Jane Ussher – författare

The psychology of women's health is an area traditionally controlled by male-orientated scientists, psychologists and doctors. Women by definition have been unquestioningly seen and treated as deviant from the male norm. This model has been challenged by feminist historians and sociologists, but not by psychologists who seem to have implicitly accepted the medical models, and emphasized the pathology in women's behaviour and emotions. In this book, women's views and their experience of their own health and health care are taken seriously, and analyzed within a psychological and a feminist angle. It includes chapters from psychologists who work in research, teaching and practice. Paula Nicolson and Jane Ussher are co-editors of "Gender Issues in Clinical Psychology". Jane Ussher is the author of "The Psychology of the Female Body" and "Women's Madness: Mysogyny or Mental Illness".

Clinical psychology has traditionally ignored gender issues. The result has been to the detriment of women both as service users and practitioners. The contributors to this book show how this has happened and explore the effects both on clients and clinicians. Focusing on different aspects of clinical psychology's organisation and practice, including child sexual abuse, family therapy, forensic psychology and individual feminist therapy, they demonstrate that it is essential that gender issues are incorporated into clinical research and practice, and offer examples of theory and practice which does not marginalise the needs of women.

Psychology has traditionally examined human experience from a realist perspective, focusing on observable 'facts'. This is especially so in areas of psychology which focus on the body, such as sexuality, madness or reproduction. In contrast, many sociologists, anthropologists and feminists have focused exclusively on the cultural and communicative aspects of 'the body' treating it purely as an object constructed within socio-cultural discourse.This new collection of sophisticated discursive analyses explores this divide from a variety of theoretical standpoints, including psychoanalysis, social representations theory, feminist theory, critical realism, post-structuralism and social constructionism.Body Talk reconciles the divide by putting forward a new 'materialist-discursive' approach. It also provides an introduction to social constructionist and discursive approaches which is accessible to those with limited previous knowledge of socio-linguistic theory, and showcases the distinctive contribution that psychologists can make to the field.

Nominated for the 2012 Distinguished Publication Award of the Association for Women in Psychology!Why are women more likely to be positioned or diagnosed as mad than men?If madness is a social construction, a gendered label, as many feminist critics would argue, how can we understand and explain women's prolonged misery and distress? In turn, can we prevent or treat women’s distress, in a non-pathologising women centred way? The Madness of Women addresses these questions through a rigorous exploration of the myths and realities of women's madness.Drawing on academic and clinical experience, including case studies and in-depth interviews, as well as on the now extensive critical literature in the field of mental health, Jane Ussher presents a critical multifactorial analysis of women's madness that both addresses the notion that madness is a myth, and yet acknowledges the reality and multiple causes of women's distress. Topics include:The genealogy of women’s madness – incarceration of difficult or deviant womenRegulation through treatmentDeconstrucing depression, PMS and borderline personality disorderMadness as a reasonable response to objectification and sexual violenceWomen’s narratives of resistanceThis book will be of great interest to students and scholars of psychology, gender studies, sociology, women's studies, cultural studies, counselling and nursing.

Nominated for the 2012 Distinguished Publication Award of the Association for Women in Psychology!Why are women more likely to be positioned or diagnosed as mad than men?If madness is a social construction, a gendered label, as many feminist critics would argue, how can we understand and explain women's prolonged misery and distress? In turn, can we prevent or treat women’s distress, in a non-pathologising women centred way? The Madness of Women addresses these questions through a rigorous exploration of the myths and realities of women's madness.Drawing on academic and clinical experience, including case studies and in-depth interviews, as well as on the now extensive critical literature in the field of mental health, Jane Ussher presents a critical multifactorial analysis of women's madness that both addresses the notion that madness is a myth, and yet acknowledges the reality and multiple causes of women's distress. Topics include:The genealogy of women’s madness – incarceration of difficult or deviant womenRegulation through treatmentDeconstrucing depression, PMS and borderline personality disorderMadness as a reasonable response to objectification and sexual violenceWomen’s narratives of resistanceThis book will be of great interest to students and scholars of psychology, gender studies, sociology, women's studies, cultural studies, counselling and nursing.

Clinical psychology has traditionally ignored gender issues. The result has been to the detriment of women both as service users and practitioners. The contributors to this book show how this has happened and explore the effects both on clients and clinicians. Focusing on different aspects of clinical psychology's organisation and practice, including child sexual abuse, family therapy, forensic psychology and individual feminist therapy, they demonstrate that it is essential that gender issues are incorporated into clinical research and practice, and offer examples of theory and practice which does not marginalise the needs of women.