The Vital Balance; The Life Process in Mental Health and Illness
by Menninger, Karl (With Martin Mayman & Paul Pruyser.)
- Used
- Hardcover
- Condition
- See description
- Seller
-
Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
Payment Methods Accepted
About This Item
New York: Viking Press 1964. (Hardcover) Very good in very good dust jacket. 531pp. Appendix, notes, index. The dust jacket is edgeworn with a 2-inch closed tear to the front and a 1-inch chip to the top edge of the back panel and a previous owner's ink stamp to the front free endpaper. "In less than fifty years psychiatry has undergone a complete reversal of outlook. From resignation, its attitude has changed to one of active assurance. No longer the socially ignored custodian of the hopeless, psychiatry is now the source of hope for all who are emotionally disturbed or mentally ill. It has become as well a guide and support to business, the professions, and society at large". (Psychology, Illness, Mental Health, Psychiatry, Psychoanalysis, Psychology).
Reviews
On Jun 4 2007, Learningaramaic said:
This wise book-- by one of the greatest psychodynamicly-oriented psychiatrists of the 20th century-- explores human psychosocial function as a "total system" years before Bertalanffy and the General Systems people made its approach into a rigorous discipline in mental health.
Simply put, what Dr. Menninger calls the "vital balance" is equivalent to the human potential for homeostasis in the psychic and social areas. There is nothing mystical or superstitious about this notion, albeit is is holistic and not reductionist.
What is not well-appreciated is that-- given enough inputs/outputs-- the "steady state" of the vital balance Menninger discusses can be described mathematically. BUT FEAR NOT ON THIS NOTICE! NOT A SINGLE MATH FORMULA APPEARS IN MENNINGER'S BOOK HERE, DESPITE THIS COMPLETE COMPLEMENTARITY IN HARD-SYSTEMS TERMINOLOGY.
THE VITAL BALANCE was pressed in 1963; while it was reprinted several times, I understand it can be obtained only in used-bookstores. Pity! This work was well-ahead-of-its-time upon pressing, and I consider it to be CUTTING-EDGE PSYCHIATRY unto this day. This work was the most-consistent and most-rigorous contribution by "Dr. Karl," as he is known at the Menninger Clinic-- is well-crafted theory fit for the family-systems practitioners, the quantifiers, and all in mental health who seek a comprehensive framework within which one can cast the PROCESS OF GETTING WELL PSYCHOLOGICALLY.
--Vernon Lynn Stephens, M.S.S.W.
D.S.M. IV # 350
F31.2
10:49 p.m. -- Monday, June 4, 2007
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Details
- Bookseller
- Burton Lysecki Books, ABAC/ILAB (CA)
- Bookseller's Inventory #
- 150649
- Title
- The Vital Balance; The Life Process in Mental Health and Illness
- Author
- Menninger, Karl (With Martin Mayman & Paul Pruyser.)
- Format/Binding
- Hardcover
- Book Condition
- Used
- Quantity Available
- 1
- Publisher
- Viking Press
- Place of Publication
- New York
- Keywords
- Psychology, Illness, Mental Health, Psychiatry, Psychoanalysis, Psychology, Collectible
- Bookseller catalogs
- Social Sciences;
Terms of Sale
Burton Lysecki Books, ABAC/ILAB
Prices net to all in USD. We use Brodart dust jacket protectors. Our records are updated daily. We pack well and ship promptly. . Return your book for a full refund if not as described. More questions? Call us!
About the Seller
Burton Lysecki Books, ABAC/ILAB
Biblio member since 2003
Winnipeg, Manitoba
About Burton Lysecki Books, ABAC/ILAB
Home to an eclectic collection of over 100,000 titles, our store specializes in History-- Canadian history, Military history, Local history, Philosophy, and Law. We have antiquarian books, scarce books, Modern Firsts, Fiction, fine bindings, sets, Art history, and much more. We upload new arrivals daily. Come see what 50 years of book collecting looks like!
Glossary
Some terminology that may be used in this description includes:
- Jacket
- Sometimes used as another term for dust jacket, a protective and often decorative wrapper, usually made of paper which wraps...