Changing Our Minds

by Kitzinger, Celia; Perkins, Rachel

• ISBN13: 9780814746455
• ISBN10: 0814746454
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1993-09-01
• Publisher: New York Univ Pr

Summary

Women today are being instructed on how they can raise their self-esteem, love their inner child, survive their toxic families, overcome codependency, and experience a revolution from within. By holding up the ideal of a pure and happy inner core, psychotherapists refuse to acknowledge that a certain degree of unhappiness or dissatisfaction is a routine part of life and not necessarily a cause for therapy. Lesbians specifically are now guided to define themselves according to their frailties, inadequacies, and insecurities.An incisive critique of contemporary feminist psychology and therapy,Changing our Mindsargues not just that the current practice of psychology is flawed, but that the whole idea of psychology runs counter to many tenets of lesbian feminist politics. Recognizing that many lesbians do feel unhappy and experience a range of problems that detract from their well-being,Changing Our Mindsmakes positive, prescriptive suggestions for non-psychological ways of understanding and dealing with emotional distress.Written in a lively and engaging style,Changing our Mindsis required reading for anyone who has ever been in therapy or is close to someone who has, and for lesbians, feminists, psychologists, psychotherapists, students of psychology and women's studies, and anyone with an interest in the development of lesbian feminist theory, ethics, and practice.

Table of Contents

Foreword
Acknowledgments
Feminism or Psychology	p. 1
Watching Our Language	p. 32
Therapeutic Lifestyles	p. 73
Loving Ourselves, Loving Each Other: Lesbians in Community	p. 106
Worlds Apart: Mad Lesbians	p. 153
Lesbian Ethics, Lesbian Politics	p. 183
References	p. 199
Table of Contents provided by Blackwell. All Rights Reserved.