This magistral treatise approaches the integration of psychology through
the study of the multiple causes of normal and dysfunctional behavior.
Causality is the focal point reviewed across disciplines. Using diverse
models, the book approaches unifying psychology as an ongoing project
that integrates genetics, experience, evolution, brain, development,
change mechanisms, and so on. The book includes in its integration free
will, epitomized as freedom in being. It pinpoints the role of the self
in causality and the freedom we have in determining our own behavior.
The book deals with disturbed behavior, as well, and tackles the DSM-5
approach to mental disorder and the etiology of psychopathology. Young
examines all these topics with a critical eye, and gives many innovative
ideas and models that will stimulate thinking on the topic of psychology
and causality for decades to come. It is truly integrative and original.
Among the topics covered:
Models and systems of causality of behavior.
Nature and nurture: evolution and complexities.
Early adversity, fetal programming, and getting under the skin.
Free will in psychotherapy: helping people believe.
Causality in psychological injury and law: basics and critics.
A Neo-Piagetian/Neo-Eriksonian 25-step (sub)stage model.
Unifying Causality and Psychology appeals to the disciplines of
psychology, psychiatry, epidemiology, philosophy, neuroscience,
genetics, law, the social sciences and humanistic fields, in general,
and other mental health fields. Its level of writing makes it
appropriate for graduate courses, as well as researchers and
practitioners.
