At the age of eighteen as a Harvard college student, Dr. Breggin began working as a volunteer in a state mental hospital and was soon directing the Harvard-Radcliffe Mental Hospital Volunteer Program. This experience set the direction of the two thrusts of his ongoing work as a psychiatrist: critiquing the prevailing biological psychiatry and encouraging more positive person-centered and relationship-based therapies. From the beginning, he saw caring, thoughtful approaches as the best hope for helping people with emotional problems, including the most distressed and disturbed individuals.
For several decades, Dr. Breggin has been developing a new approach to understanding and overcoming guilt, shame and anxiety, which he sees as the root of most of what becomes labeled “emotional problems” and “mental illness.” His most recent book, Guilt, Shame and Anxiety: Understanding and Overcoming Negative Emotions, represents the culmination of this work in psychology. It presents a new biological evolutionary approach to understanding the origins of our most demoralizing emotions and how to overcome them. His earlier book, The Heart of Being Helpful, more specifically addresses how to help people as a therapist, friend or family member. These two books together present his most important experiences, studies and conclusions in regard to self-help and therapy.
As a supplement to Dr. Breggin’s books, this section of Dr. Breggin’s papers provides an assortment of his scientific articles and book chapters. The next section is especially focused on his many papers examining psychiatric drugs, electroshock, psychosurgery, involuntary treatment and other problems in psychiatry.
Dr. Breggin's best overview Critique of psychiatric drugs
Feb 23, 2016 | wp_uncategorized legal website-general empathic-therapy psychiatric-medications-articles-sorted-by-drug-class psychology-life-and-overcoming-negative-emotions
Breggin (2016). Rational Principles of Psychopharm...
Read More
Understanding and Overcoming Guilt, Shame, and Anxiety: Based on Theory of Negative Legacy Emotions (2015)
Sep 24, 2015 | selected-scientific-papers psychology-life-and-overcoming-negative-emotions
Chapter 5 of Promoting Psychological Well-Being in...
Read More
Biological evolution of guilt, shame and anxiety (2015)
Jul 07, 2015 | selected-scientific-papers psychology-life-and-overcoming-negative-emotions
Breggin, PR. (2015). The biological evolution of g...
Read More
Understanding and Helping People with Hallucinations (2015)
Apr 12, 2015 | psychology-life-and-overcoming-negative-emotions scientific-papers
Breggin, PR. (2015). Understanding and Helping Peo...
Read More
22 Guidelines for Counseling and Psychotherapy (2008)
Apr 12, 2008 | psychology-life-and-overcoming-negative-emotions
Breggin, PR (2008). Practicle Applications: 22 Gui...
Read More
Empathic self-transformation in therapy (2002)
Apr 11, 2002 | therapy-counseling-and-life psychology-life-and-overcoming-negative-emotions scientific-papers
Breggin, PR (2002). From Dimensions of Empathic Th...
Read More
Empowering social work in the era of biological psychiatry (2001)
Apr 11, 2001 | selected-scientific-papers psychology-life-and-overcoming-negative-emotions scientific-papers
Breggin, PR (2001). Empowering Social Work in the ...
Read More
A dangerous assignment (2001)
Mar 01, 2001 | therapy-counseling-and-life selected-scientific-papers psychology-life-and-overcoming-negative-emotions
"A dangerous assignment," In Howard Rosenthal (Ed....
Read More
Empathic self-transformation and love in individual and family therapy (1999)
Apr 11, 1999 | selected-scientific-papers psychology-life-and-overcoming-negative-emotions scientific-papers
Breggin, PR (1999). Empathic Self-Transformation a...
Read More
Psychotherapy in emotional crises without resort to psychiatric medication (1998)
Apr 11, 1998 | psychology-life-and-overcoming-negative-emotions
Breggin, PR (1997). Psychotherapy in Emotional Cri...
Read More