This exceptional work explores the complexities of communication at one of the most critical stages of the life experience--during advanced, serious illness and at the end of life. Challenging the predominantly biomedical model that informs much communication between seriously ill and/or dying patients and their physicians, caregivers, and families, Sandra L. Ragan, Elaine M. Wittenberg-Lyles, Joy Goldsmith, and Sandra Sanchez-Reilly pose palliative care--medical care designed to comfort r...

Caring for the Family Caregiver examines the high cost and poorly addressed exigencies of the family caregiver in chronic illness, including health literacy, palliative care, and health outcomes, through the prism of communication. This book uses an interdisciplinary approach to identify the impact of communication and its burdens on the caregiver and presents four caregiver profiles: the Manager, Carrier, Partner, and Lone caregiver, each emergin...

The Textbook of Palliative Care Communication is the authoritative text on communication in palliative care, providing a compilation of international and interdisciplinary perspectives. This volume was uniquely developed by an interdisciplinary editorial team to address an array of providers including physicians, nurses, social workers, and chaplains, and it unites clinicians with academic researchers interested in the study of communication. By featuring practical conversation an...

A Harvard psychiatrist uses biology, genetics, psychology, and advances in molecular neuroscience and neuroimaging to examine what it means to be normal."Move over Oliver Sacks—I couldn't put this fascinating book down! Path-breaking and witty, as entertaining as it is informative, The Other Side of Normal is filled with insights into why we behave as we do and how biology determines so much of our emotional makeup." —Amy Chua, Yale Law Professor an...

Based on the Simontons' experience with hundreds of patients at their world-famous Cancer Counseling and Research Center, Getting Well Again introduces the scientific basis for the "will to live."In this revolutionary book the Simontons profile the typical "cancer personality": how an individual's reactions to stress and other emotional factors can contribute to the onset and progress of cancer -- and how positive expectations, self-awareness, and self-care can contribute ...

We’ve all heard the phrase, “Laughter is the best medicine.”Readers Digest has been telling us this for years, but until recently there was no real evidence to back up the claim.This book discusses the exciting findings scientists have obtained over the past 25 years for how your sense of humor supports good physical and mental health.A separate chapter discusses humor and the brain.The first studies of humor and health demonstrated humor’s ability to strengthen the immune...

This book argues that if we consider the ubiquity of small effect sizes in medicine, the extent of misleading evidence in medical research, the thin theoretical basis of many interventions, and the malleability of empirical methods, and if we employ our best inductive framework, then our confidence in medical interventions ought to be low.

Have you ever sought professional help for an emotional problem and were shocked to find yourself diagnosed as mentally ill? Are you being pressured to take psychiatric medications by a doctor who barely listens to you?If you are one of the millions of consumers of professional mental healthcare in America today, the answer to both questions is most likely yesand its just as likely the treatment isnt working. In Psychiatryland, Dr. Phillip Sinaikin teaches you why mental h...

Highly acclaimed in its first three editions, McWhinney's Textbook of Family Medicine is one of the seminal texts in the field. While many family medicine texts simply cover the disorders a practitioner might see in clinical practice, McWhinney's defines the principles and practices of family medicine as a separate and distinct field of practice. The fourth edition presents six new clinical chapters of common problems in family medicine: respiratory illness, musculoskeletal pain, ...

This positive psychology textbook focuses on the importance of the body within optimal functioning and highlights new research in this area.

Palliative Care is the first book to provide a comprehensive understanding of the new field that is transforming the way Americans deal with serious illness.Diane E. Meier, M.D., one of the field's leaders and a recipient of a MacArthur Foundation "genius award" in 2009, opens the volume with a sweeping overview of the field. In her essay, Dr. Meier examines the roots of palliative care, explores the key legal and ethical issues, discusses the development of palliative care, and pr...

“The most important book about schizophrenia in decades, and perhaps ever…a total game-changer.” —Sylvia Nasar, author of A Beautiful MindA comprehensive, deeply researched, and highly readable portrait of schizophrenia—its history, its various manifestations, and how today’s treatments have promising and often lifesaving potential.This “incredibly captivating” (Siddhartha Mukherjee, author of The Emperor of All Maladies) ...