Year: 2000
Type: book-review
Abstract: This volume offers an exceptionally broad-based look at manifestations of anger and hostility, integrating individual psychopathology, the psychology of small group interactions, and wider sociopolitical considerations.Written by one of the foremost innovators and scholars of psychotherapy in the last 50 years, it provides the reader with a comprehensive look at one of the most important problems of contemporary society, i.e., the diagnosis and management of inappropriate anger.In addition, for the reader unschooled in the concepts and techniques of cognitive therapy it serves as an introduction to an increasingly important treatment modality.The latter of these purposes, i.e., a brief explication of the basic tenets of cognitive therapy, is realized immediately in the introduction.If one were looking for a brief (6 pages) summary of the entire theory of cognitive treatment, it would be found here.All of the major concepts-automatic thoughts, cognitive distortions, thought as a determinant of mood and affect, the value of correcting one's distortions, and so on-are laid out in a casual, conversational tone that completely belies the profound and radical nature of these constructs.Having reviewed his metapsychology in this way, Beck then goes on to discuss the pathogenesis of hatred within individuals.He describes a number of mental steps often covered by persons becoming angry, beginning with loss and fear and eventuating in blame and rage.His schematic diagrams are always clear without being o ver simplistic, and each chapter flows into the next in a straightforward manner.Of interest to the student of comparative metapsychology is the degree to which Beck's concepts relate to those of psychoanalysis.Beck of course began in that tradition, so this in and of itself is not surprising, and he freely acknowledges his debt to Karen Horney (as well as to Albert Ellis).But it is still fascinating to read about projection and unconscious functioning in a cognitive-therapy textbook.Dynamic theorists will also appreciate Beck's speculations on the relationship between anger and low self-esteem.This kind of cross-theorizing is not the primary purpose of this book, so that these leads are scattered and not followed up in any systematic way, but they still tantalize the reader interested in psychotherapy integration.The second portion of the book shifts the focus from anger to violence.Here Beck lays out the application of his basic types of cognitive distortions, e.g., personalization, selective attention, overgeneralization, etc., as they appear to
Author: Robert M. Goisman
Language: English
Subfield: Experimental and Cognitive Psychology
Field: Psychology
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: bronze
OpenAlex ID: W1491360675