In today's world, everyone carries in their bloodstream a toxic assortment of dozens of industrially produced chemicals. Not only do these adversely affect the health of adults and children, but also, and more worryingly, they damage the development of unborn infants; the amniotic fluid of pregnant women has been found to contain a variety of chemicals, such as pesticides, plasticizers, disinfectant products, flame-retardants, surfactants and UV filters, many of which interfere with fetal physiology. Toxic Cocktail: How Chemical Pollution Is Poisoning Our Brains makes a warning call to action. A single gland in our bodies, the thyroid, produces thyroid hormone vital for brain development, but many chemicals that we are exposed to are thyroid-disrupting. As the number of chemicals in the environment to which we, and, particularly, developing fetuses and toddlers, are exposed to inexorably rises, we simultaneously witnessing an unprecedented increase in neurodevelopmental disorders such as autism, ADHD, dyslexia, and IQ loss. The urgent question thus arises: Is chemical pollution poisoning brain development? And if so, as this book convincingly shows, what can be done about it collectively and individually? Toxic Cocktail explains the developmental processes and chemical disruption associated with thyroid hormone, discusses recent activity for environmental regulations and industrial lobbying in the United States and European Union, and makes pertinent suggestions for legislators and individuals-providing a "self-help" guide-for reducing exposure and limiting the dangerous effects of the multitude of chemicals on brain development. Toxic Cocktail is an engaging read for parents, general readers, and professionals in the health and education sectors.

The Handbook of Research Methods in Abnormal and Clinical Psychology presents a diverse range of areas critical to any researcher or student entering the field. It provides valuable information on the foundations of research methods, including validity in experimental design, ethics, and statistical methods. The contributors discuss design and instrumentation for methods that are particular to abnormal and clinical psychology, including behavioral assessment, psychophysiological assessment and observational methods. They also offer details on new advances in research methodology and analysis, such as meta-analysis, taxometric methods, item response theory, and approaches to determining clinical significance. In addition, this volume covers specialty topics within abnormal and clinical psychology from forensic psychology to behavior genetics to treatment outcome methods.

In The Psychotherapy of Personality Disorders, Lisa J. Cohen introduces the Emergent Systems Theory, an integrative model for the many different types of psychotherapy, with an emphasis on personality pathology. This model proposes five general levels of the mind, each of which dates back to a different point in human evolutionary history and has its own distinct psychological functions and psychopathology.

They're among us, but they are not like us. They manipulate, lie, cheat, and steal. They are irresistibly charming and accomplished, appearing to live in a radiance beyond what we are capable of. But narcissists are empty. No one knows exactly what everyone else is full of--some kind of a soul, or personhood--but whatever it is, experts agree that narcissists do not have it. So goes the popular understanding of narcissism, or NPD (narcissistic personality disorder). And it's more prevalent than ever, according to recent articles in The New York Times, The Atlantic, and Time. In bestsellers like The Narcissism Epidemic, Narcissists Exposed, and The Narcissist Next Door, pop psychologists have armed the normal with tools to identify and combat the vampiric influence of this rising population, while on websites like narcissismsurvivor.com, thousands of people congregate to swap horror stories about relationships with narcs. In The Selfishness of Others, the essayist Kristin Dombek provides a clear-sighted account of how a rare clinical diagnosis became a fluid cultural phenomenon, a repository for our deepest fears about love, friendship, and family. She cuts through hysteria in search of the razor-thin line between pathology and common selfishness, writing with robust skepticism toward the prophets of NPD and genuine empathy for those who see themselves as its victims. And finally, she shares her own story in a candid effort to find a path away from the cycle of fear and blame and toward a more forgiving and rewarding life.

In the wake of a suicide, the most troubling questions are invariably the most difficult to answer: How could we have known? What could we have done? And always, unremittingly: Why? Written by a clinical psychologist whose own life has been touched by suicide, this book offers the clearest account ever given of why some people choose to die.

Drawing on extensive clinical and epidemiological evidence, as well as personal experience, Thomas Joiner brings a comprehensive understanding to seemingly incomprehensible behavior. Among the many people who have considered, attempted, or died by suicide, he finds three factors that mark those most at risk of death: the feeling of being a burden on loved ones; the sense of isolation; and, chillingly, the learned ability to hurt oneself. Joiner tests his theory against diverse facts taken from clinical anecdotes, history, literature, popular culture, anthropology, epidemiology, genetics, and neurobiology--facts about suicide rates among men and women; white and African-American men; anorexics, athletes, prostitutes, and physicians; members of cults, sports fans, and citizens of nations in crisis.

The result is the most coherent and persuasive explanation ever given of why and how people overcome life's strongest instinct, self-preservation. Joiner's is a work that makes sense of the bewildering array of statistics and stories surrounding suicidal behavior; at the same time, it offers insight, guidance, and essential information to clinicians, scientists, and health practitioners, and to anyone whose life has been affected by suicide.

Deb Dana is the foremost translator of polyvagal theory into clinical practice. Here, in her third book on this groundbreaking theory, she provides therapists with a grab-bag of polyvagal-informed exercises for their clients, to use both within and between sessions. These exercises offer readily understandable explanations of the ways the autonomic nervous system directs daily living. They use the principles of polyvagal theory to guide clients to safely connect to their autonomic responses and navigate daily experiences in new ways. The exercises are designed to be introduced over time in a variety of clinical sessions with accompanying exercises appropriate for use by clients between sessions to enhance the therapeutic change process. Essential reading for any therapist who wants to take their polyvagal knowledge to the next level and is looking for easy ways to deliver polyvagal solutions with their clients.

A concise overview of the neuropsychology of psychopathy, written in layman's terms The last two decades have seen tremendous growth in biological research on psychopathy, a mental disorder distinguished by traits including a lack of empathy or emotional response, egocentricity, impulsivity, and stimulation seeking. But how does a psychopath's brain work? What makes a psychopath? Psychopathy provides a concise, non-technical overview of the research in the areas of genetics, hormones, brain imaging, neuropsychology, environmental influences, and more, focusing on explaining what we currently know about the biological foundations for this disorder and offering insights into prediction, intervention, and prevention. It also offers a nuanced discussion of the ethical and legal implications associated with biological research on psychopathy. How much of this disorder is biologically based? Should offenders with psychopathic traits be punished for their crimes if we can show that biological factors contribute? The text clearly assesses the conclusions that can and cannot be drawn from existing biological research, and highlights the pressing considerations this research demands.

Lab Girl is a book about work and about love, and the mountains that can be moved when those two things come together. It is told through Jahren's remarkable stories: about the discoveries she has made in her lab, as well as her struggle to get there; about her childhood playing in her father's laboratory; about how lab work became a sanctuary for both her heart and her hands; about Bill, the brilliant, wounded man who became her loyal colleague and best friend; about their field trips - sometimes authorised, sometimes very much not - that took them from the Midwest across the USA, to Norway and to Ireland, from the pale skies of North Pole to tropical Hawaii; and about her constant striving to do and be her best, and her unswerving dedication to her life's work. Visceral, intimate, gloriously candid and sometimes extremely funny, Jahren's descriptions of her work, her intense relationship with the plants, seeds and soil she studies, and her insights on nature enliven every page of this thrilling book. In Lab Girl, we see anew the complicated power of the natural world, and the power that can come from facing with bravery and conviction the challenge of discovering who you are.

In this book, depression is explored as a form of loss that manifests itself as an inability to connect with others, to narrate one's own existence, to derive meaning from life experiences, and ultimately, to symbolically represent one's inner world. This loss has the capacity to evolve into a chronic condition that can be seen as a form of subjective darkness. A hermeneutic, interpretative phenomenological approach is used that seeks to preserve the individual voices of each narrative, while embedding their stories in theoretical and current literature on depression. The clinical cases of five individuals are used to elucidate some common characteristics of depressive experience. Themes of loss, death, darkness, the intergenerational transmission of trauma, and unmetabolized pain are explored through a psychoanalytic lens that seeks to shed light on the underlying dynamics of chronic depression.

This book reports the findings of a study of the treatment of alcoholism in the out-patient clinics and the related in-patient facilities of state-supported alcoholism programmes in the United States. The authors compared a number of clinics simultaneously, and were thus able to investigate the influence of a variety of treatment programmes on a variety of patients. They show that clinics play a valuable role in assisting patients who have retained social stability despite their problem by maintaining contact with such patients, but that they are rarely useful for modifying either drinking habits or other aspects of malfunctioning in the case of patients whose social stability has crumbled. The study further shows that improvement in drinking habits (either by abstinence or by controlled drinking) is related to what the clinic does and to changes in the patient's social and interpersonal environment outside the clinic.

Born in Vienna in 1864, Bernard Hollander was a London-based psychiatrist. He is best known for being one of the main proponents of phrenology. This title, originally published in 1922 contains the reflections of the author on his experience as a physician specialising in nervous and mental disorders. He looks at a range of patients "suffering from character defects leading to moral failings..." finding that these cases of "moral derangement" come in all kinds. Very much of its time, he suggests that treating the causes should be with both physical and mental measures, including psychotherapy, which at the time consisted of "persuasion, suggestion, auto-suggestion, hypnotism, psychological analysis, as well as re-education." A fascinating glimpse into psychology from the early twentieth century.

First Published in 2002. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

An engrossing memoir-meets-investigative report that takes a fresh, frank look at how we treat depression.

Depression is a havoc-wreaking illness that masquerades as personal failing and hijacks your life. After a major suicide attempt in her early twenties, Anna Mehler Paperny resolved to put her reporter’s skills to use to get to know her enemy, setting off on a journey to understand her condition, the dizzying array of medical treatments on offer, and a medical profession in search of answers. Charting the way depression wrecks so many lives, she maps competing schools of therapy, pharmacology, cutting-edge medicine, the pill-popping pitfalls of long-term treatment, the glaring unknowns and the institutional shortcomings that both patients and practitioners are up against. She interviews leading medical experts across the US and Canada, from psychiatrists to neurologists, brain-mapping pioneers to family practitioners, and others dabbling in strange hypotheses―and shares compassionate conversations with fellow sufferers.

Hello I Want to Die Please Fix Me tracks Anna’s quest for knowledge and her desire to get well. Impeccably reported, it is a profoundly compelling story about the human spirit and the myriad ways we treat (and fail to treat) the disease that accounts for more years swallowed up by disability than any other in the world.

Current knowledge about effective internet addiction treatment is limited. This book explores how 20 international internet addiction therapy experts experience the presenting problem of internet addiction in psychotherapy.

From best-selling author Louis Cozolino, the essentials of the interconnection between brain, mind and relationships. Each Quick Reference Guide places the essentials of Interpersonal Neurobiology (IPNB)-the theory of interconnection between brain, mind and relationships-at the practitioner's fingertips. Designed to be at the therapist's side for easy reference, this 8.5"x11" laminated card presents a facet of this omnipresent topic in six easy-to-follow panels. These Quick Reference Guides are perfect as a brief refresher for the practitioner as well as a tool for their students and clients.

A powerful, breathtaking memoir about a young man's descent into madness, and how running saved his life. "Voluntary or involuntary?" asked the nurse who admitted J. M. Thompson to a San Francisco psychiatric hospital in January 2005. Following years of depression, ineffective medication, and therapy that went nowhere, Thompson feared he was falling into an inescapable darkness. He decided that death was his only exit route from the torture of his mind. After a suicide attempt, he spent weeks confined on the psych ward, feeling scared, alone, and trapped. One afternoon during an exercise break he experienced a sudden urge. "Run, I thought. Run before it's too late and you're stuck down there. Right now. Run. " The impulse that starts with sprints across a hospital rooftop turns into all night runs in the mountains. Through motion and immersion in the beauty of nature, Thompson finds a way out of the hell of depression and drug addiction. Step by step, mile by mile, his body and mind heal. In this lyrical, vulnerable, and breathtaking memoir, J. M. Thompson, now a successful psychologist, retraces the path that led him from despair to wellness, detailing the chilling childhood trauma that caused his depression, and the unorthodox treatment that saved him. Running Is a Kind of Dreaming is a luminous literary testament to the universal human capacity to recover from our deepest wounds.

This book, first published in 1637, was the first full-length treatise on suicide published in English. Originally published in 1988 as part of the Tavistock Classics in the History of Psychiatry series, the introduction by Michael MacDonald places the book in the context of attitudes to suicide in its day, as well as showing some of the ways that this theological book is also a study of the psychology and sociology of suicide. He discusses the evolution of the law of suicide and analyses the religious beliefs held about it at the time, before going on to look at John Sym himself and the structure of his book.

For sophomore/junior-level courses in Psychological Testing or Measurement. Focuses on the use of psychological tests to make important decisions about individuals in a variety of settings. This text explores the theory, methods, and applications of psychological testing. It gives a full and fair evaluation of the advantages and drawbacks of psychological testing in general, and selected tests in particular.

Psychiatry suffers a lot of criticism, not least from within its own scientifically founded medical world. This book provides an account of mental health difficulties and how they are generally addressed in conventional medical circles, alongside critical reviews of the assumptions underpinning them to encourage more humanitarian perspectives.

This book presents a new paradigm for distinguishing psychotic and mystical religious experiences. In order to explore how Presbyterian pastors differentiate such events, Susan L. DeHoff draws from Reformed theology, psychological theory, and robust qualitative research. Following a conversation among multidisciplinary voices, she presents a new paradigm considering the similarities, differences, and possible overlap of psychotic and mystical religious experiences.

How can we understand the pull towards that which we fear: psychosis?

In this thought provoking book, Abensour proposes the idea of a temptation towards psychosis rather than a regression, as a response to the hatred or denial of the subject s origins. She shares her reflections on her psychoanalytic work with psychotic patients focusing on their struggle to achieve a coherent sense of a self that can inhabit a shared world. Abensour locates this struggle within the universal human struggle to achieve a balance between what we can and cannot allow ourselves to know about the reality of death and of our insignificance in the world.

In American and NATO Veteran Reintegration, MaryCatherine McDonald and Gary Senecal examine mental health issues among former American service members. Data shows that American veterans suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) at significantly higher rates than veterans in other NATO ally countries involved in the war in Afghanistan. McDonald and Senecal argue that sociocultural factors, such as military training and civilian culture, have a dramatic impact on these rates.