In recent decades, American medicine has become increasingly politicized and politics has become increasingly medicalized. Behaviors previously seen as virtuous or wicked, wise or unwise are now dealt with as healthy or sick--unwanted behaviors to be controlled as if they were health issues. The modern penchant for transforming human problems into diseases and judicial sanctions into treatments, replacing the rule of law with the rule of medical discretion, leads to the creation of a type of government social critic Thomas Szasz calls pharmacracy.

Medicalizing troublesome behaviors and social problems is tempting to voters and politicians alike: it panders to the people by promising to satisfy their needs for dependence on medical authority and offers easy self-aggrandizement to politicians as the dispensers of more and better health care. Thus, the people gain a convenient scapegoat, enabling them to avoid personal responsibility for their behavior. The government gains a rationale for endless and politically expedient wars against social problems defined as public health emergencies. The health care system gains prestige, funding, and bureaucratic power that only an alliance with the political system can provide.

However, Szasz warns, the creeping substitution of pharmacracy for democracy--private medical concerns increasingly perceived as requiring a political response--inexorably erodes personal freedom and dignity. "Pharmacracy: Medicine and Politics in America" is a clear and convincing presentation of this hidden danger, all too often ignored in our health care debates and avoided in our political contests.

The Science of Nutrition, Third Edition offers the best combination of text and media to help students master the toughest nutrition concepts in the course, while providing the richest support to save instructors time. This thoroughly current, research-based nutrition text is uniquely organized around the highly regarded applied approach, which organizes vitamins and minerals based on their functions within the body and is easily seen in the organization of the micronutrient (vitamin and mineral) chapters. Rather than requiring rote memorization, the authors present the micronutrients based on their functions (such as fluid and electrolyte balance, antioxidant function, bone health, energy metabolism, and blood health and immunity), so that students can fully understand their effects on the body.

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"The information you need-concisely, conveniently, and accurately. Created by Harvard students for students everywhere, these study companions and reference tools cover a wide range of college and graduate school subjects, from Business and Computer Programming to Medicine, Law, and Languages. They'll give you what it takes to find success in school and beyond. Outlines and summaries cover key points, while diagrams and tables make difficult concepts easier to grasp. This four-page chart covers:

• Carbohydrates
• Lipids
• Protein
• Other Nutrients
• Digestion and Absorption in the Digestive Tract
• Calorie Guidelines
• Vitamins and Minerals
• Weight Excess and Obesity
• Dieting
  

This book addresses various clinical and sub clinical applications of antioxidant nutraceuticals, with a primary focus on preventive use for general wellness, common ailments, and such chronic illnesses as cancer and neurological applications. This unique book captures the applications of natural antioxidants, which have been used for thousands of years in Traditional Chinese Medicine and Ayurvedic Medicine as well as modern nutraceuticals formulations. It covers antioxidant applications in clinical scenarios including the historical perspective, basic antioxidant properties and applications, anti-inflammatory properties, and antioxidant applications in a variety of clinical conditions.

This book applies the concept of cultural safety to the field of health psychology in a US context as a means to achieve health equity. First developed in New Zealand by Maori midwives, cultural safety can be understood as both a philosophy and a way of working within a social model of health as an alternative approach to understanding health and illness. Health, social, and human service professionals are at the forefront of interactions with a range of people who often experience disparities in health and social outcomes. In thirteen chapters, the authors explore the social determinants of health; the practices and pitfalls of intercultural communication; and community capacity, resilience, and strengths as correctives to discourses of deficiency. The book concludes with a comparative look at cultural safety in different national contexts, and a discussion of the value of critical reflective practice. Complete with chapter objectives, scenarios, suggested readings and films, and questions for critical thinking, this book is an invaluable resource for students and practitioners alike in health psychology and related fields, and a vital contribution to the literature on cultural safety.

This book offers a radically different perspective on the topic of health inequity. Carey, Tai, and Griffiths use Perceptual Control Theory (PCT) to deconstruct current approaches to understanding, investigating, and addressing problems of health inequity. In the book, the authors propose that health inequity is not a problem per se. Disrupted control, they argue, is the problem that needs to be addressed. From this perspective, research, policy, and health practices directed at addressing health inequity in isolation will offer only partial solutions to the problems created by disrupted control. Addressing problems of disrupted control directly, however, has the potential to entirely resolve issues that are created by health inequity. The authors have extensive clinical and research experience in a wide range of contexts, including: cross-cultural settings; rural, remote, and underserved communities; community mental health settings; prisons; schools; and psychiatric wards. Drawing on these diverse experiences, the authors describe how adopting a Perceptual Control Theory perspective might offer promising new directions for researchers and practitioners who have an interest in addressing issues of inequity and social justice. With a Foreword written by Professor Neil Gilbert this book will provide fresh insights for academics, practitioners, and policymakers in the fields of public health, psychology, social policy, and healthcare.

This book comprises two parts. The first part deals with some aspects of wastewater treatment, encompassing various types of technologies for treating wastewater and evaluation. The technologies, biochemical as well as chemical, including evaluation of technologies are also discussed. Part 2 is on solid waste management. It includes both municipal and industrial waste management. The book is of interest to researchers and practitioners in the field of water resources, hydrology, environmental resources, agricultural engineering, watershed management, earth sciences, as well as those engaged in natural resources planning and management. Graduate students and those wishing to conduct further research in water and environment and their development and management find the book to be of value.

This valuable resource prepares graduate-level students in social work and other helping professions to provide integrated behavioral health services in community-based health and mental healthcare settings. Responding to the increasing prevalence of behavioral health issues in the general U.S. population and the resulting additional responsibilities for social workers and health professionals, this textbook describes the latest evidence-based practices and interventions for common behavioral health disorders as well as issues related to suicide, violence, substance use, and trauma. Detailed case studies help illustrate the effects of a range of interventions, inviting readers to consider how best to implement behavioral health assessment and treatment practices that are evidence-based, trauma-informed, and recovery-oriented. In addition to outlining integrated behavioral health service models and assessment tools, chapters address specific topics such as: Public health approaches to addressing interpersonal violence Intersections of social, behavioral, and physical health Achieving recovery and well-being from behavioral health disorders Motivating clients to achieve and maintain recovery from addiction Stage-based treatments for substance use disorders Cognitive behavioral approaches to treating anxiety and depressive disorders Evidence-based approaches to treating the effects of trauma and PTSD Integrated Behavioral Health Practice equips graduate students and health professionals alike to provide sensitive and informed interprofessional care for patients and families while consistently engaging in practices that emphasize recovery and well-being.

This book focuses on the assessment and treatment of patients with somatic symptoms, based on biopsychosociospiritual model. Specific assessment skills and treatment techniques are required to approach them effectively. A broad spectrum of knowledge about stress is also needed because stress is closely related to the onset and course of disorders with somatic symptoms. This book consists of four parts. Part 1 'Stress' explores stress, vulnerability, and resilience; intermediate mechanisms between stress and illnesses such as psychoendocrinology and psychoimmunology; the measurement of stress; and the relationship between stress and accidents. Part 2 'Somatization' deals with the concept, mechanisms, assessment, and treatment of somatization. In addition, somatic symptom and related disorders in DSM-5 is included. However, the approach to chronic pain is separately added to this part because pain is a major concern for patients with these disorders. Part 3 'Specific physical disorders' mainly deals with common and distressing functional physical disorders as well as major physical disorders. Therapeutic approach for individuals at risk of coronary heart disease is also included. Part 4 'Religion, spirituality and psychosomatic medicine' emphasizes the importance of a biopsychosociospiritual perspective in an approach for patients with somatic symptoms, especially depressed patients with physical diseases and patients with terminal illnesses because of the growing need for spirituality in such patients. This book explores stress and a variety of issues relevant to the assessment and treatment of disorders with somatic symptoms in terms of biopsychosociospiritiual perspectives. It will be of interest to researchers and healthcare practitioners dealing with stress, health and mental health.

You can never have too many vitamins, until they kill you. Eat meat, but avoid beef, chicken, turkey, and pork. Packaged foods are more efficiently preserved than they were 100 years ago--but should we actually eat the stuff? Consumers are besieged with conflicting messages about food and nutrition, making it difficult for the average customer to know what to believe. Is anything safe at McDonald's? Do carbohydrates cause obesity? This provocative new resource explores 15 common controversies in the field of food and nutrition.

The authors explain the varying opinions and underlying issues that surround these debates, shedding new light on tensions over popular diets, fast food, and vegetarianism. Readers will gain a better understanding of these arguments and learn of the controversies surrounding lesser known topics as well, such as food irradiation, organic and imported food, vitamin supplementation, animal growth hormones, and more. Hot topics such as mad cow disease, high-protein diets, food allergies, and genetic modifications are clearly presented. This resource is perfect for high school and college students, as well as the general public.

Current scientific theory presumes free radicals--unstable by-products produced by normal human metabolic processes-- damage the body, resulting in chronic health problems and degenerative changes associated with aging. Nutritional products on the market today promise that antioxidants can reduce--possibly even reverse--damage caused by these free radicals. If true, that would mean less chronic disease and premature aging, at the very least. But are antioxidants indeed the new Fountain of Youth? Media reports extol antioxidants as the solution to disease and aging, and some studies to seem to back up those reports. Yet the studies that have been completed are far from conclusive, and taking antioxidant supplements can, at times, be dangerous. This book explores current thinking, analyzes the studies, and answers the questions: What are antioxidants? What do they do? Is there any real benefit to taking them as supplements? Are there any real dangers for me? Media report preliminary and conflicting scientific studies on antioxidants, notwithstanding the fact that the final analysis about their effectiveness and safety is incomplete. The result is increasing sales of dietary supplements and so-called functional foods or "nutraceuticals" that are not regulated, nor proven, and a possible public safety crisis from "hypersupplementation." Milbury and Richer bring us up to date, sharing nuances and emerging news regarding antioxidants--and their dangers. Understanding the Antioxidant Controversy is an educated consumers' and health professionals' guide to this controversial topic.