This book empowers the obstetrician-gynecologist to play a key coordinating role, and to communicate effectively with all parties and health workers involved in psychological care. It provides information not typically covered by their training: communication skills, coping and adjustment in pregnancy, and communicating with cancer patients. Easy-to-read with stand-alone chapters, this book covers key aspects of OB/GYN, and addresses areas not covered elsewhere. The book offers topics in psychological care to trainees and specialists in O & G, helps them understand the emotional problems their patients face, and shows them how to undertake psychological care.
In the decade since the first edition of this work was published, an incredible array of reproductive technologies and associated issues has emerged. Obstetricians and gynecologists are hard-pressed to deal with the startling breadth and depth of these issues, which require mastery over a daunting combination of ever-increasing scientific knowledge, technical skills, long hours, legal liability, and exposure to clinical situations of overwhelming emotional intensity. Psychiatrists have a vital role to play in helping obstetricians and gynecologists cope with a host of problems whose resolutions require not just technical skill, but also knowledge of biology, psychology, sociology, anthropology, ethics, and law. For example, to design and implement strategies to reduce the transmission of HIV, psychiatrists could work with public health workers to incorporate the psychology, sociology, and anthropology of female reproductive behavior. Psychiatrists could likewise improve the diagnosis and treatment of breast and pelvic malignancies by elucidating the factors that deter women from self-examination and regular medical screening and enhance treatment compliance. Divided into three sections, this clinical and theoretical sourcebook addresses every major area of contemporary concern. Pregnancy covers topics from the psychology of normal gestation to physical and psychiatric complications during and after pregnancy, including new prenatal diagnostic techniques and the dynamic issues that emerge when abnormalities are detected, and the use of psychotropic drugs and electroconvulsive therapy in pregnant and lactating patients. Gynecology discusses not only common gynecologic problems but also more controversial issues such as induced abortion and the new reproductive technologies, including the role of the menstrual cycle in exacerbating and precipitating psychologic symptoms, the psychiatric aspects of menopause, the assessment and management of chronic pelvic pain, the psychosocial concomitants of gynecologic malignancies and the emotional demands on the oncology team, and the special implications of HIV/AIDS. General Issues offers a broad, balanced view of topics rarely found in the literature, such as men's reactions to women's reproductive events, substance abuse and eating disorders, sexual and physical abuse (often part of the histories of patients with personality disorders and posttraumatic stress disorders), ethical and legal issues, and health care for lesbian patients. Of special significance is Dr. Stotland's chapter on how consultation-liaison services are provided to obstetrics and gynecology services. This practical and scholarly volume is exceptionally useful as a teaching reference for medical and other health care students and residents in psychiatry and obstetrics and gynecology. It also provides a valuable resource for the clinician working to improve the psychological well-being of women patients.
This book will assist the reader by providing individually tailored, high-quality bio-psycho-social care to patients with a wide range of problems within the fields of obstetrics, gynaecology, fertility, oncology, and sexology. Each chapter addresses a particular theme, issue, or situation in a problem-oriented and case-based manner that emphasizes the differences between routine and bio-psycho-social care. Relevant facts and figures are presented, advice is provided regarding the medical, psychological, and caring process, and contextual aspects are discussed. The book offers practical tips and actions within the bio-psycho-social approach, and highlights important do’s and don’ts. To avoid a strict somatic thinking pattern, the importance of communication, multidisciplinary collaboration, and creation of a working alliance with the patient is emphasized. The book follows a consistent format, designed to meet the needs of challenged clinicians.
The interplay between mind and body is a rapidly developing area of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, growing in prominence as many areas of medicine recognise the importance of understanding the physical, mental, and social aspects of numerous health conditions. Clinical Psychosomatic Obstetrics and Gynaecology: A Patient-Centred Biopsychosocial Practice is a fundamental work that enhances the understanding of the management of women s disease conditions resulting from psychosomatic or mind-body interactions that are routinely encountered by clinicians. Authored by a world-renowned group of contributors who have led a transformativeapproach to the way health services for women are approached, Clinical Psychosomatic Obstetrics and Gynaecology comprehensively addresses the biological, psychological, social and cultural factors leading to disease manifestations. Including methods for prevention, detection and treatment, the text is supported by thirty clinical vignettes taken from real-life situations to support learning, and guide clinical practice. Detailed chapters expound the scientific basis of the clinical psychosomatic concept, prevention of morbidity and mortality from cancer or obesity, pregnancy and childbirth, maternal dysphoria and child neurodevelopment, pain perception, infertility, premenstrual disorders, psycho-oncology, malignancy and sexual health, illnesses in migrants and refugees, alongside, pertinent cultural issues. This title is a highly topical and much-needed guide to addressing clinical conditions that compromise women's health, including that of teenagers, as well as their mental and social well-being.
Biomedical Issues closely examines issues such as cyclic biology, programming, birth surgery, and cancer and provides information on national trends in health care. It presents overviews of research issues and methods, while integrating the social psychological significance of these events as experienced by individual women. The author suggests that understanding more about specific health problems of women will provide a basis for also understanding more about the general experience of female gender in society.
