Pain and Pleasure - 2nd Edition by Thomas Szasz (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

In this work Dr. Szasz dispels popular and scientific confusion about what pain and pleasure actually are. Demonstrating the doubtful value of such distinctions as "real" and Imagined" pain, or "physical" and "intellectual" pleasure, he analyses the basic concepts--psychological, philosophical, and sociological--involved in bodily feelings and discusses how these feelings are communicated. Some of the subjects discussed in Pain and Pleasure include: self-mutilation, sexual satisfaction, "hysterical anesthesia," false pregnancy, laughter, homosexuality, and dream analysis.

From the Back Cover

In this work Dr. Szasz dispels popular and scientific confusion about what pain and pleasing actually are. Demonstrating the doubtful value of such distinctions as 'real' and 'imagined' pain, or 'physical' and 'intellectual' pleasure, he analyzes; the basic concept--psychological, philosophical, and sociological--involved in bodily feelings and discusses how these feelings are communicated. Some of the subjects discussed in Pain and Pleasure include: self-mutilation, sexual satisfaction. 'hysterical anesthesia, ' false pregnancy, laughter, homosexuality, and dream analysis.

About the Author

Thomas Szasz was professor emeritus of psychiatry at the State University of New York's Upstate Medical University in Syracuse, New York. His books include Law, Liberty, and Psychiatry, The Manufacture of Madness, Ceremonial Chemistry, The Myth of Psychotherapy, and Pharmacracy, all published by Syracuse University Press.