherapies
191
Summary
211
Group and Family Psychotherapies
242
Psychotherapy in a Controlled Environment
274
Some Personal Reflections on the Intellectual History
295
REFERENCES
303

Mastery Hope and Psychotherapy in Physical Illness
124
Summary
131

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About the author (1993)

Jerome D. Frank, MD, PhD, (1909-2005), was a social psychologist and psychiatrist whose research into psychotherapy extended from WWII through sixty years as a clinician and professor of psychiatry at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Julia B. Frank, MD, also a psychiatric educator, is an emeritus professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the George Washington University School of Medicine, a coauthor of the third edition of Persuasion and Healing, and a coeditor of the third edition of The Behavioral Sciences and Health Care.

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