The context for this interdisciplinary work by a philosopher and a clinician is the psychiatric care provided to those with severe mental disorders. Such a setting makes distinctive moral demands on the very character of the practitioner, it is shown, calling for special virtues and greater virtue than many other practice settings. In a practice so attentive to the patient's self identity, the authors promote a heightened awareness of cultural and particularly gender issues. By elucidating the nature of the moral psychology and character of the good psychiatrist, this work provides a sustained application of virtue theory to clinical practice. With its roots in Aristotelian writing, The Virtuous Psychiatrist presents virtue traits as habits, able to be cultivated and enhanced through training. The book describes these traits, and how they can be habituated in clinical training. A turn towards virtue theory within philosophy during the last several decades has resulted in important research on professional ethics. By approaching the ethics of psychiatric professionals in these virtue terms, Radden and Sadler's work provides an original application of this theorizing to practice. Of interest to both theorists and practitioners, the book explores the tension between the model of enduring character implicit in virtue theory and the segmented personae of role-specific moral responses. Clinical examples are provided, based upon dramaturgical vignettes (caseplays) which illustrate both the interactions of the case participants as well as the inner monologue of the clinician protagonist.

Martin Heidegger's Impact on Psychotherapy is the first comprehensive presentation in English of the background, theory and practice of Daseinsanalysis, the analysis of human existence. It is the work of the co-founding member of a radical re-envisioning of psychoanalysis initiated by the work of the Swiss psychiatrist, Medard Boss (1903-1990). Originally published in 1998, this new edition of Gion Condrau's (1919-2006) book acquaints new generations of psychotherapists, psychiatrists and psychoanalysts with an alternative to psychodynamic, humanistic and existential forms of the therapy of the word that is currently experience a renaissance of interest, especially in the United States and the UK. The volume presents the basic ideas of Martin Heidegger (1889-1976) that made possible this unique approach to psychotherapy. It is arranged in sections on (1) the foundations of Daseinsanalysis in Heidegger's thought, (2) understanding psychopathology, (3) daseinsanalytic psychotherapy in practice, (4) working with the dying person, and (5) the preparation of the professional Daseinsanalyst. Several extended cases are presented to illustrate daseinsanalytic practice at work (narcissistic personality disorder and obsessive compulsive personality disorder). Since dreaming and dream life are central to Daseinsanalysis, a number of dreams are analyzed from its perspective. Daseinsanalysis originated as a form of psychoanalysis and retains a number of its features: free association, optional use of the couch, and attention to dreams. It differs from psychoanalysis by abandoning the natural science perspective which understands human experience and behavior in terms of causality. Instead, human existence is seen to be utterly different from every other kind of sentient animal life. Taking a phenomenological perspective, Daseinsanalysis is based on letting the existence of the human being in all his or her uniqueness show itself. In practice, Daseinsanalysis avoids intervening in the life of the person in favor of maximizing the conditions in which existence can come into its own with maximum freedom.

Digital health is the convergence of digital technologies with health to enhance the efficiency of healthcare delivery and make healthcare more personalized and precise. These technologies generally focus on the development of interconnected health systems to improve the use of computational technologies, smart devices, computational analysis techniques, and communication media to help healthcare professionals and their patients manage illnesses and health risks, as well as promote health and well-being. Digital tools play a central role in the most promising future healthcare innovations and create tremendous opportunities for a more integrated and value-based system along with a stronger focus on patient outcomes, and as such, having access to the latest research findings and progressions is of paramount importance. The Handbook of Research on Digital Therapies in Psychosocial Rehabilitation and Mental Health introduces the latest digital innovations in the mental health field and points out new ways it can be used in patient care while also delving into some of the limits of its application. It presents a comprehensive state-of-the-art approach to digital mental health technologies and practices within the broad confines of psychosocial and mental health practices and also provides a canvas to discuss emerging digital mental health solutions, propelled by the ubiquitous availability of personalized devices and affordable wearable sensors and innovative technologies such as virtual and augmented reality, mobile apps, robots, and intelligent platforms. It is ideal for medical professors and students, researchers, practitioners of healthcare companies, managers, and other professionals where digital health technologies can be used.

"Dr. Feldmar's book is jam-packed with interesting information. You will get a basic understanding of how and why we, and the people around us, behave the way we do. A must-have book for any personal library." - Louis Puglisi, MA "I found Dr. Feldmar's book to be very informative. He cuts through the professional jargon, and makes it easily understandable for the lay person. It is an invaluable reference book for every household." - Gabor Kovacs, MD, FACS "After reading Dr. Feldmar's book, I feel it should be mandatory reading for all parents. In a world of confusion about psychological labels, this book gives the reader a clear understanding of the problems and conditions we all face. For those of us dealing with people under stress at work or home, this book is a valuable tool." - Edward M. Portnoy, DMD "As a health care professional, I know it is important for patients and their families to become educated consumers in recognizing and dealing with abnormal psychological or psychiatric conditions. With the assistance of Dr. Feldmar's comprehensive and easy-to-read book, individuals will hopefully seek professional treatment sooner and be willing to partner with their health care providers to achieve a more successful outcome." - Roberta Kiel, RN, MPH

This book provides a definitive account of koro, a topic of long-standing interest in the field of cultural psychiatry in which the patient displays a fear of the genitals shrinking and retracting. Written by Professor A.N. Chowdhury, a leading expert in the field, it provides a comprehensive overview of the cultural, historical and clinical significance of the condition that includes both cutting-edge critique and an analysis of research and accounts from the previous 120 years published literature. The book begins by outlining the definition, etymology of the term, and clinical features of koro as a culture-bound syndrome, and contextualizes the concept with reference to its historical origins and local experience in Southeast Asia, and its subsequent widespread occurrence in South Asia. It also critically examines the concept of culture-bound disorder and the development of the terminology, such as cultural concepts of distress, which is the term that is currently used in the DSM-5. Subsequent chapters elaborate the cultural context of koro in Chinese and South Asian cultures, including cultural symbolic analysis of associations with animals (fox and turtle) and phallic imagery based on troubling self-perceived aspects of body image that is central to the concept. The second section of the book offers a comprehensive, global literature review, before addressing the current status and relevance of koro, clinically relevant questions of risk assessment and forensic issues, and research methodology. This landmark work will provide a unique resource for clinicians and researchers working in cultural psychiatry, cultural psychology, anthropology, medical sociology, social work and psychosexual medicine.

This open access book describes the theoretical underpinnings and operational aspects of delivering longer-term inpatient psychiatric care to adolescents experiencing severe, unremitting mental illness. The authorship is drawn from the multidisciplinary team that supports the Walker Adolescent Unit, located in Sydney, Australia. The book begins with an account of the planning and development of the unit, an examination of the physical environment, and the adaptations that have been made to ensure its functionality. There follows a consideration of the therapeutic milieu. The book describes clinical processes such as admission and discharge planning, formulation and case review. There is information about the specific roles of professionals and the therapies that they provide. The book describes the steps taken to maintain and enhance the physical wellbeing of patients. There are chapters dedicated to governance, and to training and education. The final chapter describes how the unit responded to challenges created by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The book provides a new theory of well-being designed to integrate many disparate concepts of well-being, such as subjective well-being, personal happiness, mental well-being, emotional well-being, psychological well-being, hedonic well-being, social well-being, life satisfaction, domain satisfaction, and eudaimonia. It lays the foundation for a new a theory of mental well-being based on a hierarchical perspective of positive mental health and guided by the concept of positive balance. Written by a well-known expert in the field, this book addresses the issue of positive balance related to physiological, emotional, cognitive, meta-cognitive, developmental and social-ecological levels of an individual and analyses the factors at each level that contribute to an individual's positive mental health experience. It discusses in detail the effects of neurochemicals such as dopamine, serotonin, or cortisol; positive and negative affect; satisfaction in salient and multiple life domains vis-a-vis dissatisfaction in life domains; positive versus negative evaluations about one's life using certain standards of comparison; positive psychological traits of personal growth and intrinsic motivation, etc. vis-a-vis negative traits like pessimism and impulsiveness; and perceived social resources like social contribution and social actualization vis-a-vis perceived constraints like exclusion and ostracism. This original work is of interest to students, researchers and practitioners of quality of life and wellbeing studies, positive psychology, developmental psychology and mental health..

This book exposes the skyrocketing rate of antipsychotic drug prescriptions for children, identifies grave dangers when children's mental health care is driven by market forces, describes effective therapeutic care for children typically prescribed antipsychotics, and explains how to navigate a drug-fueled mental health system. Since 2001, there has been a dramatic increase in the use of antipsychotics to treat children for an ever-expanding list of symptoms. The prescription rate for toddlers, preschoolers, and middle-class children has doubled, while the prescribing rate for low-income children covered by Medicaid has quadrupled. In a majority of cases, these drugs are neither FDA-approved nor justified by research for the children's conditions. This book examines the reasons behind the explosion of antipsychotic drug prescriptions for children, spotlighting the historical and cultural factors as well as the role of the pharmaceutical industry in this trend; and discusses the ethical and legal responsibilities and ramifications for non-MDs-psychologists in particular-who work with children treated with antipsychotics. Contributors explain how the pharmaceutical industry has inserted itself into every step of medical education, rendering objectivity in the scientific understanding, use, and approvals of such drugs impossible. The text describes the relentless marketing behind the drug sales, even going as far as to provide coloring and picture books for children related to the drug at issue. Valuable information about legal recourse that families and therapists can take when their children or patients have been harmed by antipsychotic drugs and alternative approaches to working with children with emotional and behavioral challenges is also provided. A chapter on effective parenting coauthored by a leading parenting expert, Laura Berk Contributions by noted medical journalist Robert Whitaker, author of Anatomy of an Epidemic Information on legal issues by Harvard-educated lawyer Jim Gottstein Insights from former pharmaceutical industry insider, Gwen Olsen An examination of community approaches to children's mental health care by internationally known psychologist Stuart Shanker