Why, when and how does aggression go wrong? How can we make sense of apparently meaningless destructiveness and violence Aggression is a part of human nature that energises our relationships, acts as an impetus for psychic development, and enables us to master our world. More often, we focus on its more destructive aspects, such as the violence individuals inflict on themselves or others and overlook the positive functions of aggression. In Aggression and Destructiveness Celia Harding brings together contributions from experienced psychoanalysts and psychoanalytic psychotherapists to explore the roots of aggression and the clinical dilemmas it presents in psychotherapy. Beginning with accounts of aggression and destructiveness from a range of developmental and theoretical perspectives, the book provides useful insights into subjects including: Bullying and abusive relationships Male and female violence and destructiveness Depressive, perverse and psychotic states of mind Attacks on therapeutic treatment This book makes a valuable contribution to the attempt to make sense of human aggression, destructiveness and violence perpetrated against the self, others and reality. It will be of great interest to trainee and qualified psychodynamic counsellors, psychoanalytic psychotherapists and psychoanalysts.

A study of aggression from the renowned social psychologist and New York Times–bestselling author of The Art of Loving and Escape from Freedom. Throughout history, humans have shown an incredible talent for destruction as well as creation. Aggression has driven us to great heights and brutal lows. In The Anatomy of Human Destructiveness, renowned social psychologist Erich Fromm discusses the differences between forms of aggression typical for animals and two very specific forms of destructiveness that can only be found in human beings: sadism and necrophilic destructiveness. His case studies span zoo animals, necrophiliacs, and the psychobiographies of notorious figures such as Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin. Through his broad scholarship, Fromm offers a comprehensive exploration of the human impulse for violence. This ebook features an illustrated biography of Erich Fromm including rare images and never-before-seen documents from the author’s estate.

Violence is all around us; yet, despite its widespread prevalence, we remain unclear about its causes. In this book Felicity de Zulueta - begins by defining "violence" as distinct from "aggression", and then attempts to trace its origins, highlighting the polarization between those who believe mankind to be innately violent and those who see violence as the outcome of man's life experiences. As a result of her investigations, the author suggests that the current high level of violence may well be linked to the effects of childhood and adult trauma which appear to be far more widespread than has hitherto been acknowledged. These findings are relevant to understanding why "normal" people can become violent in certain conditions. This is a second edition and has been fully updated. A new chapter on terrorism has been added.

Handling Children's Aggression Constructively: Toward Taming Human Destructiveness shows how to prevent the development of disturbed aggressive behaviors in children, giving caregivers and educators the tools they need to handle problems in the making so they won't become more difficult and costly problems to deal with later on.

This revised edition of The Development of Aggression in Early Childhood presents anew the author's "multi-trends theory of aggression," with the addition of a two-part preface that provides an overview of the multitudinous theories of aggression in psychoanalytic thought and a discussion of the clinical applications-with clinical case examples-of his theory.

This boldly original book explores the origins, meanings, and forms of women's aggression. Drawing from in-depth interviews with sixty women of different ages and ethnic and class backgrounds--police officers, attorneys, substance abusers, homemakers, artists--Dana Jack provides a rich account of how women explain (or explain away) their own hidden or actual acts of hurt to others. With sensitivity but without sentimentality, Jack gives readers a range of compelling stories of how women channel, either positively or destructively, their own powerful force and of how they resist and retaliate in the face of others' aggression in a society that expects women to be yielding, empathetic, and supportive. Arguing that aggression arises from failures in relationships, Jack portrays the many forms that women's aggression can take, from veiled approaches used to resist, control, and take vengeance on others, to aggression that reflects despair, to aggression that may be a hopeful sign of new strength. Throughout the book, Jack shows the positive sides of aggression as women struggle with internal and external demons, reconnect with others, and create the courage to stand their ground. This work broadens our understanding of aggression as an interpersonal phenomenon rooted in societal expectations, and offers exciting new approaches for exploring the variations of this vexing human experience.

"Readers will be drawn to this book because their lives have been affected, even devastated, by anger. Job loss, divorce, family estrangement, substance abuse, and imprisonment are just some of the potential fallouts from uncontrolled anger. Many people do not know how to start making changes to turn destructive anger into healthy anger. This book offers understanding and tools for making those changes. In helping readers understand anger, psychologist Bernie Golden explains that while anger serves a purpose, it can easily become destructive. In this book he offers strategies to overcome anger that