Political Psychology: New Ideas for Activists

This book is about using psychological concepts for political activism. It is intended for politicos of all stripes, left or right; green, black or white; Christian, Jew, or Muslim; male or female; fundamentalist or pacifist. It is primarily informed by the work of Dr. Carl G. Jung, who many regard as the greatest psychologist of the 20th Century. There are many books with the title Political Psychology. Most of them are written by licensed Jungian analysts or licensed psychotherapists. While those books may contain some things for political activists, it is very difficult to separate the wheat from the chaff for this purpose, and they rarely give true guidance to the person who wants to see true and sustainable change in the world on the entire spectrum of political issues.

The sole purpose of this book is to show by example how to "change the frame" so that political issues can be understood in a new way, in a new context, and beyond the same old tired rhetoric that we see on our cable television channels. This book is most emphatically not about psychotherapy, and it is not intended to be useful to anyone suspecting they may be suffering from the onset of some mental illness. If you feel that you may be so afflicted, the best I can do is urge you to see a mental health professional, who will be best equipped to set you on the right path to recovery. I am not a licensed therapist. I make no pretensions along those lines. Furthermore, I never intend to become a mental health professional.