Constructing the self, constructing America: A cultural history of psychotherapy

Type Book Author Philip Cushman Series Constructing the self, constructing America: A cultural history of psychotherapy Place Reading, MA, US Publisher Addison-Wesley/Addison Wesley Longman ISBN 978-0-201-62643-8 978-0-201-44192-5 Date 1996 Extra Pages: xiii, 430 Library Catalog APA PsycNet Abstract Philip Cushman shows how the development of modern psychotherapy is inextricably intertwined with that of the US and how it has fundamentally changed the way Americans view events and themselves. Cushman shows how and why psychotherapy was created, what its functions are, and how it has come to play such an enormous role in American life. Asserting that each era develops a different conception of "what it means to be human," Cushman traces the evolution of the self throughout history to contemporary times, naming its current configuration in our consumerist society the "empty self," one that needs constant filling. In "Constructing the Self, Constructing America," [the author] places psychotherapy in its social and historical context, and examines its origins in the 19th century to its preeminence in American life today, arguing that its establishment as a social institution may in fact reproduce some of the very ills that it is meant to heal. Finally, . . . Cushman suggests a way to use interpretive methods in the everyday practice of psychotherapy. By doing so, he hopes to dissuade both patient and therapist from colluding with the empty self or the rampant consumerism of our time. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved) Short Title Constructing the self, constructing America # of Pages xiii, 430