Review of Behavioral Medicine: Changing Health Lifestyles.

Reviews the book, Behavioral Medicine: Changing Health Lifestyles by Park O. Davidson and Sheena M. Davidson (1980). Since 1969, the Banff International Conferences have served as a "window" on the future applications of behaviour modification principles and techniques. Behavioral Medicine: Changing Health Lifestyles is the "report" of that conference. (the reviewer hastens to point out, however, that the Banff Conference reports are much more than a collection of papers presented at the conference itself. They are chapters written specially for publication.) For a number of years there has been an increasing awareness of and concern with the fact that "lifestyle" plays an important role in health and ill health alike. Faulty habits and behaviours such as smoking, alcohol consumption, overeating, lack of exercise, overwork, etc., may play a critical causal role in the development of physical disorders. At the same time, however, changing these behaviours, and maintaining the changes, has quite often proven to be beyond the skills of even the most talented clinician. The present volume addresses this challenge: the application of behavioural principles to the problems of physical health and illness. The chapters are well written and the usual vagaries of an edited book (such as stylistic differences between authors) have been minimized. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Adult development and aging: Biopsychosocial perspectives, third edition.

Reviews the book, Adult development and aging: Biopsychosocial perspectives, third edition by Susan Krauss Whitbourne (2007). The objective of this book is to educate undergraduate students on the aging process and how to age successfully. Each chapter is couched in the biopsychosocial perspective and as such presents an integrated view of the biological, psychological, and sociocultural changes that occur with aging. With this revised third edition, the author had the explicit goal of “engaging students in the learning process.” The revised sections, new research, links to Internet sites, and conversational style in this new edition reflect this goal. From a Canadian perspective, this new edition includes a great deal of current Canadian research in aging, and in general includes more world statistics than the previous edition. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Altruism, socialization, and society.

Reviews the book, Altruism, Socialization, and Society by J. Philippe Rushton (1980). In this comprehensive work, Rushton reviews the fruits of his research efforts. Much of what his review reveals is promising: Human beings probably are evolutionarily disposed toward displaying altruism, and a variety of childrearing and educational practices are highly effective toward teaching and eliciting prosocial action and thought. Yet Rushton also reaches a darker conclusion: A variety of forces in society are conspiring to produce generations of inconsiderate, unfeeling, hostile, competitive, and self-centered youngsters. Among the factors Rushton fingers are the demise of the family as an effective socialization agency, the abundance of violent fare in the media, and the failure of the school to face its role as moral tutor. Rushton draws on evidence from psychology, sociology, anthropology, and education to support the disturbing thesis that he reiterate several times throughout his book: 'Altruism is the central problem facing society today." He goes on to consider strategies for improving the social environment to rectify the problem. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Handbook of severe disability.

Reviews the book, Handbook of severe disability by W. Stolov and M. Clowers (1981). This book has many strengths that make it a mandatory reference manual for professionals who work with individuals with severe illness and disability. First, the chapters have been written by highly regarded professionals who have clinical and research experience with the disability group about which they write. Thus there is an understanding of the scope of the rehabilitation problem and a commitment to the disability group in question that is apparent in the manner in which the chapters have been written. Second, the scope of the book makes it a useful reference tool for those who work in rehabilitation settings that serve clients with a variety of disabilities. Third, the price of the book is less than $20, which makes it affordable by those who need the information most. Any psychologist who works with a variety of severely disabled persons should be familiar with the information contained in this book. Ordinarily this takes years of on-the-job experience and reading. Thus this book can shorten the learning period considerably. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Depression.

Reviews the book, Depression edited by Paul H. Hoch and Joseph Zubin (see record 2006-09526-000). Perhaps the main value of this book is that it brings together a wide assortment of material related to depressions and allied conditions. It consists of 16 independent papers originally presented at the 1952 meeting of the American Psychopathological Society (APS). Represented in the symposium are theories and findings from the fields of clinical psychiatry, psychodynamics, anthropology, endocrinology, biochemistry, biometrics, and hospital administration. Attention is given to depressive reactions in children, the aged, cancer patients, and soldiers exposed to isolated Arctic conditions. Most of the articles are reviews of previously published work. Much still remains to be learned about depressions but in focusing attention on and in providing a wide-range view of the problem the APS has performed a useful service. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Cognition.

Reviews the book, Cognition by John G. Benjafield, et al. (2010). Cognition (4th ed.) provides a comprehensive introduction to cognitive psychology for undergraduate students and others who require an overview of the area. New in the fourth edition is a chapter on cognitive neuroscience. The reviewer only has one criticism of Benjafield et al.: Citations for published works in every chapter that also appeared in the third edition stop around 2007 or earlier (when the third edition was published). Cognition is a book that will appeal to those looking for a high-level, scholarly survey of cognitive psychology. It is this aspect of Cognition that sets it apart from most other textbooks that cover cognitive psychology. Yet, despite its scholarly approach, it remains an engaging text that makes the reader want to keep reading more: a delicate balance, but one that Benjafield et al. manage with aplomb. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Therapist.

[Correction Notice: An erratum for this article was reported in Vol 23(4) of Psychotherapy: Theory, Research, Practice, Training (see record 2007-12251-001). There was a comment in this book review that requires clarification. The reviewers stated, "The code of ethics of the American Psychological Association explicitly disallows only 'unwanted' therapist-patient sexual contact" (p. 487). However, the reviewers failed to take note of Principle 6(a) which reads, "Sexual intimacies with clients are unethical" (p. 29). The two phrases "physical contacts of a sexual nature" (from Principle 7) and "sexual intimacies" (from Principle 6) suggest a difference in behavior, which may be misleading and confusing to a reader of the code. The reviewers may have pointed out an ambiguity in the code which should be corrected by the APA Ethics committee.] Reviews the book, Therapist by Ellen Plasil (1985). The problem of therapist-patient sex has always plagued the mental health professions. In recent years the issue has been the topic of increasing numbers of mental health field panels, seminars and papers, producing innumerable calls for professional, and sometimes legal, sanctions against offenders. Author Ellen Plasil's revelations of sexual involvement with her therapist will shock few, since periodic stories about such behavior seem to come out in the popular press with increasing regularity. The value of Ms. Plasil's autobiographical tale, however, is that it educates the reader as to how the process of mystification works to mold that relationship; that is, the reader learns from her incredibly detailed accounting of her thoughts how patients can be persuaded to become unquestioning "true believers." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Psychoneuroimmunology.

Reviews the book, Psychoneuroimmunology edited by R. Ader (1981). In this important book, the editor has attempted for the first time to present to the reader a comprehensive picture of the state of knowledge in this area. In this he has succeeded admirably. Ader has brought together virtually all of the major contributors in experimental psychoneuroimmunology. The authors collectively manage to cover all aspects of this multifaceted problem, in most cases in a critical manner. It is to be hoped and expected that this important book which represents a milestone in this field, will open up the area to new investigators from the different disciplines. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Lacan.

Reviews the book, Lacan by Malcolm Bowie (see record 1991-97907-000). What is on offer here is one outcome of a conversation in which Lacan's texts--whatever their difficulties, obscurities, and seductive attractions--have been obliged to make their sense in and to a larger field of psychoanalytic concerns. Bowie divides Lacan's career into five main phases, to each of which he devotes a chapter. Bowie's is a strong and frequently persuasive partitioning of Lacan's development. The interplay between Bowie's style and his interrogation of Lacan's style is central and productive throughout the book. Those who have been wrestling with Lacan for some time will find there is room for reservations about Bowie's Lacan, and some of those reservations will be of possibly considerable consequence in the end. There will also be reservations provoked into explicitness by--and so also indebted to--Bowie's own argumentative clarity and force. And for those who are not already at grips with Lacan, for those who want an introduction to Lacan that is at once straightforward and fully serious, at once skeptical and generous, it is hard to imagine any other work that would serve as well. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Cybernetics.

Reviews the book, Cybernetics by C. R. Evans and A. D. J. Robertson (eds.). This book is a collection of papers on cybernetics. Included in the sixteen papers are one by A. M. Turing and one by Warren S. McCulloch, persons who have been quite influential in the development of cybernetics. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Anxiety.

Reviews the book, Anxiety by S. Rachman (see record 1998-07057-000). Several strong summaries of research and clinical work in anxiety have been produced. Stanley Rachman's Anxiety takes a surprisingly strong place among this literature. Rachman's summary of theory, research, and practice related to anxiety is a prize. He has managed a succinct presentation of the major problems and issues, recounted what is known, and challenged the reader with the unsolved riddles. The book includes chapters on the nature of anxiety, influences on anxiety, and theoretical views of anxiety, highlighting the importance of conditioning and neoconditioning theory, before turning to separate chapters on each of panic, agoraphobia, obsessions and compulsions, social anxiety, and generalized anxiety disorder. One of the strengths of Rachman's contribution is the overview chapters, concerned with the concept of anxiety and competing theoretical views of its nature. Even though the book is saddled with frequent, distracting typos, even some that distort the meaning, it is an excellent book that can stand as a resource in many undergraduate and graduate courses, and also can take a place on the shelves of practising clinicians and specialists in other areas. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Creativity.

Reviews the book, Creativity by P. E. Vernon (Ed.) (see record 1973-07006-000). Vernon provides a palatable and inexpensive way into the literature on creativity. While he defends his selection of 27 articles as arbitrary but conventional, there is in fact a healthy respect for the early contributors and for the significant British literature. In the six sections of this book, Vernon provides an altogether refreshing little collection of key materials. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Madhouse and The Lobotomist.

Reviews the books, Madhouse: A Tragic Tale of Megalomania and Modern Medicine by Andrew Scull (see record 2005-06776-000); and The Lobotomist: A Maverick Medical Genius and His Tragic Quest to Rid the World of Mental Illness by Jack El-Hai (see record 2005-02343-000). In both books, the history of experimental clinical psychiatry is laid bare with devastating accounts of the efforts to conquer mental illness by any means necessary. Both books are fascinating reading and may illuminate our current context in which the biological avenues for treating mental disorders continue to traffic in hopes of a one-size-fits-all cure, while psychoanalysis ambivalently struggles with how to conduct rigorous research to demonstrate the efficacy of our treatment. Andrew Scull's book Madhouse offers a well-documented historical account of a bizarre episode in American psychiatric history. The centerpiece of Scull's investigative work is Henry Cotton, MD, the superintendent of the Trenton State Hospital in Trenton, New Jersey, from 1907-1930. Once Cotton arrived at Trenton, he was appalled by the conditions he found and instituted reforms such as eliminating the culture of violence by attendants, removing over 700 pieces of restraining equipment from the hospital, and introducing occupational therapy. Jack El-Hai gives us the next segment of psychiatric surgery in his book The Lobotomist, a biography of the neurologist, turned surgical outlaw, Walter Freeman, MD. Walter Freeman was a neurologist fascinated with science and experimentation. Settling into work at St. Elizabeth's hospital in Washington, DC, in 1924, Freeman eventually joined the faculty of George Washington University where he remained until 1954. At that time neurosyphilis was the scourge of mental hospitals producing thousands of victims who were totally disabled by the neurological sequellae of tertiary illness. Thus lobotomy became an efficient outpatient procedure that could be applied to a larger patient population. Both of these books are important reading. Of all the great medical advances of the last century, surely the one that stands out as perhaps the greatest is the Nuremberg Code of 1947, which requires a competent patient giving informed consent to treatment and to research efforts. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of The body.

Reviews the book, The body by Donn Welton (1999). Over the last century, the nature and meaning of human embodiment has emerged as one of the more significant areas of philosophical and psychological inquiry. From at least the time of Edmund Husserl, many thinkers in the Continental tradition have striven to re-conceptualize the body and its relationship to self and other in such a way as to avoid the pitfalls of more traditional, reductionistic attempts that view the body solely in physical or biological terms. In this helpful volume, part of Blackwell’s Readings in Continental Philosophy series, Welton has brought together for the first time many of the foundational twentieth-century writings on the concept of embodiment. This book provides not only a cluster of theories articulated by philosophers seeking to move beyond the inherent limitations and contradictions of Modern philosophy, but also new appropriations and insights from psychoanalysis, social history, literary theory, and gender theory. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Deprived Children.

Reviews the book Deprived children by Hilda Lewis (1954). This compact and carefully written book is a report of a social-clinical study of 500 children entering the Mersham Reception Centre in Kent, England, between October, 1947 and July, 1950. Three concerns are evident: (a) an evaluation of the work of the Centre; (b) an evaluation of the effects of earlier maternal separation on the child's adjustment at the time of admission and on his adjustment two years later; and (c) an evaluation of the factors leading to the child's placement at the Centre and the importance of these factors for his subsequent adjustment. The writer has with care considered the family backgrounds, socioeconomic influences, and personal experiences of these children prior to their admission, and she has related these variables to the personality and behavior patterns of the children. The large number of variables which she considers in these areas and the skill with which she has interrelated these factors, sets this research report in marked contrast to the speculation characterizing most of the reports on deprived children. The author found in her investigation that the degree of disturbance of the child entering the Centre is related to his mother's emotional instability, her intellectual level, her tendency for overindulgence, her tendency to neglect and/or to reject him, etc. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Le vieillissement.

Reviews the book, Le vieillissement by Brian L. Mishara and Robert G. Riedel. In Ageing, Mishara and Riedel offer an excellent summary of principal research and theories relative to gerontology. The authors study the the complex play of physical, psychological, social, cultural influences on ageing and examine various theories bearing on the influence of social, environmental, physical and psychological maturation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of The I.

The reviewer notes that a professor of English and psychoanalyst, Norman Holland brings us illumination in the direction of humanity in an age when the mechanistic theme has become so prevalent in psychology, psychiatiry and psychoanalysis. Holland informs us of individuality, of uniqueness apart from the statistical heavy hand. Acknowledging his debt to Erikson and Lichtenstein, Holland uses the concept of identity to bring into coherence an individual's lifelong behavior. He views identity as a theme or style albeit with variations, that characterizes an individual from inchoation to the very end. Obstructions and interferences with the identity theme constitute frustrations, which in turn lead to crises and to the bevy of aberrations observed in the consultation room, in life, and in literature. In other words, we track the exquisitely fragile "I" and its vicissitudes. Although we are constantly doing new things, our "style" never changes. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)