Why do some of us become overweight? Why is it so difficult to lose weight? How can we adopt healthy attitudes towards food?

The Psychology of Dieting takes a broad and balanced view of the causes of weight gain and the challenges involved in dieting. Exploring the cognitive, emotional and social triggers which lead us to make poor decisions around food, the book considers what it means to diet well. By understanding our psychological selves, the book shows how we can change our unhealthy behaviours and potentially lose weight.

In an era of weight problems, obesity, and dangerous dieting, The Psychology of Dieting shows us that there is no such thing as a miracle diet, and that we must understand how our minds shape the food choices we make.

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

Chapter 1: A brief history of dieting

Chapter 2: Being overweight or obese

Chapter 3: Why do we overeat?

Chapter 4: Why are we not active enough?

Chapter 5: Dieting and its consequences

Chapter 6: Why do diets fail?

Chapter 7: Successful dieting

Chapter 8: Some strategies to change behavior

Chapter 9: Dieting well: making successful dieting happen

Chapter 10: Helping others to lose weight – for health professionals

Chapter 11: Helping others: top tips for children

Chapter 12: Concluding thoughts

This title discusses the phenomenon of alcohol abuse as a behavioural disease and the associated costs. The author details alcohol's status as a psychoactive drug; he notes, however, that in contrast to other psychoactive drugs, alcohol has been widely culturally accepted in Western countries and legally available, except in isolated incidents for a short period of time. Joshua considers which policies are being correctly utilised so as to reduce the abuse of alcohol, and how these policies may operate on a supply and demand model. Whereas programs of prevention and treatment operate on the demand side of alcohol abuse, legislation is directed at the supply side of alcohol; that is, dealing with marketing - product, promotion, point of sales and price. This is the second title in a four volume series 'The Economics of Addictive Behaviours', consisting of three additional volumes on smoking, illicit drug abuse and overeating.

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.

Adolescents are more likely than any other age groups to engage in behaviors that contribute to injuries, violence, unintended pregnancies, sexually transmitted diseases, and reckless alcohol, tobacco, and drug use. At-risk adolescents may also exhibit signs of moodiness, aggression, and even self-injury, and these behaviors often cause parents, teachers, and clinicians to become extremely frustrated. Adolescents themselves may even believe that change is impossible.
Drawing on proven-effective dialectical behavior therapy (DBT), "Dialectical Behavior Therapy for At-Risk Adolescents" is the first reader-friendly and easily accessible DBT book specifically targeted to mental health professionals treating adolescents who may be dangerous to themselves or others. If you work with adolescents who exhibit at-risk behavior, you know how important it is to take immediate action. However, you may also have trouble "breaking through" the barrier that these young people can build around themselves. This book can help.
The DBT skills outlined in this book are evidence-based, and have been clinically proven to help build emotion regulation skills, which are useful for all age groups, though perhaps especially for the millions of at-risk adolescents experiencing depression, anxiety, anger, and the myriad behaviors that can result from these emotions. This book also includes practical handouts and exercises that can be used in individual therapy sessions, skills training groups, school settings, and when working with parents and caregivers.
Adolescents stand at the precipice of the future, and the decisions they make now can have life-long impacts. By showing them how to manage their emotions and deal with the stresses that are common in day-to-day life, you are arming them with the tools they will need to succeed and thrive.

This interdisciplinary book explores both the connections and the tensions between sociological, psychological, and biological theories of exhaustion. It examines how the prevalence of exhaustion - both as an individual experience and as a broader socio-cultural phenomenon - is manifest in the epidemic rise of burnout, depression, and chronic fatigue. It provides innovative analyses of the complex interplay between the processes involved in the production of mental health diagnoses, socio-cultural transformations, and subjective illness experiences. Using many of the existing ideologically charged exhaustion theories as case studies, the authors investigate how individual discomfort and wider social dynamics are interrelated. Covering a broad range of topics, this book will appeal to those working in the fields of psychology, sociology, medicine, psychiatry, literature, and history.

This practice-building resource examines the psychology behind non-adherence and the importance of building commitment to treatment as the foundation of successful therapy. Coverage starts by illustrating the complex phenomena of non-adherence at different stages of intervention-including mechanisms and situations that may prevent even initial engagement. From there, experts from diverse specialties offer interest-promoting strategies tailored to specific conditions (diabetes, anxiety, depression) and populations (children, dually diagnosed patients), informed by the current knowledge base on treatment effectiveness and recent technological advances. And the editors make patient-centered recommendations for the health and mental health professions to make therapy more accessible and open. Among the topics covered: * Meeting patients where they are: using a stage approach to facilitate engagement. * & nbsp; Use of mindfulness in promoting treatment engagement. * DBT and treatment engagement in the context of highly suicidal complex clients. * Behavioral Problems in children: ADHD and ODD. * Engagement of patients in the self-management of pain. * Engaging trauma survivors in treatment. A breakthrough in the behavioral health delivery services literature, Practical Strategies and Tools to Promote Tre atment Engagement offers real-world tools, guidelines, and expertise to health psychologists, primary care physicians and nurses, clinical psychologists, and clinical social workers. It is a vivid reminder that patients need not only what's good for them, but also what works for them.

This book reflects the current thinking and research on how consumers' perception of product risks and benefits affects their behavior. It provides the scientific, regulatory and industrial research community with a conceptual and methodological reference point for studies on consumer behavior and marketing. The contributions address various aspects of consumer psychology and behavior, risk perception and communication, marketing research strategies, as well as consumer product regulation. The book is divided into 4 parts: Product risks; Perception of product risks and benefits; Consumer behavior; Regulation and responsibility.

Psychological, social, and spiritual care is as important as physical care at the end of life. Yet caregivers often feel ill-equipped to give that nonphysical care. This book shows how to do it. The book addresses all caregivers who attend dying patients: doctors, nurses, chaplains, clergy in the pastorate, social workers, clinical psychologists, family caregivers, and others. It covers such topics as the functional and emotional trajectories of dying; the varied approaches of patients and caregivers to end-of-life decisions; culturally based beliefs about dying; the differences between depression and grief; and people's views about the right time to die, the death experience itself, and the afterlife. For each topic the book introduces core concepts and summarizes recent research about them. The book presents much of its material in readable tables for easy reference; applies the material to real-life cases; lists the main "take home" points for each chapter; and gives references for additional reading. The book helps caregivers anticipate the reactions of patients and survivors to end-of-life traumas and suggests how caregivers can respond insightfully and compassionately. At the same time the book challenges caregivers to think through their own views about death and dying. This book, therefore, is a must-read for all caregivers professional and nonprofessional alike who strive to give their patients comprehensive, high-quality end-of-life care.

This book offers original knowledge, debate, and understanding from frontline fieldwork data and the relations between mental health difficulties, mental healthcare provision, and social theory. Dominant discourse of the last half century has followed a medical perspective. This has marginalised contributions from social science. Furthermore purely medical approaches to mental healthcare have profound shortcomings. Thus, this book draws upon innovative research findings to rejuvenate the relationship between psychiatry and social science. It frames this by reference to certain inevitable and uncertain elements of mental health which characterise this field. Over nine chapters the volume is a unique contribution to several intersecting areas of intellectual enterprise, research, and learning - as well as a source of insight into how mental health practice and policy might be modified and improved. As a result, it appeals to a wide range of audiences including social scientists, mental health practitioners, mental health researchers, social theorists, mental health service users, and policy-makers.

This timely volume examines the potential of integrated care in providing effective, accessible behavioral healthcare for Latino clients. The integrated care model is discussed in practical terms, with guidelines for the addressing the needs of Latinos in a coordinated, patient-focused setting. Specific points of attention include common behavioral and medical/mental health conditions (e.g., depression, chronic pain, tobacco use), special considerations in working with Puerto Rican and Cuban clients, and recommendations for working with children. These important issues are considered against the backdrop of opportunities and challenges inherent in integrated care and its implementation, in addition to the relevance of evidence-based interventions for this large and diverse population. Among the topics covered: Latino trends and health policy: from walking on eggshells to commitment Integrated health care for Latino immigrants and refugees: what do they need? Using a translator in integrated care settings Enhancing and improving treatment engagement with Hispanic patients Integrated depression care among Latinos Chronic disease management and integrated care among Hispanic populations Health psychologists, social workers, family physicians, and clinical psychologists will find Enhancing Behavioral Health in Latino Populations an important resource for their professional development, as well as part of the ongoing movement toward reduced disparities and more inclusive and culturally attuned care.

Inflammation has invaded the field of psychiatry. The finding that cytokines are elevated in various affective and psychotic disorders brings to the forefront the necessity of identifying the precise research domain criteria (RDoCs) that inflammation is responsible for. This task is certainly the most advanced in major depressive disorders. The reason is that a dearth of clinical and preclinical studies has demonstrated that inflammation can cause symptoms of depression and conversely, cytokine antagonists can attenuate symptoms of depression in medical and psychiatric patients with chronic low grade inflammation. Important knowledge has been gained on the symptom dimensions that inflammation is driving and the mechanisms of action of cytokines in the brain, providing new targets for drug research and development. The aim of the book "Inflammation-Associated Depression" is to present this field of research and its implications in a didactic and comprehensive manner to basic and clinical scientists, psychiatrists, physicians, and students at the graduate level.

This book features the best papers presented at the Singapore Conference on Applied Psychology in 2016. Chapters include research conducted by experts in the field of applied psychology from the Asia-Pacific region, and cover areas such as community and environmental psychology, psychotherapy and counseling, health, child and school psychology, and gender studies. Put together by East Asia Research (Singapore), in collaboration with Hong Kong Shue Yan University, this book serves as a valuable resource for readers wanting to access to the latest research in the field of applied psychology with a focus on Asia-Pacific.

This master-class-in-a-book is designed to guide teachers of mindfulness-based interventions (MBI) in continuing to develop more competence while raising global standards of practice and pedagogy. Starting with the central yet elusive concept of stewardship, it then expands upon the core components of MBI pedagogy. A series of reflective essays by MBI teachers from around the world foregrounds differences and challenges in meeting participants "where they are." Such reflections are both inspiring and thought-provoking for teachers -wherever they are. The book also provides practical guidance and tools for adjusting teaching style and content for special populations, from chronic pain patients to trauma survivors, from health care professionals to clergy, and including many others. Detailed scripts and practices, ready to adopt and adapt, offer opportunities to explore new directions in the classroom, and to continue the life-long development of the teacher. Included in the coverage: Deepening teachers' skills of guidance of meditation practices Insights into the essential practice of inquiry and dialogue with participants New practices that allow participants to explore mindfulness together in a spoken encounter How to keep up with, review, and make clear to participants the range of scientific evidence supporting the MBIs The breadth of practical insights and hands-on strategies makes Resources for Teaching Mindfulness a unique developmental asset for a wide range of practitioners around the world. Among those who will benefit are physicians and other medical practitioners, health and clinical psychologists, marriage and family therapists, nurses, clinical social workers, physical and occupational therapists, health educators, and organizational development specialists.

This ambitious resource describes innovative intervention programs for treating substance abuse and other mental health problems in the Middle East in the context of larger issues in the region. Deftly combining clinical acumen with in-depth knowledge of sociopolitical currents, contributors present data and analysis on similarities and differences within the region, addiction issues in special populations (youth, mothers, immigrants), and the efficacy of local and international initiatives. New trends in evidence-based responses, including mental health services in war and disaster, are related to the larger goals of promoting peace. To that end, the editors go beyond the concept of shared problems to discuss strategies toward shared solutions, most notably psychological first aid as a healing approach to mediation. Among the topics covered: Drug abuse in the Middle East: promoting mutual interests through resistance and resilience. Toward uniform data collection and monitoring of Israeli and Palestinian adolescent drug use. Substance abusing mothers: toward an understanding of parenting and risk behavior. Immigration, acculturation, and drug use. Psychological first aid: a tool for mitigating conflict in the Middle East. Collaborative approaches to addressing mental health and addiction. For health psychologists, psychiatrists, clinical social workers, and addiction counselors, Mental Health and Addiction Care in the Middle East demonstrates the deep potential for mental health and social issues to be addressed to benefit all communities involved.

This Handbook provides both breadth and depth regarding current approaches to the understanding, assessment, and treatment of personality disorders. The five parts of the book address etiology; models; individual disorders and clusters; assessment; and treatment. A comprehensive picture of personality pathology is supplied that acknowledges the contributions and missteps of the past, identifies the crucial questions of the present, and sets a course for the future. It also follows the changes the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) has triggered in the field of personality disorders. The editors take a unique approach where all chapters include two commentaries by experts in the field, as well as an author rejoinder. This approach engages multiple perspectives and an exchange of ideas. It is the ideal resource for researchers and treatment providers at all career stages.

Emerging approaches to treating addictions and minimizing relapse are spotlighted in this idea-packed volume, as alternatives or adjuncts to standard psychological and pharmacological therapies. Its biopsychosocial perspective delves into the causes and processes of chemical dependence, and the clinical characteristics it shares with other addictions (e.g., food, sex, gambling, online activities), to identify client needs that substance abuse may fulfill. Accordingly, the diverse modalities featured here address substance addiction on multiple levels, offering clients physical or mental stimulation and/or emotional relief as well as affording different degrees of autonomy. Methods can be mixed and matched to reinforce treatment goals, and clinicians can tailor treatment to individual issues and interests to assure clients nuanced and meaningful care. Included in the coverage: * Use of herbal medicine to treat drug addiction. * EMDR therapy and the treatment of substance abuse and addiction. * Evaluating the change processes in drug users' interventions. * Web-based interventions for substance abuse. * Physical exercise and treatment of addiction. * Mindfulness to reduce the anxiety during the abstinence * Neurofeedback to deal with craving and anxiety symptoms Psychologists, psychiatrists, clinical social workers, and addiction counselors and educators will find Innovations in the Treatment of Substance Addiction a valuable sourcebook for understanding addiction-and intervention-in its wider context.

This book presents research and best practice examples from the Asia Pacific region to address the gap in global expertise on psychosocial factors at work. It explores practices in the region that promote healthy workplaces and workers by presenting research from around the globe on issues such as telework, small and medium-sized enterprises, disaster-struck areas, suicide prevention, and workplace client violence. It discusses practical, multidisciplinary efforts to address worker occupational health. Further, it explores psychosocial risk and prevention, as well as the significant role of cultural variations and practices in the diverse range of countries covered.

This book is open access under a CC BY license. This interdisciplinary book contains 22 essays and interventions on rest and restlessness, silence and noise, relaxation and work. It draws together approaches from artists, literary scholars, psychologists, activists, historians, geographers and sociologists who challenge assumptions about how rest operates across mind, bodies, and practices. Rest's presence or absence affects everyone. Nevertheless, defining rest is problematic: both its meaning and what it feels like are affected by many socio-political, economic and cultural factors. The authors open up unexplored corners and experimental pathways into this complex topic, with contributions ranging from investigations of daydreaming and mindwandering, through histories of therapeutic relaxation and laziness, and creative-critical pieces on lullabies and the Sabbath, to experimental methods to measure aircraft noise and track somatic vigilance in urban space. The essays are grouped by scale of enquiry, into mind, body and practice, allowing readers to draw new connections across apparently distinct phenomena. The book will be of interest to students and scholars across a range of disciplines in the social sciences, life sciences, arts and humanities.

This book examines the problems that a "laissez faire" attitude from managers can create in the workplace, as well as the ensuing illness such problems may cause among employees. The book offers new ideas for dealing with these problems and proposes the use of cultural experiences as an active component in leadership development programmes for managers. It presents the findings from a randomized trial to show how cultural experiences can be deployed, and what the effect on employees is. The book discusses health-promoting leadership and key components in cultural activities for the benefit of workplaces from several points of view, offering a historical, social, psychological, biological, educational and organizational perspective. Finally, it presents new theories on empathy in managers, and on employee effects of good/bad changes in manager behaviour.

This book explores health and leisure as a holistic phenomenon with individual and social dimensions. Contributors to this edited volume explore the physical, mental, emotional, sexual and social aspects of health and leisure as well as the influence of moral and religious principles. The connections between the individual and the social structure, social integration, the social division of labor, and the natural environment are also analysed. The volume studies this relationship from a range of disciplinary backgrounds, including sociology, psychology, psychiatry, medical sciences, sport sciences, education, policy making, and from both national and international perspectives. As such, the collection will be of interest to scholars and students across a range of disciplines, including Leisure Studies, Health Studies, Health Promotion, Psychology and Mental Health, Sociology and Sport Studies.

This book uses the example of a partnership journey between universities, schools, the local health industry as well as a number of government organisations which worked to ensure the growth of physical education in primary education. The initiative employed the United Nations (UN) ideals as a model and contextualised them within local schools and communities. What began as a pathway seed quickly grew to involve multi-stakeholder partnerships and therefore explores how the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) may be implemented at a grass roots level.

Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS or ME) is a problematic diagnosis which can be interpreted in conflicting ways by doctors, patients and others. Meanings of ME signals a paradigm shift in thinking about the illness by providing fresh perspectives from doctors, clinicians and those who have personal knowledge of CFS/ME.

This timely and important collection broadens our understanding of the ways in which lay theories (also known as folk psychologies, implicit theories, naive theories, or mindsets) impact our lives and social relations. Moving well beyond lay theories as applied to intelligence and achievement, this volume considers lay theories in an admirably wide context, including perspectives on prejudice, creativity, self-regulation, health, free will, justice, magic, religion and more. Eminent and emerging scholars alike provide a comprehensive overview that presents and synthesizes cutting edge contemporary research on lay theories, spanning social, cognitive, developmental, cultural, and clinical psychology. Structurally, this volume is organized in three parts. Beginning with a preface by renowned scholar Carol Dweck, the first part looks at the origins and nature of lay theories, and how malleable they are. The second part explores lay theories about common psychological phenomena. The third section discusses lay theories about the metaphysical or supernatural. Finally, the last section explores the important question of how lay theories impact health and health behavior. Taken together, the chapters provide an integrative survey of the science of lay theories, bringing together many perspectives that previously have been studied largely in isolation. This volume is more than the sum of its parts-perspectives from different strands of research provide insights that cut across research disciplines, making novel connections and prompting new directions for this field of study. Shedding light on how our beliefs shape all facets of our lives, The Science of Lay Theories: How Beliefs Shape Our Cognition, Behavior, and Health will appeal to researchers and practitioners in psychology, as well as philosophers, cognitive and developmental neuroscientists, religious scholars, sociologists, and anthropologists. It is very rare to say of an edited volume of scholarly chapters "I couldn't put it down!" Yet that was the case with this book. It's not just that I have worked in this field for many years, but rather, with every chapter I felt I was gaining new insights into what, deep down, people really believe and how these beliefs influence their lives-Carol Dweck, Stanford University, Palo Alto, CA, USA

This title offers an in-depth analysis of the causes, consequences and treatments of illicit drug abuse. The author examines the effects of existing drug policies and proposes drug use legalisation within a regulated market as a viable alternative. Joshua assesses the factors that make individuals vulnerable to drug abuse and the pathways they may follow. As well as exploring the physical and psychological effects on the individual, Joshua examines the social and economic consequences for society. He highlights the pitfalls of a purely legal approach to drug abuse, which is primarily a health matter, and questions whether special drugs courts could be used as an alternative to the present criminal justice system. This book adds to the debate on whether most drugs could be sold in a regulated market in the same way as other drugs are, such as alcohol or nicotine. This is the third title in a four volume series 'The Economics of Addictive Behaviours', consisting of three additional volumes on smoking, alcohol abuse and overeating.

This title discusses the phenomenon of smoking as a behavioural disease and the associated costs. The author details the consequences of smoking, in addition to the detrimental effects caused by second-hand tobacco smoke exposure as a health risk to children as well as to the general public. The central contribution of Joshua's work is to address these concerns in terms of the issues of free choice and the market. Considering the various restrictive policies designed to reduce smoking's prevalence, including the banning of smoking in public places, and the inclusion of warning labels on cigarette packets, Joshua carefully analyses potential economic remedies to the problem of smoking, notably the Pigovian tax. Finally, the book concludes with a highly relevant discussion of corporate social responsibility, and the role that this might play in anti-smoking projects. This is the first title in a four volume series 'The Economics of Addictive Behaviours', which consists of three further volumes on alcohol abuse, illicit drug abuse and overeating.