The therapeutic trend -- I: Mental health and moral virtue -- Moral sickness: Plato and the psychiatrists -- Moral health: well-being and the virtues -- Sick, morality: Freud, Nietzsche, and guilt -- II: Responsibility for health -- Responsibility in therapy -- Responsibility in community -- Blaming victims -- III: Wrongdoing as sickness -- Alcoholism -- Pathological gambling -- Crime and punishment -- Violence and evil -- Are bigot's sick? -- IV: Healthy morality and meaningful lives -- Depression and identity -- Self-deception and hope -- Philosophical counseling -- Healthy love -- Meaningful work -- Community service -- Culture wars
Summary
Morality and mental health are now inseparably linked in our view of character. In addition to pathologizing wrong-doing, we also psychologize virtue; self-respect becomes self-esteem, integrity becomes psychological integration, and responsibility becomes maturity. Moral advice is now sought primarily from psychologists and therapists rather than philosophers or theologians. In this wide-ranging, accessible book, Mike W. Martin asks: are we replacing morality with therapy, in potentially confused and dangerous ways, or are we creatively integrating morality and mental health?
Bibliography
Includes bibliographical references (pages 195-228) and index
