Editing Psychohistory (section)

===A psychoclass for postmodern times===

According to the psychogenic theory, since [[Neanderthal man]] most tribes and families practiced infanticide, child mutilation, incest and beating of their children throughout prehistory and history.  Presently the Western socializing mode of childrearing is considered much less abusive in the field, though this mode is not yet entirely free of abuse. In the opening paragraph of his seminal essay "The Evolution of Childhood" (first article in ''The History of Childhood''), DeMause states:

<blockquote>The history of childhood is a nightmare from which we have only recently begun to awaken.  The further back in history one goes, the lower the level of childcare, and the more likely children are to be killed, abandoned, beaten, terrorized and sexually abused.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Shore |first1=Miles F. |last2=deMause |first2=Lloyd |date=1976 |title=The Child and Historiography |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/202668 |journal=Journal of Interdisciplinary History |volume=6 |issue=3 |pages=495 |doi=10.2307/202668|jstor=202668 }}</ref></blockquote>

There is notwithstanding an optimistic trait in the field. In a world of "helping mode" parents, deMause believes, violence of any other sort will disappear as well, along with [[magical thinking]], mental disorders, wars and other inhumanities of man against man. Although, the criticism has been made that this itself is a form of magical thinking.<ref>[http://primal-page.com/ps4.htm The evolution of psyche and society] – deMause's explanatory chapter of ''The Emotional Life of Nations'' (op. cit.).</ref>