Pain And Pleasure Rev

by Szasz

In what may well be the first major study of the psychology of bodily feelings since Freud's "Beyond the Pleasure Principle", Dr Thomas S. Szasz analyzes the basic concepts involved in the sensations of pain & pleasure & in our communication of them.

Genres: Psychology

363 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1957

Reviews

[Susanna · Rating 2 out of 5]

I think I speak for everyone when I say that this book was not as juicy as I was expecting.
In all seriousness, though, while I can see how some of this would have been revelatory in 1957, very little was enlightening or even of much interest to me. I suppose it goes without saying that it's outdated as well (treats homosexuality as a mental illness, etc.)

[Beomjun Ok · Rating 5 out of 5]

As stated in previous updates, this book introduces me the definitions, deep inquiries, sophistication of pain and pleasure. The most impressive inquiry about both pain and pleasure was that if our bodily and psycological sense are false, like placebo, what do we feel when we say we are in pain or we are in pleasure. Who can state it is painful or pleasureable?
So, I started to speculate what pain and pleasure are. Also general wording of this book was pretty easy to read; I liked it.

[Erik Graff · Rating 3 out of 5]

Boy, did this read like a dissertation! It is definitely not one of Szasz' better books, but of potential interest to philosophers as well as to psychologists, Pain and Pleasure was first composed in 1957, just as Szasz completed his training and before he went on to become the famous critic of the Psychiatric Establishment.