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

Childhood autism is a fascinating and disturbing disorder that has given rise to contentious debates, which often end in impasse. Here, Denys Ribas reviews this enigmatic condition, focusing on the work of Hans Asperger, which paved the way for institutional care and has wider importance than has often been recognized, and on testimonies provided by former sufferers from autism and on the analytic psychotherapy of a child. The author examines all the theories under discussion today, including developments in genetics and the access to symbolisation and, in a constant concern with clinical practice, instigates a constructive debate between the traditionally conflicting views of psychoanalysis and the cognitive sciences. Written in a lucid style that explains the concepts with reference to a glossary, this book will be relevant not only to students, professionals and parents who are dealing with the psychic difficulties of autistic children and the challenge of treating them, but also to anyone with a general interest in the development of thought and language.

Addiction passes through families from one generation to the next. FAMILY STRATEGIES provides a wealth of information and guidance proven to be effective with families faced by addiction - whether to alcohol or other drugs, gambling, food, sex etc. Through authoritative direction and reproducible handouts, professionals are given the structure and resources to help the families they work with gradually to recover successfully. * Provides strategies proven to be effective in family settings when addiction is either still active or the addicted person is in early recovery - regardless of the form of addiction. * Provides comprehensive, didactic information to assist professionals working with the clinical materials. * Presents a broad range of therapeutically powerful exercises to use with families challenged by addiction. * Written in a solution-oriented and strengths-based style that provides clear step-by-step direction to guide families through each exercise. * Comes with a multitude of handouts in the form of written exercises, checklists, sentence stems, structured dialogues and art activities - all designed to be reproduced and used without restriction.

Perfectionism is growing more prevalent among young people today, with increasing numbers of children admitting they feel pressure to be, or appear to be, perfect. This book describes perfectionism's mental health costs and effects on achievement, explaining the myriad and often surprising ways children and adolescents exhibit perfectionism in their family, school, and social environments. Most important, the authors suggest clinical interventions to help perfectionistic children regain perspective, and accept their limitations. Authors Gordon L. Flett and Paul L. Hewitt expertly summarize relevant studies, demonstrating that perfectionism is pernicious and requires a complex and multi-faceted approach to prevention and treatment. A clinically-focused section rounds out the book, with concrete steps counselors and educators can take to help build resilience and adaptability.

Dissociation, trauma . . . you've heard the buzzwords from psychology experts on the talk shows. Dr. Lynn Mary Karjala unravels the mysteries of dissociation, its roots, its effects, and its treatment in this must-read book for psychotherapists, patients and loved ones. Now available in hard-cover as well as paperback

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.