Traditional psychology has long been concerned with cognition, motivation, emotion, and the mind in general?the mind being held responsible for individual behavior in society?and scholars of social and cultural psychology have worked in relative isolation. Meaning in Action is a bold departure as it places culture at the center of human functioning and posits that it is not the independent mind that gives rise to human action but participation in a world of socially created meanings. Each chapter illuminates the socially grounded view of the individual. Investigations into the power of shared meanings, norms, and moralities in everyday life, as well as individual and social narratives, point to their pivotal significance in human relationships. Among other topics, it provides new insights into forgiveness, infant adoption, trauma, supranational identity, and prejudice. The book offers an alternative to the widely dominant vision of psychological functioning and draws on a wide variety of current movements to present a deeply challenging and globally integrative view of human behavior.

The book is an empirical study of naturally occurring talk between psychotherapist and clients experiencing various anxieties and traumas that most of us recognize and can relate to. By relying on contemporary theories about sequential, situated discourse as well as drawing on "praxis" literature, it aims to investigate how psychotherapy as practice is contextually and interactionally accomplished. By scrutinizing patterns of language use, which reflect the core norms of the speech event of psychotherapy, it offers a unique look into the therapeutic dialogue at the micro level. The book presents a host of practical guidelines as to how to conduct ethnographic fieldwork at the (inter)professional research site in order to produce practically relevant findings. It also addresses the infiltration of therapeutic norms and strategies into new social contexts. Talk as Therapy is about disclosing one's (usually) dysphoric experiences, clarifying and exploring them in the interactional here-and-now as well as focusing on their emotional aspects in the safety of the relationship with the therapist.

Six decades after the serendipitous discovery of chlorpromazine as an antipsychotic and four decades after the launch of clozapine, the first atypical or second generation antipsychotic, psychopharmacology has arrived at an important crossroad. It is clear that pharmacological research and pharmaceutical development must now focus on complementary or even alternative mechanisms of action to address unmet medical needs, i.e. poorly treated domains of schizophrenia, improved acceptance by patients, better adherence to medication, safety in psychoses in demented patients, and avoiding cardiac and metabolic adverse effects. The first completely novel mechanisms evolving from our insights into the pathophysiology of psychotic disorders, especially the role of glutamatergic mechanisms in schizophrenia, are now under development, and further principles are on the horizon. This situation, in many respects similar to that when the initial second-generation antipsychotics became available, can be rewarding for all. Preclinical and clinical researchers now have the opportunity to confirm their hypotheses and the pharmaceutical industry may be able to develop really novel classes of therapeutics.

When we were approached by the publishers of the Handbook of Experimental Pharmacology to prepare a new volume on antipsychotics, our intention was to capture both, the accumulated preclinical and clinical knowledge about current antipsychotics as well as prospects for new and potentially more specific antischizophrenia principles. These efforts should be based on the pathophysiology of the diseases and the affected neurotransmitter systems. Since preclinical research on antipsychotic compounds is only reliable when intimately linked through translational aspects to clinical results, we decided to include clinical science as well. It turned out that that this endeavor could not be covered by a single volume. We thank the editorial board and the publishers for supporting our decision to prepare two volumes: Current Antipsychotics and Novel Antischizophrenia Treatments. These topics cannot really be separated from one another and should be seen as a composite entity despite the somewhat arbitrary separation of contributions into two volumes. The continuing challenges of developing improved and safer antipsychotic medications remain of concern and are discussed in the first volume. The new opportunities for the field to develop and license adjunctive treatments for the negative symptoms and cognitive deficits that are treated inadequately by existing compounds have been incentivized recently and provide the focus for the second volume. We hope these collective contributions will facilitate the development of improved treatments for the full range of symptomatology seen in the group of schizophrenias and other major psychotic disorders.

Gerhard Gross, Ludwigshafen, Germany

Mark A. Geyer, La Jolla, CA

This volume will try to put current therapy - achievements, shortcomings, remaining medical needs - and emerging new targets into the context of increasing knowledge regarding the genetic and neurodevelopmental contributions to the pathophysiology of schizophrenia. Some of the chapters will also deal with respective experimental and clinical methodology, biomarkers, and translational aspects of drug development. Non-schizophrenia indications will be covered to some extent, but not exhaustively."

Includes discussion of virtual analytic sessions. Addresses new and different social and technological realities, the internet, the new sexual discourse. Leading psychoanalytic contributors.

Practitioners are faced with the complexity of health and social service work and are bombarded with policy directives, quick-fix prescriptions, new fads, and conflicting opinions. Emergent Practice Planning supports practitioners in working with the complexity of issues and developing an integrated approach to practice. This textbook aims to provide an opportunity for inexperienced practitioners to think through the issues that define practice and develop an integrated and intentional approach, including assessment, planning, evaluation, and continuous learning. Emergent Practice Planning is a significant resource for school psychologists, school counsellors, child practitioners, child psychologists, and upper-level students of school psychology.

The latest volume in the Sexual Medicine series, Alcohol and Sexuality provides an extensive review of current literature on the inter-relationship between alcohol use/abuse and sexuality. Topics addressed include the effects of alcohol on sexual responses of male and female social drinkers and male and female alcoholics; the incidence of sexual deviance in male alcoholics; marital sexual adjustment in male alcoholics; the relationship of sex victimization to the intoxicated state in female victims; marital sexual adjustment in actively drinking male and female alcoholics; influence of chronic alcoholism upon homosexual and lesbian relationships; sexual adjustment of single recovering female alcoholics. Also included is a section that focuses upon the influence of other substances--opioids, cocaine, tetahydrocannabinols--on sexual responses.

Michael Guilfoyle uses post-structural thought to sketch a narrative formulation of the person, using therapeutic case material throughout. The book explores power's capacity to tie persons to unwanted identities, the emergence of resistances in relation to power, and the role of personal ethics in the generation of a preferred sense of self.

Evidence pertaining to continual violence throughout the life cycle coupled with the experience of growing old in a life permeated by intimate violence is scarce. And the focus is usually on the victims usually, the older, battered women and seldom on their aging partners or adult children who were part and parcel of the violent dynamics in the family system. With the increase in longevity and the older population s subsequent growth in size, the number of elderly couples living and aging in long-lasting conflictive relationships is on the rise.

The relatively intense preoccupation with elder abuse in the gerontological literature in recent years has not specifically addressed long-term intimate violence among the old adults and its lasting consequences. Similarly, the literature on intimate intergenerational relationships in old age has usually focused on normative exchanges between partners and their extended family, including their adult children. Therefore, conflictive relationships, and particularly violent ones, have also fallen outside the scope of this body of research. This volume describes and analyzes the various perspectives of family members concerning life, and particularly old age, in the shadow of long-term intimate violence. It explores how people make sense out of living and aging in violence, how interpersonal, familial and cross-generational relationships are perceived and reconstructed and how we-ness is achieved, if at all, in such families."

In The Power of Specificity in Psychotherapy: When Therapy Works And When It Doesn't Howard Bacal presents specificity theory, a contemporary process theory of psychotherapy that holds that therapy happens at the fit between the patient's particular therapeutic needs and the therapist's capacity to respond to them, both of which will emerge and change within the unique process of each particular dyad. Specificity theory challenges the traditional method and epistemology of psychoanalysis, wherein the understanding of the patient and the therapeutic response are apprehended through rules and prescriptions that are generated through the application of structure theories. The therapeutic engagement must necessarily and continually be monitored and adjusted to fit the specific and changing needs, capacities, and limitations of both participants, regardless of the therapist's formal working theories. Grounded in the innovative thinking of Sandor Ferenczi and drawing as well from the creative work of Michael Balint, Wilfred Bion, Donald Winnicott, Marion Milner, and Heinz Kohut, the perspectives of specificity theory are corroborated by cutting-edge findings in contemporary neurobiology and infant research. The Power of Specificity in Psychotherapy challenges psychotherapists to reconsider how treatment is optimally practiced."

Contents:
Foreword: Alan S. Gurman, Ushering in a New Era. Preface: Thomas L. Sexton, Gerald Weekes, Michael S. Robbins, A New Era of Couple and Family Therapy. Part 1: Understanding Families and Couples: The Foundations of Practice. Dorothy S. Becvar, Eras of Epistemology: A Survery of Family Therapy. Michael S. Robbins, Carla C. Mayorga, Jose Szapocznik, The Wcosystem "lens" to Understanding Family Functioning. Celia Jaes Falicov, Ethnicity and Culture in Family Therapy: New Variations on a Fundamental Theme. Part 2: Major Theoretical Models of Couple and Family Therapy. Jill Scharff, Object-relations and Psychodynamic Approaches to Couple and Family Therapy. William C. Nichols, Family of Origin Treatment. Barry L. Duncan, Scott D. Miller, Jacqueline A. Sparks, International Solution Focused Brief Therapies: Evolving Concepts of Change. Harlene Anderson, Postmodern Social Construction Therapies. Frank M. Dattilio, Cognitive-behavioral Couple and Family Therapy. Victoria Behar Mitrani, Structural-Strategic Approaches to Couple and Family Therapy. Jay Lebow, Integrative Approaches to Couple and Family Therapy. Part 3: Evidence Based Couple and Family Intervention Programs. Thomas L. Sexton, Michael S. Robbins, Amy S. Hollimon, Alyson L. Mease, Carla C. Mayorga, Efficacy, Effectiveness, and Change Mechanisms in Couple and Family Therapy. Susan Johnson, Emotionally-Focused Couples Therapy: Empiricism and Art. David Atkins, Sona Dimidjian, Andrew Christesen, Behavioral Couple Therapy: Past Present and Future. Scott Henggler, Sonja K. Schoenwald, Multisystemic Therapy. Thomas L. Sexton, James F. Alexander, Functional Family Therapy: A Mature Clinical Model for Working with At-risk Adolescents and Their Families. Part 4: Special Applications/Special Populations. S. Michael Plaut, Karen Donahey, Evaluation and Treatment of Sexual Dysfunction. Nancy Breen Ruddy, Susan McDaniel, Medical Family Therapy. Timothy J. Ozechowski, Holly Waldron, The Treatment of Adolescent Conduct Disorders and Drug Abuse. Luciano L'Abate, Treatment through Writing. Rita DeMaria, Psychoeducation and Enrichment: Clinincal Considerations for Couple and Family Therapy. Part 5: The Future of Couple and Family Therapy. Thomas L. Sexton, Gerald R. Weeks, Michael S. Robbins, The Future of Couple and Family Therapy.

Today's children face a multitude of pressures, from the everyday challenges of life to the increasing threats of poverty, exploitation, and trauma. Central to growing up successfully is learning to deal with stress, endure hardships, and thrive despite adversity. Resilience - the ability to cope with and overcome life's difficulties - is a quality that can potentially be nurtured in all young people. The second edition of the Handbook of Resilience in Children updates and expands on its original focus of resilience in children who overcome adversity to include its development in those not considered at risk, leading to better outcomes for all children across the lifespan. Expert contributors examine resilience in relation to environmental stressors, as a phenomenon in child and adolescent disorders, and as a means toward positive adaptation into adulthood. New and revised chapters explore strategies for developing resilience in the family, the therapist's office, and the school as well as its nurturance in caregivers and teachers. Topics addressed include: Resilience in maltreated children and adults. Resilience and self-control impairment. Relational resilience in young and adolescent girls. Asset-building as an essential component of treatment. Assessment of social and emotional competencies related to resilience. Building resilience through school bullying prevention programs. Large-scale longitudinal studies on resilience. The second edition of the Handbook of Resilience in Children is a must-have reference for researchers, clinicians, allied practitioners and professionals, and graduate students in school and clinical psychology, education, pediatrics, psychiatry, social work, school counseling, and public health.

Explore the relationship between faith-based programs, religion, and offender rehabilitation! This book reports on current research from several disciplines to help the reader understand the nature and impact of the relationship between faith-based programs, religion, and offender rehabilitation. Religion, the Community, and the Rehabilitation of Criminal Offenders is a unique resourcethere has been very little research published on this important topic. President Bush's faith-based initiative recognized that religion plays a role in the justice system and corrections that is overlooked but essentialit increases the role of community and caring in the system in a unique and important way. This pathbreaking book points the way toward a system of faith-based programs that are not only effective but also economical, as these programs are often staffed by volunteers. Religion, the Community, and the Rehabilitation of Criminal Offenders addresses important questions regarding the importance and effectiveness of faith-based rehabilitation programs, including: What is the relationship between prison religion and offender rehabilitation? What motivates inmates to become involved with religious programs and activities? What is the prison chaplain's role in rehabilitation? Are certain religious denominations more effective than others in preventing crime, delinquency, and recidivism? How does religious activity help inmates adjust to the prison environment? What do inmates have to say about the religious programs they encounter within the system? How did Islam develop within American correctional institutions and what changes has the movement gone through in recent years? Why do female African-American inmates tend to resist conversion to Islam while their male counterparts embrace the Muslim faith in increasing numbers? How can sacred texts and social theory be utilized as teaching tools and intervention strategies in the transformation processes of men incarcerated for violent crimes? (A fascinating study from the Sing-Sing prison) and more!

Trainee therapists need to show practical competence through the production of client reports and case studies. Reporting in Counselling and Psychotherapy is a unique hands-on guide to this element of practical work. Using clinical examples to guide the reader, and a detailed analysis of case study and process report writing, it will show how to present clear, concise and properly presented reports. The book will be an invaluable tool, not only for those embarking on a practical training in psychotherapy, counselling and psychology, but also for trainers in these areas and for clinicians writing clinical reports or case presentations.

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Scoring Performance Assessments Based on Judgements focuses on the applications of Generalizability Theory to Performance Assessment. The author developed an objective method to examine the dependability of the scoring of large-scale performance assessments by humans. This book presents principles in identifying common missing data patterns inherent in assessment designs. These principles can be used to guide the design of assessment procedures including those used in large-scale testing programs, observations, and structured interviews.

What is borderline personality disorder and what can people with borderline problems do to help themselves?
The treatment of personality disorder is a major concern facing current mental health services. Specialist therapies are often not available and many people with these problems drop out of treatment. Managing Intense Emotions and Overcoming Self-Destructive Habits is a self-help manual for people who would meet the diagnosis of 'emotionally unstable' or 'borderline personality disorder' (BPD), outlining a brief intervention which is based on a model of treatment known to be effective for other conditions, such as anxiety, depression and bulimia.
The manual describes the problem areas, the skills needed to overcome them and how these skills can be developed. It is designed to be used with the help of professional mental health staff, ideally in a group with individual sessions to support and coach the person in the application of the skills taught. A minimum of 24 and maximum of 36 sessions are recommended. Areas covered include:
* the condition and controversy surrounding the diagnosis of BPD
* drug and alcohol misuse
* emotional dysregulation and the role of thinking habits and beliefs
* depression and difficult mood states
* childhood abuse and relationship difficulties
* anger management.
Borderline personality disorder is a complex and challenging condition. This manual aims to explain the problems experienced by people who may be given this diagnosis in a way that clients and staff can easily understand. It will be essential reading for people with BPD and professionals involved in their care - psychologists, psychiatric nurses, psychiatrists and occupational therapists.

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This handbook is the first resource for the practicing clinician that addresses the role of homework - patients' between-session activities - across major therapeutic paradigms and complex clinical problems. The book opens with a series of practice-orientated chapters on the role of homework in different psychotherapies. A wide range of psychotherapy approaches are covered, each illustrated with clinical examples. The book includes valuable coverage of complex and chronic disorders. Novice and seasoned psychotherapists from all training backgrounds will find useful ideas in this volume.

Offers up-to-date principles for working with children of divorce. The approach uses a theoretical context based on research and clinical findings to propose interventions for custody, access and therapeutic interventions. Topics include: developmental stages of the child and adjustment to divorce, mediation, custody evaluations and visitations, single parenting and remarriage, school-based programs, parent consultation and family therapy.

Midlife is the stage of generativity versus stagnation. As a man realizes that he has lived more than half of his life, he will look for new ways to be generative with his family, as a father, in his community, and to others in general. Otherwise, he runs the risk of stagnation.

There is little-published theory, research, or evaluation of men's programs for men at midlife. There is even less of these types of materials published about men at midlife involved in activities structured in a mythopoetic perspective or about men actively involved in mythopoetic men's work. This volume fills that void.

As prevalent as anxiety is as a diagnosis, clinically complex cases are even more so. At the same time that it is recognized as a spectrum of disorders with many possibilities for intervention, it is most often seen with variations that further complicate treatment. The Handbook of Treating Variants and Complications in Anxiety Disorders explains in clear detail how and why clinical factors present challenges to clinicians treating clients with these disorders. Comorbid conditions often found in children, adolescents, and adults with anxiety, including developmental disabilities and personality disorders, are analyzed in the context of treatment. Case examples and literature reviews illustrate the relative merits of integrated versus sequential treatment, the importance of prioritizing behaviors, age-related considerations, and therapist issues. This best-practices approach guides readers in choosing current evidence-based options for treatment that is tailored to the individual and effective in the short and long term. Included in the Handbook: Prognostic indicators of treatment response for children and adults with anxiety disorders. Treatment of comorbid anxiety and disruptive behavior in youth. Treatment of PTSD with comorbid borderline personality disorder. Limited motivation, patient-therapist mismatch, and the therapeutic alliance. Assessment and treatment of comorbid anorexia nervosa and obsessive compulsive disorder. Treatment of comorbid anxiety disorders across the lifespan. Developed as a companion reference to the Handbook of Assessing Variants and Complications in Anxiety Disorders, the Handbook of Treating Variants and Complications in Anxiety Disorders is of immediate relevance to researchers, scientist-practitioners, and graduate students in clinical child, school, and developmental psychology; social work; psychiatry; psychotherapy; counseling; and pediatrics.

This book deals with street children who live in the developing world, and homeless youth who are from the developed world. They are referred to as children in street situations (CSS) to show that the problem is both in the children and in the situation they face. The book examines several aspects of the children and their street situations, including the families of origin and the homes they leave, the children's social life, and mental health. Other aspects are the problems of published demographics, the construction of public opinion about these children and the, often violent, reactions from authorities. The book then discusses current research on children in street situations, as well as programs and policies. The book ends with recommendations about programs, policies and research.