This book discusses the significance of social geography, a multi-dimensional concept encompassing social health, social security and social ethos. It presents the socio-spatial dynamics of the population in India through an understanding of the various issues related to migration, urbanisation, unemployment, poverty and public health. With a thorough analysis of various social indicators relating to health, education, income and employment, the volume presents a detailed picture of the social geography of India. It discusses in detail, The origin, nature and scope of social geography, its relations with other social sciences and applications The nature and importance of social well-being along with welfare geography and the role of welfare state in ensuring social well-being The population of India and its attributes The status and spatial patterns of various social indicators relating to health, education and income and employment The composite indices which aggregate several social indicators such as the Human Development Index, Multidimensionally Poverty Index, Global Hunger Index, Gross National Happiness, Sustainable Developmental Goals Index and Freedom Index in the context of India. This comprehensive book will be useful for students, researchers and teachers of social geography, human geography, population geography, demography and sociology. The book can also be used by students preparing for exams like civil services, UPSC, PSC and other competitive exams.

This book explores the social psychological aspects of trans women's experiences of living with HIV in the UK. Drawing on theories from social psychology, the author provides a fine-grained analysis of the EXTRA Study - one of the first in-depth empirical studies of trans women's experiences of living with HIV in the UK. Trans Women and HIV: Social Psychological Perspectives examines issues of identity, threat and coping among trans women - a key population in the HIV epidemic - and presents a model for describing and predicting health outcomes in this population. Underpinned by the Health Adversity Risk Model, this book examines the role of psychological constructs, such as identity, risk and stigma, in behaviour and psychological wellbeing. This informative and thought-provoking text is an invaluable resource for scholars, clinicians and students working in the fields of HIV and trans health.

'Mandatory for anyone with a brain' - Anna Whitehouse, founder of Mother Pukka 'Relatable, practical and knowledgeable' - Gemma Bray, creator of The Organised Mum Method From clinical psychologist and author of A Toolkit for Modern Life, Dr Emma Hepburn, comes A Toolkit for Happiness - the ultimate guide to long-term and sustainable happiness. Using her much-loved trademark illustrations, Dr Hepburn arms us with 55 accessible and easy-to-use tools to boost our moods and feel better. She teaches us that happiness is as much about weathering the storms of life, accepting its natural ebbs and flows, as it is about enjoying the sunny weather - and that by implementing small and simple changes we can build a more compassionate brain that carries us through our daily lives, no matter the weather. From practical tools to aid you on those extra stormy days to thought-provoking exercises for your day-to-day mental wellbeing, A Toolkit for Happiness will you to cultivate positive habits, better understand your emotions and put you on the path to a healthier and happier you.

This Handbook provides a broad and comprehensive overview of psychological research on alcohol consumption. It explores the psychological theories underpinning alcohol use and misuse, discusses the interventions that can be designed around these theories, and offers key insight into future developments within the field. A range of international experts assess the unique factors that contribute to alcohol-related behaviour as differentiated from other health-related behaviours. They cover the theory and context of alcohol consumption, including possible implications of personality type, motivation and self-regulation, and cultural and demographic factors. After reviewing the evidence for psychological theories and predictors as accounts for alcohol consumption, the book goes on to focus on external influences on consumption and interventions for reducing alcohol consumption, including those based on purchasing and consumption behaviour, technologies such as personalised feedback apps, and social and media phenomena such as "Dry January" and "Hello Sunday Morning". It brings together cutting-edge contemporary research on alcohol consumption in childhood and adolescence, including topics such as managing offers or drinks, "pre-drinking", online identities, how children develop their beliefs about alcohol and how adolescents discuss alcohol with their parents. The book also offers a rounded presentation of the tensions involved in debates around the psychological impacts of alcohol use, discussing its role in helping people to socialise and unwind; as well as recognising the possible negative impacts on health, education and relationships. This book will be of interest to academics, policymakers, public health officials, practitioners, charities and other stakeholders interested in understanding how alcohol affects people psychologically. This book will also be a key resource for students and researchers from across the social sciences.

This book offers an uncompromising and unapologetic phenomenological study of altered states of consciousness in an attempt to understand the structure of human consciousness. Drawing on the philosophy of Merleau-Ponty, it sets out to decipher the inextricable link between consciousness, body, and world. This link will be established through the presentation of in-depth phenomenological research conducted with former prisoners of war (POWs) and senior meditators. Focusing on two such disparate groups improves our understanding of the nature of the subjective experience in extreme situations - when our sense of boundary is rigid and we are disconnected both from the body and the world (POWs); and when our sense of boundary is fluid and we feel unified with the world (meditators). Based on empirical-phenomenological research, this book will explain how the body that is from the outset thrown into the intersubjective world shapes the structure of consciousness.

Drug Abuse: Concepts, Prevention, and Cessation serves as a comprehensive source of information on the topography of, causes of, and solutions to drug problems. The text covers conceptual issues regarding definitions of drug use, misuse, abuse, and dependence. Importantly, the text addresses a variety of theoretical bases currently applied to the development of prevention and cessation programs, specific program content from evidence-based programs, and program processes and modalities. Information regarding etiology, prevention, and cessation is neatly delineated into (a) neurobiological, (b) cognitive, (c) micro-social, and (d) macro-social/physical environmental units. The book is ideally suited as a primary source for students and professionals in chemical dependence programs, clinical and health psychology, public health, preventive medicine, nursing, sociology, and social work, among other fields, on the nature, causes, prevention, and cessation of the abuse of legal and illegal drugs.

This intriguing volume presents the most contemporary views on the conceptualization and treatment of somatoform disorders and related conditions from experts in psychodynamic and cognitive behavioral approaches. It does so with respect to both perspectives, without advocating for either approach. By presenting expert views from diverse perspectives, the book raises, what is a central point in most of the chapters, that emotion, its processing and regulation, is a cornerstone of these disorders. The volume also highlights the role of pathogenic coping or defense mechanisms like dysfunctional avoidance (from a CBT perspective) and conversion (from the psychodynamic perspective) in the maintenance of psychosomatic symptoms. The volume's contents include detailed literature reviews on the most common-and most treatment-resistant-mind/body conditions, including chronic pain, responses to trauma, alexithymia, and the spectrum of health anxiety disorders. Noted experts distinguish between types of medically unexplained symptoms, discuss their complex processes, and provide models for intervention where cognitive-behavioral or psychodynamic approaches may be appropriate or effective. And a fascinating case study of a patient presenting multiple trauma-related disorders explores therapist resourcefulness over a course of shifting symptoms and frustrating setbacks. Among the topics covered: Maintaining mechanisms of health anxiety: current state of knowledge. Negative affect and medically unexplained symptoms. Alexithymia as a core trait in psychosomatic and other psychological disorders. Trauma and its consequences for body and mind. Embodied memories, a new pathway to the unconcious. Psychotherapy among HIV patients: a look at a psychoimmunological research study after 20 years. Health anxiety: a cognitive-behavioral framework. The wealth of options discussed in Somatoform and Psychosomatic Disorders offers health psychologists, psychiatrists, psychotherapists, counselors, and psychoanalysts bold new ideas for case formulation, treatment planning, and intervention with some of their most intractable cases.

This book explores positive aging through the lens of precarity, aiming to ground positive aging theories in current social contexts. In recent years, research on aging has been branded by growing disagreements between supporters of the successful aging model and critical gerontologists who highlight the widening inequalities, disadvantages and precarity that characterize old age. This book comes to fill a gap in knowledge by offering an alternative view on positive aging, informed by precarity and its impact on projections concerning aging. The first part of the book places aging in broader theoretical and empirical context, exploring the complex links between views on aging, successful aging theories, policy and social reality. The second part uses results from a qualitative research conducted in Germany to illustrate the dissonance between successful aging ideals and both negative and positive views on aging as well as aging preparation strategies inspired by precarity. Findings from this section provide a solid starting point for comparisons with countries that are both similar and different from Germany in terms of welfare regimes and aging policies. The final part of the book discusses the psychological implications of these findings within and beyond the German case study and outlines potential solutions for practice. This book provides health psychologists, gerontologists, sociologists, social workers, health professionals as well as students and aging individuals themselves with better understanding of the meaning of aging in precarious times and builds confidence about aging well despite precarity.

Society is faced with a variety of undesirable behaviours and conditions such as crime, mental and physical illnesses and disabilities, that usually provoke different responses in people such as emotions of anger, fear or pity. In our evolutionary past, these emotions adaptively motivated the repair of interpersonal relationships, whereas more recently they may also result in other types of social control such as stigmatization or tolerance. Dijker and Koomen show, on the basis of elementary psychological processes, how peoples' responses are not only dependent on type of deviance but also on personality, situation, historical period and culture. They also examine the implications of these responses for the well-being and coping of people with deviant conditions or stigmas. This book provides conceptual tools for developing interventions to reduce stigmatization and offers a deeper understanding of the psychological basis of social control as well as opportunities to influence its potentially harmful consequences.

Society is faced with a variety of undesirable behaviours and conditions such as crime, mental and physical illnesses and disabilities, that usually provoke different responses in people such as emotions of anger, fear or pity. In our evolutionary past, these emotions adaptively motivated the repair of interpersonal relationships, whereas more recently they may also result in other types of social control such as stigmatization or tolerance. Dijker and Koomen show, on the basis of elementary psychological processes, how peoples' responses are not only dependent on type of deviance but also on personality, situation, historical period and culture. They also examine the implications of these responses for the well-being and coping of people with deviant conditions or stigmas. This book provides conceptual tools for developing interventions to reduce stigmatization and offers a deeper understanding of the psychological basis of social control as well as opportunities to influence its potentially harmful consequences.

Longevity and long-life practices have been a pan-Tibetan concern for a very long time, but have hardly been studied by anthropologists. This book presents ethnographic accounts and textual material demonstrating how Tibetans in the Darjeeling Hills, India, view the life-span and map out certain life-forces in various areas of knowledge. These life-forces follow daily, monthly, and annual cycles. Divinations and astrological calculations are widely but varyingly used by Tibetans to assess the strength of life-forces and forecast difficult periods in their lives. Loss, exhaustion, or periodic weaknesses of life-forces are treated medically or through Tibetan Buddhist practices and rituals. In all these events, temporality and agency are deeply interlinked in the ways in which Tibetans enhance their vitality, prolong their life-spans, and avoid untimely deaths.

This book presents a comprehensive discussion of classical ideas, core topics, currents and detailed theoretical underpinnings in medical sociology. It is a globally renowned source and reference for those interested in social dimensions of health and illness. The presentation is enriched with explanatory and illustrative styles. The design and illustration of details will shift the minds of the readers from mere classroom discourse to societal context (the space of health issues), to consider the implications of those ideas in a way that could guide health interventions. The elemental strengths are the sociological illustrations from African context, rooted in deep cultural interpretations necessitated because Africa bears a greater brunt of health problems. More so, the classical and current epistemological and theoretical discourse presented in this book are indicative of core themes in medical sociology in particular, but cut across a multidisciplinary realm including health social sciences (e.g., medical anthropology, health psychology, medical demography, medical geography and health economics) and health studies (medicine, public health, epidemiology, bioethics and medical humanities) in general. Therefore, apart from the book s relevance as a teaching text of medical sociology for academics, it is also meant for students at various levels and all health professionals who require a deeper understanding of social dimensions of health and illness (with illustrations from the African context) and sociological contributions to health studies in general."

This updated and expanded second edition of Resilience in Aging offers a comprehensive description of the current state of knowledge with regard to resilience from physiological (including genetic), psychological (including cognitive and creative), cultural, and economic perspectives. In addition, the book considers the impact of resilience on many critical aspects of life for older adults including policy issues, economic, cognitive and physiological challenges, spirituality, chronic illness, and motivation. The only book devoted solely to the importance and development of resilience in quality of life among older adults, Resilience in Aging, 2nd Edition continues to offer evidence-based theory, clinical guidelines, and new and updated case examples and real-world interventions so professional readers can make the best use of this powerful tool. The critical insights in this volume are concluded with a discussion of future directions on optimizing resilience and the importance of a lifespan approach to the critical component of aging. The book's coverage extends across disciplines and domains, including: Resilience and personality disorders in older age. Cultural and ethnic perspectives on enhancing resilience in aging Sustained by the sacred: religious and spiritual factors for resilience in adulthood and aging. Building resilience in persons with early-stage dementia and their care partners. Interdisciplinary geriatric mental health resilience interventions. Developing resilience in the aged and dementia care workforce. Using technology to enhance resilience among older adults. This wide-ranging and updated lifespan approach gives Resilience in Aging, 2nd Edition particular relevance to the gamut of practitioners in gerontology and geriatrics, including health psychologists, neuropsychologists, clinical psychologists, psychiatrists, social workers, geriatricians, family physicians, nurses, occupational and physical therapists, among others.

The Routledge International Encyclopedia of Sport and Exercise Psychology integrates the topics of motor control, physical education, exercise, adventure, performance in sports, and the performing arts, in several important ways and contexts, drawing upon diverse cultural perspectives. More than 90 overarching topics have been systematically developed by internationally renowned experts in theory, research, and practice. Each contribution delves into a thematic area with more nuanced vocabulary. The terminology drawn upon integrates traditional discourse and emerging topic matter into a state-of-the-art two-volume set. Volume 1: Theoretical and Methodological Concepts is comprised of theoretical topic matter, spanning theories and terminology from psychology contextualized to sport and physical activity, sport psychology-focused theories, and expansive discussions related to philosophy of science and methodology. Volume 2: Applied and Practical Measures draws upon practical concepts that bridge theory and research and practice. Broader issues that extend beyond sport and physical activity participants are embedded within the entries, intended to augment physical, mental, and social well-being. This expansive encyclopedia is a must-have resource for all professionals, scholars, and students in the fields of sport psychology and sport science.

In the World Library of Psychologists series, international experts present career-long collections of what they judge to be their finest pieces - extracts from books, key articles, salient research findings, and their major practical theoretical contributions. In this volume: Overweight and obesity rates have increased dramatically in most industrialized countries, even though more and more people are chronically dieting. Dieters can manage to lose substantial amounts of weight while actively dieting, but most regain it within a few years. So why do most chronic dieters have such difficulty controlling their weight and why is there only a small minority of successful dieters? To address these questions, Stroebe developed the goal conflict model of eating behavior, a social cognitive theory that attributes the difficulty of chronic dieters to a conflict between two incompatible goals: eating enjoyment and weight control. Although chronic dieters are motivated to pursue their weight control goal, most fail in food-rich environments: Surrounded by palatable food cues that activate thoughts of eating enjoyment, incompatible weight control thoughts are inhibited and weight control intentions are "forgotten". For successful dieters - probably due to past success in exerting self-control - tasty high-calorie food has become associated with weight control thoughts. For them, exposure to palatable food makes weight control thoughts more accessible, enabling them to control their body weight in food-rich environments. This book contains the key articles of a research program by Stroebe and collaborators to assess the validity of this theory. They succeeded in tracing the processes that lead from temptation to a breakdown of dieting intentions. They also demonstrated that these theoretical principles can be used to develop effective weight loss interventions. The book should be of value for all researcgers, students and clinicians involved in obesity research and treatment.

Life expectancy in countries of Central and Eastern Europe is substantially shorter than in Western Europe, and a similar divide exists in self-rated health. This exhaustive study of populations in seven Central and European countries - Russia, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Poland, Czech Republic and Hungary - examines the social and psychosocial determinants of this divide. Practitioners and graduate students of public health and social psychology will find this an invaluable resource.

Human Interaction with the Divine, the Sacred, and the Deceased brings together cutting-edge empirical and theoretical contributions from scholars in fields including psychology, theology, ethics, neuroscience, medicine, and philosophy, to examine how and why humans engage in, or even seek spiritual experiences and connection with the immaterial world. In this richly interdisciplinary volume, Plante and Schwartz recognize human interaction with the divine and departed as a cross-cultural and historical universal that continues to concern diverse disciplines. Accounting for variances in belief and human perception and use, the book is divided into four major sections: personal experience; theological consideration; medical, technological, and scientific considerations; and psychological considerations with chapters addressing phenomena including prayer, reincarnation, sensed presence, and divine revelations. Featuring scholars specializing in theology, psychology, medicine, neuroscience, and ethics, this book provides a thoughtful, compelling, evidence-based, and contemporary approach to gain a grounded perspective on current understandings of human interaction with the divine, the sacred, and the deceased. Of interest to believers, questioners, and unbelievers alike, this volume will be key reading for researchers, scholars, and academics engaged in the fields of religion and psychology, social psychology, behavioral neuroscience, and health psychology. Readers with a broader interest in spiritualism, religious and non-religious movements will also find the text of interest.

Originally published in 1993, Adolescent Drinking and Family Life portrays teenage drinking, not as a symptom of pathology, but as a perfectly normal developmental phase within the context of the home environment. Drinking is predominantly social behaviour and the family is seen as a major agent of socialization. The authors have therefore explored family dynamics and the influence which the home environment has upon adolescent drinking to come up with a new theoretical model. A major feature of this approach is the interaction of ideas from family life psychology and human geography. The authors present a typology of domestic regimes illustrated by case studies of boundary enforcement and transgression. The general theme of boundary transgression, applied here to both the psychosocial environment and built form, represents an interesting new theoretical perspective. The integration of these two fields is an innovation which should stimulate further interdisciplinary work in adolescence and addiction research. Adolescent Drinking and Family Life will be interesting to researchers and practitioners in adolescence, family dynamics, and alcohol as well as any social scientist with an interest in the link between behaviour and the home environment. This new approach had important implications for health education and for interventions concerned with adolescent alcohol use at the time. Today it can be read in its historical context.

For all the work on disability in previous years, there had been surprisingly little done on a subject of central importance - the social and psychological needs of teenagers with disabilities. Originally published in 1982, the purpose of this timely book was both to review the literature and to report an extensive study of the nature of the psychological problems, the quality of social life and the adequacy of the services available to a substantial group of teenagers with disabilities in the last years at school, with a follow-up study of half their number a year later. The authors show that many of these teenagers, including those with a mild disability, are often unhappy, worried and isolated from their peers. While the majority of the teenagers with disabilities, whether in ordinary or special schools, made friends at school, these friendships were rarely sustained outside. After leaving school the degree of social isolation is as great, and often worse. Among these teenagers the incidence of psychological problems was three to four times higher than for a control group, the most common being worry, depression, misery, fearfulness and lack of self-confidence and self-esteem. For the most part, the teenagers with disabilities were likely to be immature and ill-prepared to cope with adult life. These findings underline the need for a counselling service while the teenagers are still at school, and supporting services when they have left. Like other teenagers, those in this study were unprepared for the possibility of not having a job, and had not thought how to organize their lives if a job was not available or feasible. The authors draw attention to the large proportion of people with disabilities without occupation after leaving school, and the high dissatisfaction with day centres. Perhaps their most important finding is the need to rationalize the piecemeal and overlapping provision of help for school-leavers with disabilities. In the meantime, their book provides a wealth of information of direct use to those concerned with teenagers with disabilities and their families, whether in school provision, careers advice, work placement and alternatives to work, social services, counselling, medical services and further education. This book is a re-issue originally published in 1982. The language used is a reflection of its era and no offence is meant by the Publishers to any reader by this re-publication.

* The volume provides a holistic understanding of the state of health psychology in the Indian context. * It brings to light a spectrum of new perspectives to health and diseases that include psychological measures as preventive steps, social dynamics that constitute a support system and psychosocial interventions. * It will be of interest to students, teachers, and researchers of psychology, psychiatry, social psychology, sociology, social work across UK and US. It will also be useful for psychologists, sociologists, and professionals and practitioners of psychology, medical sciences, sociology, community health and other allied disciplines.

* The book explores the mental health experiences of suffering and healing of accident survivors with locomotor disability in India. * It provides a holistic understanding of disability experience by delving deeper into the socio-political discourses of having an impairment * Will be of interest to students, teachers and researchers of psychology, health psychology, disability studies, sociology, mental health, and well-being across UK and US. It will also be of interest to psychologists, counsellors, mental health professionals, policymakers and those interested in disability studies.

Focusing on reproductive and sexual justice, this important book explores in detail both the challenges that trans people face when negotiating reproductive and sexual health in restrictive social contexts, and their agency in advocating for change. Chapters cover a breadth of topics such as intimacy, sexual violence, reproductive intentions, sexuality education, oncology, and pregnancy, introducing readers to the latest research in the field as well as key emerging concepts. The authors identify core principles for trans reproductive and sexual justice, providing a broad overview of what is currently succeeding and what can be built on going into the future. Trans Reproductive and Sexual Health offers a comprehensive exploration that is essential reading for academics and students in psychology, sociology, gender studies, and related areas, as well as clinicians and policy makers, offering direct implications for professional audiences working in health and social care.

* The volume explores the psychological and social experiences of the people from Northeast India in the form of narratives and empirical evidence. * It discusses a range of issues that had major impacts on the lives of people such as return migration, community and social relationships, racial discrimination, child sexual abuse, tele-counselling, and social actions during the crisis. * Will be of interest to students, teachers, and researchers of psychology, social psychology, cultural studies, cultural psychology, development studies, and sociology across UK and US. It will also be useful for academicians, social workers, healthcare workers, psychologists, psychology professionals, sociologists, and anyone interested to learn about the North-Eastern region of India.

1. Unique format (myth-busting) which emphasizes the application of empirical skepticism. 2. Broad range of topical subjects written by globally renowned academics. 3. Number of Pseudoscience in Psychology modules are on the rise, and there is a need for a core textbooks - this book seeks to fill that gap.

1. Unique format (myth-busting) which emphasizes the application of empirical skepticism. 2. Broad range of topical subjects written by globally renowned academics. 3. Number of Pseudoscience in Psychology modules are on the rise, and there is a need for a core textbooks - this book seeks to fill that gap.