Scumbag Sewer Rats

An Archetypal Understanding of

Criminalized Drug Addicts

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From the back cover:

An interesting and socially-important psychological review of the criminal archetype, that views the phenomenon of criminalized drug addiction both from the inside, as well as from the academic perspective. Dr John Smethers takes us on a deeply personal journey, looking at the root causes and effects of a sub-culture populated by society's social outcasts. Drug addicts, alcoholics and petty criminals are studied from the unique perspective of someone who has not only 'been there', but one who has also successfully struggled against the social and psychological forces that have lead so many of our young men into hopelessness and despair. This is a keen and insightful look into a little-known underworld which we all, in one way or another, have helped to create. (Stephen Manning, Ph.D., author of The Color of Truth)

Depth psychologist John Smethers' Scumbag Sewer Rats offers a unique, fascinating and heartfelt glimpse into the world of criminalized drug addicts, revealing both the self-indulgence and the outgong humanity of the puer and trickster images that is so prevalent in the social order of this shadowed underworld. (Mike Denney, MD, PhD, author of Second Opinion)

Synopsis of Scumbag Sewer Rats (10:24)

Book Trailer (1:04)

Interview with Books in Sync

Interview with Apex Reviews

My name is John E. Smethers, Ph.D., and I am an adjunct faculty member in the psychology department of Barstow College and the sociology department of Park University at Ft. Irwin, (NTC) , Barstow, (MCLB), and Blythe, California.

My Issues in Psychology course at Barstow College

My Intro to Psychology course at Barstow College

This site has been created to draw interest to my two books. The first one

SCUMBAG SEWER RATS:

An Archetypal Understanding of Criminalized Drug Addicts

is pictured above. The second one is

SCUMBAG TO Ph.D:

30 Years of Drug Addiction

(not yet published)

Education:

Pacifica Graduate Institute

(Ph.D. , Depth Psychology - 2004)

National University

(Master of Human Services in Community Psychology - 1998)

Chapman University

(BA, Psychology - 1994)

Barstow Community College

(AA, Psychology - 1992)

Take Carl Jung's

Personality Test

then read

a description of

your psychological type

Take the quiz

at the bottom of the page to find the archetypes that are active in your life

Take the quiz

to find your financial archetypes

If anyone has questions concerning addiction/recovery, feel free to send me an email.

NEWSPAPER ARTICLE ABOUT ME

Sigmund Freud, the first depth psychologist

Carl Jung, the father of archetypal theory

James Hillman, founder of archetypal psychology

Tales of Addiction is a compliment to the existing literature on addiction/recovery, which includes contributions from both me and my daughter, Lynda. This is a must read for anyone who's interested in reading about addiction from various perspectives.

CLICK ON BOOK FOR DR. SINOR'S WEBSITE

My principal interests are Addiction/Recovery, Depth Psychology

and the American Civil War

The short answer: depth psychology is a tradition initiated by Sigmund Freud, Carl Jung, and elaborated on by others, including James Hillman with his Archetypal Re-visioning of psychology as well as many of the phenomenological schools. The spirit of depth psychology is nourished by understanding literature, myth, spirituality, alchemy, and the mystery traditions.

Carl Gustav Jung wrote that:

"Anyone who wants to know the human psyche will learn next to nothing from experimental psychology. He would be better advised to put away his scholar’s gown, bid farewell to his study, and wander with human heart through the world. There, in the horrors of prisons, lunatic asylums and hospitals, in drab suburban pubs, in brothels and gambling-hells [sic], in the salons of the elegant, the Stock Exchanges, Socialist meetings, churches, revivalist gatherings and ecstatic sects, through love and hate, through the experience of passion in every form in his own body, he would reap richer stores of knowledge than text-books a foot thick could give him, and he will know how to doctor the sick with real knowledge of the human soul" (Jung, 1945, 1953, p. 244 [CW 7, para. 409]).

Criminalized drug addicts (mostly male), who I also refer to as jointsters, personify two archetypes: the Puer Aeternus (eternal boy in Latin) and the Trickster

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