Challenging Freud's assumption that an individual first develops intrapsychically and is only later confronted with the demands of external reality, Carolyn Saari posits that human beings initially construct a picture of their immediate environment and then construct their identities within that environment. The Environment is an argument in three parts. Part 1 discusses psychoanalytic and developmental theory, showing that while such theory has assumed the existence of an environment, it has taken for granted and therefore left unexamined its role in human development. Michel Foucault's theory of social control provides the framework for Part 2, which examines psychotherapy's capacity either to liberate or to repress the client. Part 3 relates the practical benefits and broader implications of an inclusion of environmental considerations in the practice of psychotherapy.

Saari posits that human beings may first construct a picture of their immediate environment and then construct their identity within that environment. She argues that the psychotherapeutic profession must extend its range to include socio-cultural-economic factors and she includes ample case studies to support her position.

About the Author
Carolyn Saari is a professor of social work at Loyola University of Chicago. She is the author of Clinical Social Work Treatment: How Does It Work? and The Creation of Meaning in Clinical Social Work and editor of the Clinical Social Work Journal.

Reviews
Consistent with the paradigmatic emphases, dialogue and narrative are seen as crucial to this process. This material resonates so loudly and validates my own developing views of what great clinical practice is about. -- Kia J. Bentley Clinical Social Work Journal



Book Information
ISBN 9780231121965
Author Carolyn Saari
Format Hardback
Page Count 208
Imprint Columbia University Press
Publisher Columbia University Press