Review of Minding minds: Evolving a reflexive mind by interpreting others.

Reviews the book, Minding minds: Evolving a reflexive mind by interpreting others by Radu J. Bogdan (see record 2000-07328-000). Drawing on philosophical, psychological, and evolutionary perspectives, Bogdan analyzes the main phylogenetic and ontogenetic stages through which primates’ abilities to interpret other minds evolved and gradually created the opportunities and resources for mental reflexivity. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Minding the gap: Epistemology and philosophy of science in the two traditions.

Reviews the book, Minding the gap: Epistemology and philosophy of science in the two traditions by Christopher Norris (2000). In this book, the author takes issue with the all-too-frequently held view that there can be no productive engagement between mainstream analytic philosophers and thinkers in the contemporary Continental tradition. The main focus here is to reveal the various concerns each of these two traditions share—concerns that have often been obscured by narrowly parochial interests and the desire to stake out distinct philosophical territories. (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 Shame and the self.

Reviews the book, Shame and the self by Francis J. Broucek (see record 1991-97963-000). Broucek's Shame and the Self synthesizes ideas from psychoanalysis, neo-Darwinian affect theory, developmental psychology, existential phenomenology, and cultural theory in explaining the connections among shame, the self, and narcissism. In this review, Auerbach details Broucek's revision of the problem of narcissism and the self. Narcissism, whether normal or pathological, is a relational concept that refers to a propensity to treat others primarily as objects (i.e., as narcissistic extensions of oneself) and not as subjects (i.e., not as selves with their own desires and needs). It is additionally, in Broucek's formulation, a representational concept that entails reflexive self-awareness. Broucek similarly overreaches himself in discussing the narcissistic elements of the psychotherapeutic process and of modern culture. Nevertheless, his discussion of these issues is always intriguing. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of The Psychopathology of Women.

Reviews the book, The Psychopathology of Women by Ihsan Al-Issa (1980). The Psychopathology of Women, is a comprehensive examination of how Western culture influences the experience, expression and treatment of psychopathology in men and women. The chapters examine the major DSM - III categories in light of Dr. Al-Issa's premise that the diagnosis, experience and treatment of mental illness are related to sex roles. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of In defense of human consciousness.

Reviews the book, In defense of human consciousness by Joseph F. Rychlak (see record 1997-08615-000). Rychlak makes a case for the reality of consciousness, a state of awareness that allows for the weighing of opposites, the introspective framing of intentions, and the making of choices from amongst alternatives. Drawing upon decades of work in Logical Learning Theory, Rychlak argues that the contemporary notion that human agency and responsibility are in some sense illusory is not without serious flaws and open to significant objection. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

At the starting gate: Research and theory on families and somatic health.

Reviews the books, Family's impact on health: A critical review and annotated bibliography by T. L. Campbell (see record 1987-34495-001); Family-centered medical care: A clinical casebook edited by W. J. Doherty and M. A. Baird (see record 1987-97755-000); and Health, illness, and families edited by D. C. Turk and R. D. Kerns (1985). The field of families and somatic health is a vital one; its research findings have implications for both clinical practice and public policy. Under the rubric of families and health lie a diverse set of topics that span the entire life cycle. They include among others: (a) the impact of family factors on somatic health outcome and conversely the influence of somatic health on family functioning, (b) the effect of family factors on compliance to medical regimens and the adoption of beneficial health practices, (c) family interventions designed to promote health and/or help families deal with chronic disease or acute illness, and (d) the family's influence on health utilization behaviors. The books reviewed here cover these topics quite well. When considered as a group, these three volumes inform the reader about the state of the art of families and health, and suggest future directions. The three volumes reviewed here, taken together, demonstrate the challenging nature of this area of work and provide a useful point of departure for further accomplishments. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Bulimia: A guide to recovery.

Reviews the book, Bulimia: A guide to recovery by Lindsey Hall and Leigh Cohn (1986). This self-help book is presented in three parts. The opening section includes two chapters. The first consists of answers to common questions about bulimia such as: What is bulimia? Is it dangerous? Why do people become bulimic? Why are bulimics mainly women? What does it feel like to binge-vomit? The answers to these questions are accurate, informative, and concise. The second chapter is the personal story of Lindsey Hall's nine-year history of binging and purging. The second section of the book, entitled "Overcoming Bulimia" and addressed to individuals coping with bulimia, includes a systematic approach to dealing with the disorder. Logical, practical ways to undertake the self-change process are presented. The final section of the book contains a variety of appendices including a 2-week program to stop binging and a guide for developing a bulimia support group. This brief book is an excellent adjunct to therapy for bulimia. In describing her struggle to overcome a serious eating disorder, Lindsey Hall serves as an appropriate coping model for others dealing with bulimia. Her honest account of repeated efforts at self-change are instructive and inspirational. I suspect that many clients will be able to identify with her and her struggle to change and will be positively motivated by this book. I am less optimistic about the value of the book without some form of treatment by a professional or recognized self-help organization. As is often the case with self-help books, it is questionable whether clients can successfully apply the recommended treatment strategies on their own. Nonetheless, I found the book to be informative, interesting, and well written. I recommend it highly as an adjunct to treatment. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Being mentally ill (2nd ed.).

Reviews the book, Being mentally ill (2nd ed.) by Thomas J. Scheff (1984). In this 2nd edition, Scheff uses sociological theory to examine the stigma of mental illnesses in some very original ways. It is certainly an important reading for all those interested in understanding better the social reality of severe mental illnesses—or, indeed, of any type of severe disability. It can be best used to stimulate much-needed thinking about the context of living for mentally ill people. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Sexuality and chronic illness: A comprehensive approach.

Reviews the book, Sexuality and chronic illness: A comprehensive approach by Leslie R. Schover and Soren Buus Jensen (see record 1988-98146-000) as well written and carefully organized. Part 1 covers an integrative model of sexuality assessment and treatment, Part 2 covers specific illnesses and sexuality, and Part 3 discusses training and ethical issues. The text is designed for clinicians addressing sexuality concerns of patients with chronic illness as well as health care professionals. The authors assume that readers will need basic information about sexuality and, therefore include reviews of theoretical approaches to sexuality and sexual dysfunction, the sexual response cycle, and intervention strategies used with people with sexual dysfunction. The medical information provided allows the non-physician to understand the physiological bases of sexual response and dysfunction, and the medical interventions described in the text is comprehensive and easy to understand. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of When self-consciousness breaks: Alien voices and inserted thoughts.

Reviews the book, When self-consciousness breaks: Alien voices and inserted thoughts by G. Lynn Stephens and George Graham (see record 2000-08656-000). In this book, the authors examine and explain the experience of verbal hallucinations and thought insertion in terms of an alienated self-consciousness, in which the person is directly or introspectively aware of an episode in mental life but experiences it as alien. Psychopathologists look to such episodes as a way to reveal the underlying pathology of mental illness. As philosophers, however, Stephens and Graham are concerned with what such experiences might reveal about the underlying psychological structure and processes of human consciousness. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Depression in the medically ill: An integrated approach.

Reviews the book, Depression in the medically ill: An integrated approach by G. Rodin, J. Craven, and C. Littlefield (see record 1991-97973-000). This book provides an in-depth coverage of current issues in the management of depression in the medically ill. The book is balanced in theoretical perspective and quite comprehensive in coverage of the empirical literature. The authors are well known to the area of depression and physical illness. The book is organized into three main sections dealing with 1) Clinical Presentation, 2) Etiology and Pathogenesis, and 3) Treatment. Numerous case examples are provided throughout to highlight different aspects of symptom presentation, diagnostic problems, and therapeutic management. Notably lacking from the review of prevalence studies is the work examining depression and chronic pain populations. In sum, Rodin et al. have drawn on a vast literature to provide a clear and coherent picture of the current state of knowledge and theory dealing with depression and medical illness. Their book joins a number of recent papers attempting to draw more attention to clinical issues in the management of depression in the medically ill. I would recommend the book to all clinicians who work with medically ill populations. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Addiction and Trauma Recovery: Healing the Body, Mind and Spirit.

Review of book, Dusty Miller and Laurie Guidry (Aus.) Addiction and Trauma Recovery: Healing the Body, Mind and Spirit. New York: Norton, 2001, 288 pp. ISBN 0-393-70368-1. Reviewed by Judith Sprei. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Schreber: Father and son.

Reviews the book, Schreber: Father and son by Han Isra?ls (see record 1989-98605-000). In 1911, Sigmund Freud published a long paper about a German judge, Daniel Paul Schreber (1842-1911), who had been an inpatient in three psychiatric clinics from 1893 to 1902. Beginning in the 1940s and 1950s, psychiatrists and psychoanalysts began to give intensive attention to the life and illness of Schreber, an interest that has continued to the present day. Now Han Isra?ls, has written a compelling and most unusual book about Schreber and his father, Moritz Schreber. From one point of view it is a historical tour de force, bound to evoke admiration from any professional historian for its research and scholarship. From another vantage point, it is an example of historical overkill. The dominant theme of Isra?ls's book is an exposé of the corrupt scholarship that has grown up around Moritz Schreber and hence Isra?ls's argument that after his death Moritz achieved fame and notoriety far out of proportion to his actual contributions. A second, minor theme is Isra?ls's agreement with the discovery made by the psychoanalyst Niederland that Moritz Schreber's writings provide information about the way he reared his children: "It has become apparent that the method of upbringing has left traces in the psychotic illness [of Paul Schreber]." When all is said and done, we are left with a book which, in spite of its compelling scholarship, yields almost no new information about Judge Schreber that would help us to understand him better. Furthermore, Isra?ls's book is likely to have little impact on the modern and incorrect views about Schreber's father. In the end, Isra?ls's book stands as a cautionary tale to lazy researchers and sloppy scholars. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Expressed emotion in families: Its significance for mental illness.

Reviews the book, Expressed emotion in families: Its significance for mental illness by Julian Leff and Christine Vaughn (1985). The authors, Leff & Vaughn, along with George Brown, the originator of the "expressed emotion" concept provide an opportunity to observe their minds at work. In presenting the origins and clinical, theoretical, and research developments focused on the initial observations that high levels of expressed emotions in the families of schizophrenic patients can be debilitating, the volume not only provides a wealth of significant information about schizophrenia and how research ideas are formulated, tested, refined, and retested but also provides significant insights into the thought processes--the intuitions, doubts, and confidences--of the researchers every step of the way. The book is a landmark study of the role of emotional attitudes and their expression by family members in the course and outcome of schizophrenia. From its British origins, the research has sparked heuristic cross-cultural replication and innovations. While the book should be essential reading for every family psychologist and psychotherapist, its main audience will probably be researchers interested in family processes and schizophrenia. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Psychophysiological disorders: Research and clinical applications.

Reviews the book, Psychophysiological disorders: Research and clinical applications by Robert L. Gatchel and Edward B. Blanchard (see record 1994-97036-000). This text assumes the approach of the selective presentation of diseases and disorders with a high morbidity rate. Headache, irritable bowel syndrome, and rheumatoid arthritis are discussed by contributing authors, and the reader is provided with concise overviews of salient literature and access to adequate reference sections for expanding clinical and empirical interest. The reader is immediately impressed not only with the expertise and efforts of editor and contributors but also, inevitably, with critical areas which are not covered in this text. This is a useful resource for any clinician treating medically ill patients, and some would justifiably argue that since the disorders and conditions are endemic to the human organism, no patient can be treated without an awareness of the incidence, prevalence, and presentation of the disease processes. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of The body and psychology.

Reviews the book, The body and psychology by Henderikus J. Stam (see record 1998-06784-000). Considering this collection as a whole, it is striking how many of the authors, some of whom have been proponents of social constructionist thinking, feel social constructionism is unable to articulate an adequate theory of the psychological body. This refreshingly critical edge will no doubt lead to more sophisticated debates on the psychological body. Overall, this book is probably best read by graduate students and scholars who have some familiarity with social constructionist theory (e.g., Harré), as well as poststructuralism (e.g., Derrida, Lacan) and social theory (e.g., Bourdieu). Moreover, since the authors rely on other disciplinary discourses, this will be an excellent text for graduate courses on the body in cultural studies and sociology. Teaching this book would be interesting as it contains some analytical contrasts; for example, one could turn Malone and Bayer on Baerveldt and Voestermans, Parlee on Kempen, or the thematic analysis of Frank on the book itself. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Awakening the dreamer: Clinical journeys.

Reviews the book, Awakening the dreamer: Clinical journeys by Philip M. Bromberg (see record 2006-08993-000). Engaging with the many dimensions of Bromberg’s absorbing writing opens the reader/clinician, of whatever theoretical persuasion, to other self states and new and “other” thoughts about the psychoanalytic process. Bromberg approaches psychoanalytic work in a deeply personal manner that enables him to articulate the reasons why it is not only acceptable but also entirely necessary for the analyst to engage personally with the patient. He also creates a personally impactful psychoanalytic reading experience for his readers. The engagement of reader and author also captures one of the major themes in Bromberg’s contribution: that healthy psychological functioning involves the freedom to access different self states, to live in the “polyphony” of the self rather than in fragmented dissociated and sequestered self states, and, through that polyphony, to find self-coherence and immediacy in living. This volume draws on contemporary developments in psychoanalysis, attachment theory, neuropsychology, child development, and Bromberg’s abiding faith in literature, poetry, and the imagination. It presents a thorough and fully formed statement of Bromberg’s unique body of work. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Treating Health Anxiety: A Cognitive-Behavioral Approach.

Health anxiety had been somewhat neglected for years as it by nature evades clear diagnostic boundaries, wavering between a somatoform disorder, an anxiety disorder, and in some cases, a delusional disorder. Recently, the topic of health anxiety has received increasing attention, primarily from leaders in the anxiety disorders field, as reflected in the growing literature on the topic. The book "Treating Health Anxiety: A Cognitive-Behavioral Approach" (see record 2005-04429-000), reviewed in this article, is a timely and much needed addition to this area that will appeal to both clinicians and researchers alike. The book's authors have done a fine job producing a comprehensive book on health anxiety that is well written, interesting, and provides broad coverage of the nature, assessment, and treatment of health anxiety. The use of case examples throughout and the relatively short chapters certainly make this an interesting and quick read. This book will be especially useful for clinicians treating the full range of health anxiety, including hypochondriasis, disease phobia, somatic delusion, or any disorder characterized by excessive anxiety about one's health. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)