Beyond the Pleasure Principle, published in 1920, by world-renowned psychologist Sigmund Freud, marks a major turning point in the author's theoretical approach. Prior to this work, Freud's examination of the forces that drive people focused primarily on the sexual drive, or Eros of man, the life instinct to reproduce that is innate in all humans. Freud had attributed most of human behavior to the seeking of sexual pleasure. In reasoned progression...

Sigmund Freud's seminal psychological works are of huge cultural significance; his theories on dreams have become part of the fabric of our everyday lives.

First published in German in 1927 and in English in 1928, "The Future of an Illusion" is Sigmund Freud's seminal work on the psychology of religion in which Freud discusses the history of and psychological basis for religion. Chief amongst the arguments of the work is that religion is ultimately the result of the psychological struggle against the ultimate fate of life, death. So strong is the desire to give meaning to life that our ancestors created...

This book explores the use and development of man's symbolizing capacities-those qualities that make him distinctly human. Dr. Whitmont describes the symbolic approach to a dream, which takes into account a symptom's meaning in reference to an unfolding wholeness of personality. He then presents the view that the instinctual urge for meaning is served by the symbolizing capacities, and that this urge has been repressed in our time. In the field...

Social psychologist Erich Fromm probes deep into the roots of religion to find its humanistic essence In 1950, Erich Fromm attempted to free religion from its social function and to develop a new understanding of religious phenomena. Rather than analyzing what people believe in-whether they're monotheistic, polytheistic, or atheistic-Fromm presents an idea of what religion means in secular terms.   In his timeless and straightforward style, Fromm...

Reich's classic work on the development and treatment of human character disorders, first published in 1933. As a young clinician in the 1920s, Wilhelm Reich expanded psychoanalytic resistance into the more inclusive technique of character analysis, in which the sum total of typical character attitudes developed by an individual as a blocking against emotional excitations became the object of treatment. These encrusted attitudes functioned as an "armor,"...

Renowned social psychologist Erich Fromm's classic study of Freud's most important-and controversial-ideas Bestselling philosopher and psychoanalyst Erich Fromm contends that the principle behind Freud's work-the wellspring from which psychoanalysis flows-boils down to one well-known belief: "And the truth shall set you free." The healing power of truth is what Freud used to cure depression and anxiety, cutting through repression and rationalizations,...

Bestselling author Erich Fromm revisits Sigmund Freud's work, ushering psychoanalysis into the modern age In The Revision of Psychoanalysis, renowned psychoanalyst and social psychologist Erich Fromm applies his innovative, humanist approach to Freud's often contradictory ideas. Fromm pays special attention to the fact that human beings' main problem has been the way they are related to the outer world, to others, and to themselves. Human passions...

"Originally published in 1918, this landmark collection of essays by the father of psychoanalysis represents one of Freud's most penetrating attempts to decipher the mysteries of human behavior. Its focus is the conflict between primitive feelings and the demands of civilization, i.e., the struggle to reconcile unconscious desires with socially acceptable behavior. Totemism involves the belief in a sacred relationship between an object (totem) and...

A thoughtful examination of psychotherapy from Erich Fromm, a celebrated leader in the field Over the course of a distinguished career, Erich Fromm built a reputation as a talented speaker and gifted psychoanalyst-the first specialization of this polymath. The Art of Listening is a transcription of a seminar Fromm gave in 1974 to American students in Switzerland. It provides insight into Fromm's therapy techniques as well as his thoughts and mindset...