The present volume has come about through an awareness of the absence of any cohesive and substantive source on the treatment of cognitive dysfunction following brain insult. I initiated the devel opment of our annual symposium Models and Techniques of Cognitive Rehabilitation, on which the present volume is based, so as to educate myself, as well as others, about the state of the art in modifying cognitive processes in the brain, injured. I became aware of the need for interventive strategies for the brain, injured while a graduate student. Brain functions had, for a long time, always fascinated me, but from an academic perspective. I was confronted with the clinical consequences of brain injury while administering batteries of neuro psychological tests, and this experience added another dimension to my interest in brain functions. I felt grossly inadequate because I was able to rather eloquently describe changes in brain-behavior relations with neuropsychological tests, but could only generate re commendations based solely on the use of compensatory strategies and occasionally on some unfounded, and probably naive, remedial guess. A literature search at this time yielded devastating, little informa tion. The next several years were characterized by a pseudo-obsession, occurring at times without total awareness, with methods and tech niques which might alter impaired brain-behavior relations. Completing graduate school, however, required that these thoughts take a secondary position relative to more typical graduate student thoughts.

Internet gambling is one of the fastest growing forms of gambling. Global Internet gambling expenditure is predicted to reach US$33.6 billion in 2011. This is higher than worldwide movie box office revenues and represents 9% of the international gambling market. The rapid increase in expenditure of 354% since 2003 has occurred despite Internet gambling being prohibited in several key markets, including the US and China. It also suggests that current regulation may be somewhat outdated and ineffective as more and more people turn to this mode of gambling. Internet gambling is highly accessible with over 2,400 sites available 24/7 through computers, mobile phones, wireless devices and even interactive televisions. Gamblers can now play casino games, bingo, cards and poker, bet on races, sports and even celebrity weddings using over 199 means of electronic payments without leaving the house. Increasing international jurisdictions are legalizing Internet gambling and the constant accessibility of online gambling has critical social implications. Gambling operators are using aggressive advertising campaigns to move into new markets. Internet gambling appears to be particularly appealing to youth, who are gambling online at substantially higher rates than adults. Furthermore, Internet gambling appears to be related to problem gambling, with rates of problem gambling three to four times higher among Internet than non-Internet gamblers, indicating that it may have a substantial social cost. The anonymity of online sports betting poses a significant threat to the integrity of sport at all levels with increasing allegations of match-fixing and cheating. Estimates suggested that 50% of all bets on the 2010 FIFA World Cup were placed online, worth an estimated GBP500 million. These figures represent a 700% rise in online betting since the 2006 tournament and included many new players that opened online accounts. It is essential that appropriate responses are made by governments, industry professionals and the public in response to Internet gambling. This book will provide a comprehensive and up-to-date overview of Internet gambling, including the social impact and regulatory options. A global outline will include the characteristics and features of the many forms of Internet gambling, including the current market, and participation, and differences between Internet and non-Internet gambling. Specific regional considerations will be explored including regulatory responses and options. Importantly, the social consequences and costs of Internet gambling will be examined, including the impact of online gambling on sports, youth and problem gambling. Strategies for prevention and responsible gambling will be considered as well as expected trends.

Rather than physiological health only, complementary and alternative medicines aim at the production of wellbeing. This book explores how the increasing proliferation of holistic health methods are intimately connected with changing configurations of selfhood, gender and class.

As governments throughout the world experience increasing fiscal challenges, the pressures on public sectors to streamline services and harness technological advances is unprecedented. Many have undergone huge budgetary cuts as a result, but what are the effects of this intense organisational change on such a large and varied workforce? And how can managers within the public sector meet the challenge of delivering services whilst maintaining the health and wellbeing of staff tasked with carrying out the work? Managing Health and WellBeing in the Public Sector: A Guide to Best Practice is the ideal companion to any manager in these challenging times. Exploring the realities of working in the public sector, and those factors which can add meaning and purpose to working life, the book provides managers with a practical toolkit for creating the best working environment, as well as nurturing resilience and motivation within their staff. Written by two authors with a lifetime of experience in the field, the book also examines why promoting occupational health and wellbeing is beneficial to organizations, drawing on a wealth of international research to support this argument. It concludes with a series of case studies in which an international range of public sector managers discuss initiatives they have implemented, and how successful they have been. This is the ideal companion for any manager working in the public sector. It will also be instructive reading for students or researchers of occupational or organizational psychology, as well as HRM.

Acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) poses a health threat unparalleled in modem times. Identified just a few years ago, AIDS and the human inunlmodeficiency virus (IDV) responsible for it affect millions of persons worldwide. AIDS has already become the leading cause of death among persons under 40 in some large American cities. From the beginning. it has been evident that AIDS carries unique psychological and social ramifications. In spite of its lethality, new cases of HIV infection are preventable if individuals can be assisted to make behavior changes to lessen or eliminate viral transmission. To the extent that we can develop effective primary prevention interventions, it will be possible to keep larger numbers of people from becoming infected with the mv virus. Psychological and social risk behavior change interventions, whether at the level of individual clients, groups, or entire communities, can playa key role-in fact, the only available role-in disease prevention. Patients with any life-threatening illness have psychological, social, and support needs. However, these needs are more pronounced and, often, less easily addressed for persons affected by AIDS. People in good clinical health but with HIV infection face years of worry concerning whether they will develop AIDS. Nearly 2 million Americans are currently in this precarious position; by 1991, 50 to 100 million persons worldwide are expected to share the same uncertainty."

We seek to throw down the gauntlet with this handbook, challenging the he gemony of the "behavioral medicine" approach to the psychological study and treatment of the physically ill. This volume is not another in that growing surfeit oftexts that pledge allegiance to the doctrinaire purity of behavioristic thinking, or conceptualize their subject in accord with the sterility of medical models. Diseases are not our focus, nor is the narrow band of behavioral assessment and therapy methodologies. Rather, we have sought to redefine this amorphous, yet burgeoning field so as to place it squarely within the province of a broadly-based psychology-specifically, the emerging, substantive discipline of health psy chology and the well-established professionalism and diverse technologies of clinical psychology. The handbook's title-Clinical Health Psychology-reflects this reorientation explicitly, and Chapter 1 addresses its themes and provides its justifications more fully. In the process of developing a relevant and comprehensive health assess ment tool, the editors were struck by the failure of clinical psychologists to avail themselves of the rich vein of materials that comprise the psychosocial world of the physically ill. Perhaps more dismaying was the observation that this field was being mined-less than optimally-by physicians and nonclinical psychologists."

"Tension" is an internationally recognized word. Its omnI presence in our public media--in our newspapers, on TV, in magazines, and on radio--as well as in our everyday conversations indicate that we are well aware of the problems of over-tenseness. Pulp news papers and magazines increase their sales with promises of quick relief for tension problems. Business executives complain at the end of the day of being "uptight," and often accept a hotel chain's invitation to "unwind" at their bar. Soap operas attract large audiences, in part capitalizing on tension problems--irritable ar guments between husband_ and wife seem interminable Indeed, the entire world is aware of the need to control ten sions. Such widespread needs invite varied "solutions," with the most attractive appearing ones offering promises of quick and easy cures. The market for tension reduction has been exploited in numer ous ingenious ways for centuries but I think never more than today. People with serious tension disorders often eagerly seize promises of easy relief, regardless of cost. Those who suffer headaches, spastic colon, essential hypertension, back pains, phobias and general anxiety are especially sensitized to tension disorders and potential cures. The American Association for the Advancement of Tension Control is dedicated to the elimination of tension problems through a two pronged attack: through the immediate technological application of tension control principles that now exist, and by encouraging scientific research to further develop our methods."

Since the late 1960s, the behavioral treatment of mentally retarded, au tistic, and other developmentally disabled persons has grown progres sively more sophisticated. The literature on behavioral treatment has produced effective and clinically significant programs for the reduction of maladaptive behaviors such as tantrums, aggression, and self-injury; skills deficits have been remediated through improved programs for language and life skills acquisition; and new environments have been opened in the creation of mainstream educational opportunities. In spite of these advances, it strikes us that this almost exclusive focus on behavior problems and skills remediation has been somewhat myopic and that much of the potential for application of behavioral science to solving problems of the developmentally disabled is as yet untapped. In the 1980s, an important revolution has taken place: the devel opment of the field of behavioral medicine. This field, in merging disease treatment and management with learning and behavior, has already made impressive progress toward a reconceptualization of health care that acknowledges the centrality of behavior in disease expression. Al though there has, as yet, been only a preliminary application of this reconceptualization to the field of developmental disabilities, we are convinced that further extension has great potential."

This book is a collection of invited contributions, each reflec ting an area of medicine in which computing techniques have been successfully applied; but why the title? From a control system point of view the aim of clinical medicine is to recognise the deviation of a patient from the space of normality, and to propel and steer the patient along a trajectory back to that space. Acquiring and main taining the knowledge and skills of this process is the function of medicine. The first chapter expands on this view. Subsequent chapters written by experts in their respective areas cover a fair range of application. All give considerable insight as to the ways in which the control system approach, facilitated by computational tools, can be of value when applied to clinical problems. The idea for this book arose naturally out of a symposium held at the University of Sussex, Brighton, England, on "Control System Concepts and Approaches in Clinical Medicine" in April, 1982, spon sored by the Institute of Measurement and Control and co-sponsored by the Institution of Electrical Engineers and the Royal Society of Medicine. It is not, however, a "proceedings" of this meeting but rather a collection of essays that reflect developing areas in which many have particular interest. We think the volume is timely and hope that the work described will be an encouragement for others."

As people live longer and health care costs continue to rise and fewer doctors choose to specialize in geriatrics, how prepared is the United States to care for its sick and elderly? According to veteran psychologist Seymour Sarason's eloquent and compelling new book, the answer is: inadequately at best. And rarely discussed among the grim statistics is the psychosocial price paid by nursing home patients, from loneliness and isolation to depression and dependency.

In "Centers for Ending," Dr. Sarason uses his firsthand experience as both practitioner and patient in senior facilities to reveal wide-ranging professional and moral issues affecting this seemingly familiar terrain. Insensitive medical personnel, poorly trained nurses and aides, indifferent administrators, and a prevailing culture content with treating "bodies" instead of human beings are identified as contributing factors. Drawing on America's rich history of large-scale solutions to social problems, Dr. Sarason offers penetrating insights and bold suggestions in such areas as:

The widening care gap between haves and have-nots.Why professional caregivers fail to understand patients.The nursing home resident as immigrant.Why previous reform efforts have not worked.The need for a Presidential commission for the elderly.The scenario if conditions are allowed to remain as they are or worsen.

This concise volume is essential reading for researchers, graduate students, professionals, practitioners, and policy makers across such fields as geriatric medicine, health psychology, social work, public health, and public policy. "Centers for Ending "is a clarion call to be ignored at great cost to our elders and ourselves. "

In recent years ideas about the influence of psychological status on physical health have been elevated from intuition and clinical lore to a legitimate area of scientific study. Mechanisms of influence are, indubitably, diverse. Some of this influence is indirect, accounted for simply by the instrumental help that social engagement, associated with good mental health, affords people; for example, psychologically "healthy" people are probably more likely to comply with medication regimens and engage in other healthful behaviors to a greater extent than those who are socially withdrawn or psychologically unstable. But recent studies suggest that while the importance of these more obvious factors cannot be denied, the complete picture includes factors that are much more subtle and complex. A body of research is beginning to accumulate that suggests that all three major regulatory systems -- the central nervous system, the endocrine system, and the immune system -- are affected by cognitions, emotions and behavior. There is no doubt that a relationship between mental and physical health exists, but very little is known about the specific mechanisms by which such influence occurs. At least in part, empirical research in this area has been limited by the inherent need for an interdisciplinary approach and synthesis of collected data. Recently, a few researchers in a number of different disciplines have begun to study directly the linkage between psychological and emotional well being and health."

This book develops a new model of the genesis of health, on the basis of the interplay between genetic and environmental factors. Hurrelmann and Richter build upon the basic theories of health and the popular model of salutogenesis to offer a comprehensive interdisciplinary theory of health genesis and success: Productive Processing of Reality (PPR). The authors show that health is the lifelong dynamic process of dealing with the internal reality of physical and psychological impulses and the external reality of social and material impulses. To demonstrate this, the book is split into three interconnected parts. Part A analyses the determinants of health, providing an overview of the insights of current research and the impact of socioeconomic influences and gender on health. Part B covers public health, social, learning and coping theories, all of which understand health as an interaction between people and their environment. Part C draws on these four theories to outline PPR, stressing the interrelation between physical and mental constitution and the demands of the social and mental environment, and suggesting strategies for coping with these demands during the life course. Understanding Public Health: Productive Processing of Internal and External Reality will be valuable reading for students and researchers in psychology, sociology, educational science, public health and medical science, and for policymakers in public health.

Why do people enter total institutions - places that confine and control them around the clock - and how does the experience change them? This book updates Goffman's classic model by introducing the Re-inventive Institution, where members voluntarily commit themselves to pursue regimes of self-improvement.

Advances in Quality-of-Life Theory and Research is relevant to quality-of-life researchers working in the areas of Social Medicine, Sustainable Development, Social Indicators Research and Health Psychology/Behavioral Medicine.
This volume contains 14 chapters that represent a culmination of programmatic research in the science of quality of life (QOL). Each chapter offers interesting findings in different areas of QOL research and, together, the chapters reflect the very basic premise that QOL research is a broad interdisciplinary topic explored in a multidisciplinary manner. The research methods and conceptual models used by the different authors are exemplary and can induce QOL researchers to conduct future research in QOL in other cultures, geographic areas, and different socio-economic and demographic groups as well as in different QOL domains.

For decades, health professionals have asserted the importance of public participation in interventions for health. Medicine has pursued patient participation in clinical decision-making. In the public health realm, target groups have been asked to assist in the design and implementation of initiatives for health. In practice, however, patients and populations expect health professionals to give advice and - in some cases - to make decisions on their behalf. This implies limits to the ideal of participation. In this innovative work, the author contrasts public and professional understandings of health and the best ways to achieve health. The result is a model of lay participation in the structuring of medical and public health activity. The book is unique due to its policy-applicable, quantitative studies and its theoretical analysis of works by Rene Dubos and Aaron Antonovsky. It will be of value to professionals in health promotion, health education, medical anthropology, and social epidemiology.

Our series Cancer Prevention - Cancer Control continues to address the causes and prevention of cancer. In this volume, Hill, Elwood, and English bring together a rich resource summarizing the state of science underpinning the primary prevention of skin cancer. While skin cancer causes an increasing burden, particularly in populations of European origin, our understanding of the role of sun exposure together with the genetic components of skin cancer continues to grow. Given the emphasis on evidence-based medicine and public health prevention efforts, it is noteworthy that, although we can all access the same evidence base, countries around the world have had remarkably different responses to the application of this knowledge to prevent skin cancer. The outstanding contribution of the Australian public health community to the scientific understanding of skin cancer etiology and the translation of this knowledge into national prevention efforts uniquely positions the editors to compile this volume focused on the primary prevention of skin cancer. In so doing they draw on an international team of authors to present a "state of the science" summary of skin cancer prevention and to identify those areas where uncertainty remains. To achieve successful prevention of cancer we must translate our scientific knowledge base into effective prevention programs. This book offers the reader keen insights into the depth of our understanding of etiologic pathways for skin cancer. This etiologic science base is complemented by rigorous prevention science placing emphasis on the social context for effective and sustained prevention efforts.

Although women were understudied in the early years of the epidemic, research and practice devoted to understanding and ameliorating the effects of the AIDS epidemic have begun in recent years. Women and AIDS is the first comprehensive exploration of the medical and psychosocial concerns and issues surrounding women living with HIV/AIDS. Contributors address the biomedical aspects of the disease, stress and coping factors, reproductive and childcare issues, access to care, needs of special populations such as drug-using women and adolescents, and policy recommendations. Researchers and students in psychology, public health, medicine, nursing, sociology, women's studies, and social work will appreciate this reference.

Highlighting the interplay between basic research and intervention, this volume focuses on common stressful life experiences that present significant challenges to children's healthy development. Fifteen stressors are discussed with regard to both short-and long-term effects. The authors identify factors that explain variability in children's adjustment to these stressors and evaluate preventive interventions designed to facilitate coping. Notable chapters include a discussion of the many uncontrollable stressors to which inner-city youth are exposed and a thorough treatment of children's adaptation to divorce. Each chapter follows a common outline, allowing comparison among stressors.

Suicide kills and maims victims; traumatizes loved ones; preoccupies clinicians; and costs health care and emergency agencies fortunes. It should therefore demand a wealth of theoretical, scientific, and fiduciary attention. But in many ways it has Why? Although the answer to this question is multi-faceted, this volume not. supposes that one answer to the question is a lack of elaborated and penetrating theoretical approaches. The authors of this volume were challenged to apply their considerable theoretical wherewithal to this state of affairs. They have risen to this challenge admirably, in that several ambitious ideas are presented and developed. Ifever a phenomenon should inspire humility, it is suicide, and the volume's authors realize this. Although several far-reaching views are proposed, they are pitched as first approximations, with the primary goal of stimulating still more conceptual and empirical work. A pressing issue in suicide science is the topic of clinical interventions, and clinical approaches more generally. Here too, this volume contributes, covering such topics as therapeutics and prevention, comorbidity, special populations, and clinicalrisk factors.

This book is an extension of my 1992 book entitled The Social Context of Chronic Pain Sufferers. Many ideas nominally explored there are elaborated in this volume, which is an attempt to fill a major gap in the chronic pain literature. Although there has been a virtual flood of new works on the medical and psychological aspects of chronic pain, such enthusiasm is somewhat muted in relation to the social environment of the patient. Although there is universal recognitionamongpain expertsthat biological, psychological, and socialfactors influence the experience ofpain, the social component (forreasons that are - clear) has failed to attract much attention. Theneed forabook focusedonsocialrelationsisobvious.Thepatientisnot merelyacarrierof symptoms.Thereis alargesocialrealityinthe background of each patient; that reality can have multidimensional consequences, from the way pain is perceivedto seriousfinancialhardshipand other sourcesof stress, c- plicating treatment, management, and, ultimately, the prognosis. Clinicians rec- nize the value of incorporating the social dimension in the overall evaluation and treatment of the patient. This book attempts to accomplish that task. In order to achieve that objective, this volume addresses many important e- ments inthepatient'ssocial environment-the mostsignificantbeingthefamily. Beyond the family, for a vast majority of patients, work represents a major source of economic security and self-esteem. Job loss, common in this population and a major cause of much personal and family distress, needs critical examination.

The amount of research on the prevalence and nature of various forms of anxiety disorders, problematic health behaviors, and physical illness has significantly accumulated, yet there has been no systematic integration of the research in science and practice.

Anxiety in Health Behaviors and Physical Illness is a single resource that offers theoretical perspectives and reviews of research on the link between health behaviors and physical illness to anxiety. The authors explore the idea of reciprocal relations between anxiety and health factors throughout the developmental course. Special attention is devoted to the mechanisms by which certain health factors (e.g. physical exercise) may play a role in the onset or maintenance of particular anxiety disorders.

As gambling become ever more ubiquitous, more people are risking their finances, family lives, and health in their desire to be the winner that takes it all. This book brings together an international panel of experts to present a wide variety of perspectives on problem gambling, and test popular addiction and disease models in the field. Early chapters examine the psychology of gambling, before moving on to the pastime 's associated irrational ideas. The seven chapters in the second half are devoted to evidence-based interventions from a variety of clinical orientations. Case examples, Q&A sections, and a glossary add extra readability to the coverage.

Human beings, regardless of age, sex, or state of health, are designed by evolution to form meaningful interpersonal relationships through verbal and nonverbal communication. The theme that empathic human connections are beneficial to the body and mind underlies all 12 chapters of this book, in which empathy is viewed from a multidisciplinary perspective that includes evolutionary biology; neuropsychology; clinical, social, developmental, and educational psychology; and health care delivery and education.

Despite improvements in service delivery, patient violence remains a major problem at mental health facilities. Focusing equally on causes, management, and prevention, this groundbreaking book thoroughly examines this crucial topic. The book reviews the latest theories of violence, proven prevention strategies, and examples of positive organizational change. The material is illustrated with graphs and clinical case examples, and coverage spans the range from patient rights to zero-tolerance.

Cultural competence in Health Care provides a balance between a theoretical foundation and clinical application. Because of the focus on basic principles, this book will be useful not only in the United States, but throughout the world as Cultural Competence is intending to fill the cultural competence gap for students and practitioners of medicine and related health sciences, by providing knowledge and describing the skills needed for culturally relevant medical care of patients of diverse ethnic and cultural backgrounds.