Psycho Logical

'Compelling and wise and rational.' - Jon Ronson One in four of us experience a mental health problem each year, with anxiety and depression alone affecting over 500 million people worldwide. Why are these conditions so widespread? What is it about modern life that has such an impact on our mental health? And why is there still so much confusion and stigma around these issues? In Psycho-Logical, neuroscientist and bestselling author Dean Burnett answers these questions and more, revealing what is actually going on in our brains when we suffer mental health issues such as anxiety, depression and addiction. Combining illuminating scientific research with first-hand insights from people who deal with mental health problems on a daily basis, this is an honest, entertaining and reassuring account of how and why these issues occur, and how to make sense of them.

First Published in 1991. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

Psycho-Logic is an attempt to formulate explicitly the implicit common-sense psychology embedded in everyday language and taken for granted by its users. The key concepts in this system are given definitions, and the basic assumptions are presented in the form of axioms. A number of corollaries and theorems are formally proved. The text also contains numerous notes in which the formal propositions and their broader implications are discussed. It is assumed that the relationship between psycho-logic and empirical psychology is analogous to that existing between geometry and geography. Psycho-logic and geometry both provide a formal system in terms of which one may describe and analyze respectively psychological phenomena and geographical terrains. The book should be of particular interest to practicing psychologists since it provides an analysis of the main characteristics of persons and person-interactions, emphasizing such concepts as care, respect, understanding and control.