An up-to-date overview of a range of topics, covering contemporary concerns and therapeutic challenges in clinical psychiatry, written by distinguished psychiatrists who are leaders in their fields. This volume will help to shape the clinical practice of psychiatry students and mental health professionals.

This book introduces the concept of the "Person One Could Have Become" and shows the importance of mourning for individuals with traumatic experiences. The Person One Could Have Become is conceptualized as personality and physical characteristics that could have emerged if an individual, at the right time, had received or opted for an appropriate quantity and quality of stimuli and experiences, which in turn would have enabled the person to make more mature and independent choices. Consequences of potentially traumatic events bear non-linear, meta-folding, and multicontextual meaning unique to each being-in-the-world. Many people with a history of trauma tend to mystify their existence in order to survive. This book contains an overview of the ramifications of abuse and neglect on personality, as well as the consequences of pregnancy loss and the specific loss of possibility and its co-occurrence with abuse and neglect. It looks at examples from daily life and two cases of traumatized individuals who differ in their background and experience of trauma, as well as in their struggles during psychotherapy. This book is not intended as a treatment manual, nor does it advocate for any particular therapeutic approach. It is, rather, an encouragement of a way of living. Indeed, a reasonable mourning of the Person One Could Have Become may set the individual free-also such with the history of trauma-for the road beyond the traditional psychotherapy outcome, the road toward authenticity.

The church's response to child and adolescent mental health disorders has too often been characterized by fear and misinformation rather than grace or wisdom. The result has been families that desperately need practical advice and pastoral care on these disorders, and on the thorny issues that often surround them. Psychologist Matthew Stanford has written Grace for the Children to educate Christians about a range of common child and adolescent mental health disorders, from both scientific and biblical perspectives. Based on DSM-5 diagnoses, this book covers autism spectrum disorder attention deficit hyperactivity disorder disruptive behavior disorders depression bipolar disorders anxiety posttraumatic stress disorder obsessive compulsive and related disorders eating disorders The church is uniquely positioned to offer things our mental health system often lacks: hope, a holistic view of human nature, accessible care, and supportive community. Grace for the Children is a call for the church to pick up this mantle and to offer grace to children and adolescents suffering from mental health disorders.

Autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) have been increasingly diagnosed in recent years and carries with it far reaching social and financial implications. With this in mind, educators, physicians, and parents are searching for the best practices and most effective treatments. But because the symptoms of ASDs span multiple domains (e.g., communication and language, social, behavioral), successfully meeting the needs of a child with autism can be quite challenging. Evidence-Based Practices and Treatments for Children with Autism offers an insightful and balanced perspective on topics ranging from the historical underpinnings of autism treatment to the use of psychopharmacology and the implementation of evidence-based practices (EBPs). An evaluation methodology is also offered to reduce the risks and inconsistencies associated with the varying definitions of key autism terminology. This commitment to clearly addressing the complex issues associated with ASDs continues throughout the volume and provides opportunities for further research. Additional issues addressed include: * Behavioral excesses and deficits treatment * Communication treatment * Social awareness and social skills treatment * Dietary, complementary, and alternative treatments * Implementation of EBPs in school settings * Interventions for sensory dysfunction With its holistic and accessible approach, Evidence-Based Practices and Treatments for Children with Autism is a vital resource for school psychologists and special education professionals as well as allied mental health professionals, including clinical child and developmental psychologists, psychiatrist, pediatricians, primary care and community providers.

This book contextualizes autism as a socio cultural phenomenon, and examines the often troubling effects of representations and social trends. Exploring the individuals and events in the history of this condition, Waltz blends research and personal perspectives to examine social narratives of normalcy, disability and difference.

In a deeply layered psychological narrative, T. Byram Karasu, one of America s leading professors of psychiatry, illustrates that the age of narcissism has metamorphosed into the more virulent age of sociopathy, where selfishness, greed, and the violation of the rights of others have become fixtures of daily life. Gotham Chronicles tells the gritty story of Mallory, a young woman who offers Rolfing massage therapy to the elite of Manhattan. Gradually drawn into a world of prostitution and illicit drugs, she struggles to write a novel about her life. Her clients include an assistant district attorney, a hedge fund manager, a semiretired real estate tycoon, and a drug-addled college professor. Corruption, disloyalty, deception, arrogance, and treacherous cynicism rule the world of these intertwined lives, where sex, drugs, and excessive money lead to consequences both permanent and tragic. In a deeply psychological story, Karasu shows the age of narcissism has been replaced with a more malignant age of sociopathy. Selfishness, greed, and obsession have become part of everyday life and empathy seems to be a dying emotion. Mental health professionals and anyone interested in our own destructive psychology will find Mallory's story both interesting and revealing.

As more veterans return from deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan, more are needing care for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and combat-related traumatic brain injuries (TBI). While there are several treatment and recovery options, outlets for support, and other resources, understanding and gaining access to them is often difficult or confusing. In Combat-Related Traumatic Brain Injury and PTSD: A Resource and Recovery Guide, authors Cheryl Lawhorne and Don Philpott offer guidance for returning veterans, from treatment options, to diagnostic criteria and techniques, to resources for rehabilitation and support. The authors begin discussions of TBI and PTSD by offering definitions of each, outlining the risk factors, and exploring the relationship between the two. They then move on to provide explanations of diagnostic criteria, treatment options, prevention techniques, and barriers to seeking care. Sections on the important role that insurance and health care plays, and on the support of family and friends, round out this useful and accessible volume. This is an essential guide for returning veterans, their families, and all who work with veterans suffering from PTSD and TBI.

Borderline personality disorder (BPD) is a potentially severely debilitating psychiatric diagnosis that may affect up to 2% of the general population. Hallmarks of BPD include impulsivity, emotional instability, and poor self-image, and those with BPD have increased risk for self-harm and suicide. Systems Training for Emotional Predictability and Problem Solving (STEPPS) brings together research findings and information on implementation and best practices for a group treatment program for outpatients with BPD. A five-month long program easily learned and delivered by therapists from a wide range of theoretical orientations, STEPPS combines cognitive behavioral therapy, emotion management and behavioral skills training, and psychoeducation with a systems component that involves professional care providers, family, friends, and significant others of persons with BPD. The book provides a detailed description of the program, reviews the body of evidence supporting its use and implementation, and describes its dissemination worldwide and in different settings. Empirical data show that STEPPS is effective and produces clinically important improvement in mood and behavior, while reducing health care utilization. Unique among programs for BPD, STEPPS has been exhaustively studied in correctional systems (both prisons and community corrections), where it is shown to be as effective as in community settings. This volume will be a valuable guide to those in psychiatry, psychology, social work, nursing, and the counseling professions who treat people with BPD.

Animal abuse as a predictor of abuse against humans has been documented extensively. Society's ever-rising violence has prompted experts to ask what alternatives are available to identify the early signs and stop the cycle. The International Handbook of Animal Abuse and Cruelty: Theory, Research, and Application is the authoritative, up-to-date compendium covering the historical, legal, research, and applied issues related to animal abuse and cruelty from scholars worldwide. It will be of value to psychologists, psychiatrists, social workers, child welfare and domestic violence professionals, and animal welfare advocates, including veterinarians. Each chapter focuses on different but related aspect of animal abuse. The book provides fruitful areas of needed study and offers professionals contemporary reviews of the current state of our knowledge on animal abuse and its relation to other forms of human violence. The material will be of special value to readers interested in mental health issues across the life span as well as child development and developmental psychopathology.

The concept of sexual deviance refers to the nature of sexual behavior that is nonconforming with societal norms or expectations, is maladaptive and interferes with the individual's functioning. Sexual deviance is also often perceived as harmful or even dangerous. In most cases, it manifests through the use of force, sexual focus on children or other anomalous activities and targets. It encompasses a vast range of atypical or aberrant sexual behaviors that may or may not be formalised into a law. The author of this book adheres to the theory that although sexual violence may be motivated by opportunistic factors, the common denominator in most instances of sexual abuse is sexual deviance. The results of the authors' research indicate that most male and female subjects interpret sexual deviance as a multi-causal phenomenon; however, juvenile sex offenders are more likely to externalise these causes rather than attribute them to internal factors. This book is divided into three major parts. The first part focuses on critical review of different theories of etiology of sexual deviance, sex offender characteristics and treatment implications; the second explores attribution of sexually abnormal behavior and its measurement; and the third describes the findings of the study and their relevance to the treatment of sexual abusers.

Toward the end of the twentieth century, the solution to mental illness seemed to be found. It lay in biological solutions, focusing on mental illness as a problem of the brain, to be managed or improved through drugs. We entered the "Prozac Age" and believed we had moved far beyond the time of frontal lobotomies to an age of good and successful mental healthcare. Biological psychiatry had triumphed.

Except maybe it hadn't. Starting with surprising evidence from the World Health Organization that suggests that people recover better from mental illness in a developing country than in the first world, Doctoring the Mind asks the question: how good are our mental healthcare services, really? Richard P. Bentall picks apart the science that underlies our current psychiatric practice. He puts the patient back at the heart of treatment for mental illness, making the case that a good relationship between patients and their doctors is the most important indicator of whether someone will recover.

Arguing passionately for a future of mental health treatment that focuses as much on patients as individuals as on the brain itself, this is a book set to redefine our understanding of the treatment of madness in the twenty-first century.

Challenging current definitions of trauma, Kevin L. Nadal distills the latest research on the effects of microaggressions, looking at how regular exposure to subtle discrimination can, over time, elicit similar symptoms to severe trauma. Previous research on trauma has suggested that it results from experiencing or witnessing actual or threatened death, or serious injury, but this view has been expanding in recent years. New research has focused on the relationship between persistent, often casual social discrimination and trauma. In a changing world where discrimination seems to take center stage on the news, more and more individuals are able to put a name to the daily microaggressions that may plague their lives. These stressors can act as trigger mechanisms that impact their ability to cope with life stressors, affecting self-esteem and relationships. This brief but comprehensive volume includes illustrative case studies that will help practitioners understand and treat clients with trauma resulting from persistent but otherwise subtle and difficult-to-identify microaggressions.

An explicit and disturbing look at the dark side of the human psyche, presented through a collection of utterly fascinating abnormal psychology cases. Clinical and research psychologist Miguel Brooks takes us deep into the minds of sexual sadists and predators, psychopaths, obsessive-compulsive and mood-disordered persons, as well as the guilt-burdened, depressed, suicidal, and the twisted weirdoes we all encounter but often fail to understand. Taken from his extensive clinical diaries, these chronicles reveal, in unusual and impacting detail, the harrowing psycho-emotional descent into a desperate hell, known only to those who have been there.

This author, Amanda Smith, has a successful book (365-day wellness planner) for people who suffer with Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD). Now, with this new book, the second in the Borderline Personality Disorder series, the author focuses on the helping the family members (spouses, parents, siblings, and even close friends, etc.) of the person with Borderline Personality Disorder, which is a relationship disorder with lots of emotion dysregulation, thereby making relationships with their BPD loved one very difficult. This book is a 52-week wellness planner for the families. It will help them to: - deal with their loved one without going crazy - help them learn about and utilize skills from the psychological treatments their BPD loved one is getting - get support, knowledge, resources, - hope for a healthier and happier future - keep the relationship from terminating