Michael J. Miller

Colleen Elizabeth Kelley and Michael J. Miller explore how democracy both functions and falters when media, politics, and rhetorical discourses collide. Democracy thrives on information and public engagement. Digital spaces and technologies, while significantly enriching our cyberculture and playing a crucial role in our interconnected global system, have introduced significant threats to our democracy including misinformation, privacy concerns, and public polarization as platforms emerge as increasingly powerful intermediaries. Examining discursive manifestations of these problematic intersections during the 2024 presidential election cycle, Kelley and Miller demonstrate the impact of digital media and a digitally disrupted political ecosystem on democracy in the United States. Kelley and Miller provide a salient reminder that political frameworks – especially democracy – are mediated systems constituted and agreed upon through communication behaviors. Our political future, they contend, can still be shaped by the people.

The work of Jacques Lacan is associated more with literature and philosophy than mainstream American psychology, due in large part to the dense language he employs in articulating his theory – including often at the expense of clinical illustration. As a result, his contributions are frequently fascinating, yet their utility in the therapeutic setting can be difficult to pinpoint. Lacanian Psychotherapy fills in this clinical gap by presenting theoretical discussions in clear, accessible language and applying them to several chapter-length case studies, thereby demonstrating their clinical relevance. The central concern of the book is the usefulness of Lacan's notion that the unconscious is structured like and by language. This concept implies a peculiar manner of listening ("to the letter") and intervention, which Miller applies to a number of common clinical concerns – including including case formulation, dreams, transference, and diagnosis – including all in the context of real-world psychotherapy.

The work of Jacques Lacan is associated more with literature and philosophy than mainstream American psychology, due in large part to the dense language he employs in articulating his theory – including often at the expense of clinical illustration. As a result, his contributions are frequently fascinating, yet their utility in the therapeutic setting can be difficult to pinpoint. Lacanian Psychotherapy fills in this clinical gap by presenting theoretical discussions in clear, accessible language and applying them to several chapter-length case studies, thereby demonstrating their clinical relevance. The central concern of the book is the usefulness of Lacan's notion that the unconscious is structured like and by language. This concept implies a peculiar manner of listening ("to the letter") and intervention, which Miller applies to a number of common clinical concerns – including including case formulation, dreams, transference, and diagnosis – including all in the context of real-world psychotherapy.