Customer Reviews

General Psychopathology (Vol. 1) (Volume 1)

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General Psychopathology

This two volume work by Karl Jaspers, who taught psychiatry and philosophy at the University of Heidelberg and philosophy at the University of Basel, used to be required reading for doctors training in psychiatry. Sadly this is no longer the case in psychiatry and it must be the rare clinical psychologist or other professional in contact with psychopathology who is familiar with these books. John Hopkins University Press is to be congratulated on continuing to make this translation available. In the absence in many instances of demonstrable physical pathology in mental illness or disorder clarity of thinking about such conditions is not achieved easily, and muddle is often evident in the presentation of psychology for the public on television and elsewhere. For example in a recent series on television which addressed the question of normality the basic issue that the concepts of abnormal and normal are not useful or suitable for classifying individuals in psychopathological terms was not addressed. Although quite hard work and requiring a real interest in the subject and a desire to master the difference between understanding and explanation in mental events, and to realise what is known and can be known by enquiry, these books remain largely relevant today.

Still the most accurate phenomenological definitions in psychopathology.
Dense, a must for all those in the subject.

I am SO glad that this was reprinted, it is a monument of what psychiatric thought can produce. Jaspers presents a clear, deep and useful approach (Phenomenological) to the assessment and understanding of psychiatric patients. McHugh, himself an unappreciated giant (cf Perspectives of Psychiatry), writes an introduction that sensitively places the author and the work in the context from which it arose.

I bought an old edition, so the book itself is not in such a great quality. The good thing is that all the content is in one volume. It's a classical book for psychiatrists, so no complaints as I'll surely use it a lot.

This work by Jaspers explores psychology, psychoanalysis and psychotherapy from his philosophical viewpoint of Existentialism. While much of what Jaspers says from the medical/scientific view is certainly looks out of date, this work remains a fascinating exploration of human conciousness and being-in the world with a strongly scientific slant. While it does not match the rigor of Freud and his school or the philosophical insight and depth of Sartre and Merlau-Ponty, for the philosopher it retains much of interest and also gives one a good insight into Jasper's later philosophical work.

This is a classic work on the observation of psychopathology without the theoretical overlay of other works. This author also founded phenomenology, a type of existential philosophy. This book is a must for mental health diagnosticians but might be a bit dense for the general public.

This was a graduation gift for a Psyc. graduate so I cannot personally review it. However, she said it was very good and would be helpful as she continues her education.

This is a classic work by the father of a philosophical school called phenomenology. His student Schneider is responsible for forming the psychiatric criteria for Schizophrenia in use today (1998) by DSM-4. Jaspers was a prodigy when he wrote this at age 33. His philosophical works have been the subject of great controversy because of the concept of empathy.

People who learned to diagram sentences and outline thoughts when they were in school might be interested in how this book is organized around, in, and through an outline. Picking any particular topic, it is often surprising how well Karl Jaspers has placed it within a scheme of things. Normally, there wouldn't be much reason to consider how a history of thinking as bombing might find a place in a book like General Psychotherapy, but at the moment, it is interesting that the following ideas in this book can be assigned to a particular place on a thread that runs through it, largely about the "worlds of obsessional patients." On page 390, in Chapter VI, MEANINGFUL CONNECTIONS AND THEIR SPECIFIC MECHANISMS, SECTION TWO, ABNORMAL MECHANISMS, 1. Pathological Psychogenic Reactions, ( c ) Classifications of reactive states, 2. According to the type of the reactive states: "(b) There may be an explosion in the form of fits, tantrums, rages, disjointed movements, blind acts of violence, threats and abuse. There is a working up of the self into a state of narrowed consciousness (prison-outbreaks, frenzies, short-circuit reactions, are some of the terms used)."

There is much more in this book than the average patient is ever going to learn in personal visits to a shrink. A thorough knowledge of the point of view presented by Jaspers goes a long way in support of the view that modern drug treatments of psychiatric problems attempt to mask symptoms, which are much easier to define and classify than the problems of existence that attempt to surface in situations where people would like an infinite solution to individual problems. In Jaspers's examination of the relationship between the doctor and the patient, any doctor who approaches a fixed view of the best remedy is in danger of failing to understand the nature of the individual patient. It helps to have some background in the personal issues which are most meaningful to the reader. In our own time, there is a controversy about the use of ancient remedies like marijuana, and I found it useful to compare therapeutic suggestions in this book with the federal government's position that smoking such stuff isn't medicine, "it's more like a Cheech and Chong show." If you want to live through reading this book, you will have to inhale while you read. Best of all, there is no point in this book at which the doctor says, "Your time is up."