Introducing Psychotherapy

What is psychotherapy? How can we choose wisely from so much on offer?

This book provides a valuable summary of the main therapies: the “talking cures” of psychoanalysis, behavioral and cognitive techniques, somatic solutions, humanist gestalt and existential approaches, and individual and group therapies.

Introducing Psychology of Relationships

Understanding psychological techniques can help you make your relationships happier and more fulfilling. This Practical Guide will help you achieve new and healthier ways of relating by explaining some of the major underlying psychological ‘drivers’ that permeate relationships and identify and work on these unconscious motivating factors to eliminate ‘knee-jerk’ reactions. Filled with straightforward, practical advice, case studies and examples, Introducing Psychology of Relationships will help you understand your relationship and make it more loving and mutually supportive, as well as be better equipped for entering into a new relationship.

Introducing Psychology

What is psychology? When did it begin? Where did it come from? How does psychology compare with related subjects such as psychiatry and psychotherapy? To what extent is it scientific?


Introducing Psychology answers all these questions and more, explaining what the subject has been in the past and what it is now. The main "schools" of thought and the sections within psychology are described, including Introspection, Biopsychology, Psychoanalysis, Behaviourism, Comparative (Animal) Psychology, Cognitive Approaches (including the Gestalt movement), Social Psychology, Developmental Psychology and Humanism. The key figures covered include: Freud, Pavlov, Skinner, Bandura, Piaget, Bowlby, Maslow and Rogers, as well as many lesser-known but important psychologists.

Introducing Postmodernism

What connects Marliyn Monroe, Disneyworld, "The Satanic Verses" and cyber space? Answer: Postmodernism. But what exactly is postmodernism?

This Graphic Guide explains clearly the maddeningly enigmatic concept that has been used to define the world’s cultural condition over the last three decades.

Introducing Postmodernism tracks the idea back to its roots by taking a tour of some of the most extreme and exhilarating events, people and thought of the last 100 years: in art – constructivism, conceptual art, Marcel Duchamp, Jackson Pollock and Andy Warhol; in politics and history – McCarthy’s witch-hunts, feminism, Francis Fukuyama and the Holocaust; in philosophy – the work of Derrida, Baudrillard, Foucault and Heidegger.The book also explores postmodernism’s take on today, and the anxious grip of globalisation, unpredictable terrorism and unforeseen war that greeted the dawn of the 21st century.
Regularly controversial, rarely straightforward and seldom easy, postmodernism is nonetheless a thrilling intellectual adventure. Introducing Postmodernism is the ideal guide.

Introducing Psychoanalysis

The ideas of psychoanalysis have permeated Western culture. It is the dominant paradigm through which we understand our emotional lives, and Freud still finds himself an iconic figure. Yet despite the constant stream of anti-Freud literature, little is known about contemporary psychoanalysis. 
Introducing Psychoanalysis redresses the balance. It introduces psychoanalysis as a unified ‘theory of the unconscious’ with a variety of different theoretical and therapeutic approaches, explains some of the strange ways in which psychoanalysts think about the mind, and is one of the few books to connect psychoanalysis to everyday life and common understanding of the world.
How do psychoanalysts conceptualize the mind?
Why was Freud so interested in sex?
Is psychoanalysis a science?
How does analysis work?

In answering these questions, this book offers new insights into the nature of psychoanalytic theory and original ways of describing therapeutic practice. The theory comes alive through Oscar Zarate’s insightful and daring illustrations, which enlighten the text. In demystifying and explaining psychoanalysis, this book will be of interest to students, teachers and the general public.

Introducing Positive Psychology

Positive psychologists seek to find and nurture genius and talent, and to make normal life more fulfilling, rather than treat mental illness. This Practical Guide explores how we can all have a “life of enjoyment”, in which we savour the positive emotions that are part of healthy living; a “life of engagement” where we feel confident we can tackle the tasks we face; and a ‘life of affiliation’, being part of something larger than ourselves. Free of jargon but full of straightforward advice, case studies and step-by-step instructions, this is the perfect concise start to making your life better.

Introducing Postmodernism

What connects Marliyn Monroe, Disneyworld, "The Satanic Verses" and cyber space? Answer: Postmodernism. But what exactly is postmodernism?

This Graphic Guide explains clearly the maddeningly enigmatic concept that has been used to define the world’s cultural condition over the last three decades.

Introducing Postmodernism tracks the idea back to its roots by taking a tour of some of the most extreme and exhilarating events, people and thought of the last 100 years: in art – constructivism, conceptual art, Marcel Duchamp, Jackson Pollock and Andy Warhol; in politics and history – McCarthy’s witch-hunts, feminism, Francis Fukuyama and the Holocaust; in philosophy – the work of Derrida, Baudrillard, Foucault and Heidegger.The book also explores postmodernism’s take on today, and the anxious grip of globalisation, unpredictable terrorism and unforeseen war that greeted the dawn of the 21st century.
Regularly controversial, rarely straightforward and seldom easy, postmodernism is nonetheless a thrilling intellectual adventure. Introducing Postmodernism is the ideal guide.

Introducing Political Philosophy

Philosophers have always asked fundamental and disturbing about human beings and politics. This account of this huge subject is always clear and informative and is accompanied throughout by the inventive and entertaning illustrations of Judy Groves.

Introducing Political Philosophy

Essential illustrated guide to key ideas of political thought. Philosophers have always asked fundamental and disturbing questions about politics. Plato and Aristotle debated the merits of democracy. The origins of society, the state and government authority were issues addressed by Hobbes, Rousseau, Hegel, Marx and many other philosophers. Introducing Political Philosophy explains the central concepts of this intriguing branch of philosophy and presents the major political theorists from Plato to Foucault. How did governments get started? Why should they be obeyed? Could we live without them? How much power should they have? Is freedom a right? Which is the best form of government? In the wake of consumerism and postmodernism, our need for a better grasp of political ideas is greater than ever. Dave Robinson’s account of this complex subject is always clear, informative and accompanied by the entertainingly inventive illustrations of Judy Groves.

Introducing Plato

“Introducing Plato” begins by explaining how philosophers like Socrates and Pythagoras influenced Plato’s thought. It provides a clear account of Plato’s puzzling theory of knowledge, and explains how this theory then directed his provocative views on politics, ethics and individual liberty. It offers detailed critical commentaries on all of the key doctrines of Platonism, especially the very odd theory of Forms, and concludes by revealing how Plato’s philosophy stimulated the work of important modern thinkers such as Karl Popper, Martha Nussbaum, and Jacques Derrida.