On Nikolas Rose's Governing the soul

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Notes on contributor

Dr Bruce Scott originally trained as an experimental psychologist. His Ph.D. thesis was on the cognitive model of depression and the cognitive effects of SSRIs. He then trained as a psychoanalyst with the Philadelphia Association, London. He is author of The Testimony of Experience: The Docta Ignorantia and the Philadelphia Association Communities (PCCS, 2014). He lives in the Scottish Borders with his wife and son.

© 2015, Bruce Scott

Notes

1. This review was written approximately one month before the UK general election of May 2015.

2. The term ‘psy-world’ refers loosely to professions, institutions and cultures that rely upon psychological/psychiatric science and/or psychotherapeutic theories of human behaviour and thought.

3. ‘Technologies of the self’ involve the psychological/scientific theories of human mental and behavioural functioning and how to control and predict these. They cover the psychology of personality, motivation, aptitudes, IQ, abnormality, normality, mental hygiene and so forth.

4. The prefix ‘psy’ is indicative of the psychological, psychiatric and psychotherapeutic professions/institutions.

5. The HCPC is a statutory regulator of psychologists and arts therapists; the PSA, or Professional Standards Authority, operates voluntary registers for talking therapists (e.g. UKCP, BACP etc.).