Depression And The Erosion Of The Self In Late Modernity

Depression is not a disease of the brain, a genetic disability or even a mood disorder. Rather, shutdown, numbness or sadness are non-pathological adaptations to adverse childhood and adult environments. This challenging book thus understands depression as a wise response to an unliveable situation. It can teach us what is wrong with our lives and what we must learn in order to go beyond symptom relief and reconnect to our most fundamental needs, relational, existential and spiritual. Because moods shape how we engage with our outer and inner worlds, they underlie all human behaviour. If the sociocultural world is toxic or frustrates our core needs, we will withdraw to protect ourselves. Those who have encountered a non-facilitating environment in childhood will be even more sensitive to adult stresses, since their self-organisation is fragile and non-resilient. As depression is so complex, understanding it demands an integrative approach.

This book attempts to do justice to the depth and complexity of depression - as to its causes and its treatment in psychotherapy. It challenges the reductive medical view of depression as a serotonin deficiency resulting in a collection of undesirable symptoms to be dispatched with antidepressants or CBT exercises. Rather, it locates the origins of depression in childhood adversity, primarily caused by unattuned, cold, critical, hostile or abusive caregiving. Insecure attachment interacts with other elements of a stressful life history as well as with genetic makeup to pave the way for depression. Such a childhood has long-term impacts on the setting of the stress and threat responses of the nervous system. Depression fundamentally indicates a weak and non-resilient sense of self, coupled with limited capacities for trust and either autonomy or intimacy in relationships. These are the issues that must be tackled in psychotherapy. Since depression carries a message for the sufferer, it must be investigated for its meaning. Why has the individual withdrawn from life and what are they being asked to change in how they live and relate? Before this reparative and creative phase of therapy can begin, however, we must remember that depression is not just 'low' mood but also 'stuck' mood. Rigid beliefs and processes that block therapeutic engagement can be gently questioned by helping the client see that they are held by only one part of the self, whereas other 'for growth' parts carry hope and a willingness to play and explore. Overall, it is crucial in working with depression to see and to relate to the client as a whole person; not simply a bundle of cognitive shortcomings to be corrected, but as an emotional, organismic, relational, existential and spiritual being. Depression: An Introduction presents a biopsychosocial model, combining developmental and attachment perspectives with genetics and neurobiology. Its therapeutic orientation is humanistic and integrative but has much to offer anyone wanting to know more about this widely known but little understood condition.

Cultural competence in education promotes civic engagement among students. Providing students with educational opportunities to understand various cultural and political perspectives allows for higher cultural competence and a greater understanding of civic engagement for those students. The Handbook of Research on Citizenship and Heritage Education is a critical scholarly book that provides relevant and current research on citizenship and heritage education aimed at promoting active participation and the transformation of society. Readers will come to understand the role of heritage as a symbolic identity source that facilitates the understanding of the present and the past, highlighting the value of teaching. Additionally, it offers a source for the design of didactic proposals that promote active participation and the critical conservation of heritage. Featuring a range of topics such as educational policy, curriculum design, and political science, this book is ideal for educators, academicians, administrators, political scientists, policymakers, researchers, and students.

Madness in Plural Contexts: Crossing Borders, Linking Knowledge, represents a decisive turn towards the social and cultural in contemporary understandings of madness. It focuses on diagnosis and interpretation of madness and in socio-cultural classifications and meanings of suffering, alongside discussions of mad identities in literature and media.

This volume describes and analyses a series of emotions prevalent in everyday life and culture, with each chapter exploring the main facets of a particular emotion and considering the ways in which it manifests itself in and informs our culture and lives. Considering our expression, conception, management and sanctioning of emotions, and the ways in which these have changed over time, as well as the ways in which we can theorise particular emotional states, authors ask how certain emotions are linked to culture and society and what roles they play in politics and contemporary life. With examples and case studies taken from research into media, culture and social life, Emotions in Culture and Everyday Life will appeal to scholars of sociology, anthropology, psychology, media and cultural studies and philosophy with interests in the emotions.

"Erosion, Self-Made offers a comprehensive treatment of self-criticism based in philosophy, developmental science, personality and clinical psychology, social theories, and cognitive-affective neuroscience"--