Where There is No Psychiatrist
Where There is No Psychiatrist

Author: Vikram Patel

Publisher: RCPsych Publications

Published: 2003

Total Pages: 290

ISBN-13: 1901242757

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Even though mental illnesses are common and cause great suffering in every part of the world, many health workers have a limited understanding about mental health and are less comfortable dealing with mental illness. This book is a practical manual for mental health care for the community health worker, the primary care nurse, the social worker and the primary care doctor, particularly in developing countries. After giving the reader a basic understanding of mental illness, the book goes on to describe more than 30 clinical problems associated with mental illness and uses a problem-solving approach to guide the reader through their assessment and management. Mental health issues as they arise in specific health care contexts are described, for example in a refugee camp, a school health programme or with people suffering from AIDS, as well as in mental health promotion. The final section combines quick reference information for common problems and it also includes chapters for the reader to personalise the manual for a particular location, for example, by entering local information on voluntary agencies, the names and costs of medicines and words in the local language for emotional symptoms.

Where There Is No Child Psychiatrist
Where There Is No Child Psychiatrist

Author: Valsamma Eapen

Publisher: RCPsych Publications

Published: 2012-10

Total Pages: 219

ISBN-13: 1908020482

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Mental health problems and worries are common among infants, children and adolescents in every part of the world. This book is a practical manual for primary healthcare professionals, teachers and anyone who works with children - especially in places where specialist psychiatric care is not available. After giving the reader an overview of child mental health problems, the manual goes on to deal with the various developmental, behavioural and emotional problems that arise in as many as 10% of the youth population. For each problem it first provides a case study and then describes how to find out more about a child with this problem. It suggests what can be done to help the child and their family. It also examines the mental health aspects of childhood maltreatment and exposure to natural or man-made disasters. Covers problems that health workers and teachers in low- and middle-income countries often have to deal with. Written in simple language with many case examples and pictures. The only comprehensive book on mental healthcare in young people for those with no access to specialist medical advice. This book is intended for anyone who works with children or young people, but who does not have specialist training in mental health problems. This includes: primary care doctors and nurses, community health workers and teachers.

Unhinged
Unhinged

Author: Daniel Carlat

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Published: 2010-05-18

Total Pages: 274

ISBN-13: 1416596356

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In this stirring and beautifully written wake-up call, psychiatrist Daniel Carlat writes with bracing honesty about how psychiatry has so largely forsaken the practice of talk therapy for the seductive—and more lucrative—practice of simply prescribing drugs, with a host of deeply troubling consequences. Psychiatrist Daniel Carlat has noticed a pattern plaguing his profession. Psychiatrists have settled for treating symptoms rather than causes, embracing the apparent medical rigor of DSM diagnoses and prescription in place of learning the more challenging craft of therapeutic counseling, gaining only limited understanding of their patients’ lives. Talk therapy takes time, whereas the fifteen-minute "med check" allows for more patients and more insurance company reimbursement. Yet, DSM diagnoses, he shows, are premised on a good deal less science than we would think. Writing from an insider’s perspective, with refreshing forthrightness about his own daily struggles as a practitioner, Dr. Carlat shares a wealth of stories from his own practice and those of others that demonstrate the glaring shortcomings of the standard fifteen-minute patient visit. He also reveals the dangers of rampant diagnoses of bipolar disorder, ADHD, and other "popular" psychiatric disorders, and exposes the risks of the cocktails of medications so many patients are put on. Especially disturbing are the terrible consequences of overprescription of drugs to children of ever younger ages. Taking us on a tour of the world of pharmaceutical marketing, he also reveals the inner workings of collusion between psychiatrists and drug companies. Concluding with a road map for exactly how the profession should be reformed, Unhinged is vital reading for all those in treatment or considering it, as well as a stirring call to action for the large community of psychiatrists themselves. As physicians and drug companies continue to work together in disquieting and harmful ways, and as diagnoses—and misdiagnoses—of mental disorders skyrocket, it’s essential that Dr. Carlat’s bold call for reform is heeded.

Shrink Rap
Shrink Rap

Author: Dinah Miller

Publisher: Johns Hopkins University Press+ORM

Published: 2011-06-01

Total Pages: 269

ISBN-13: 142140074X

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“One of the most useful books I’ve read about mental illnesses . . . It demystifies our complicated medical and legal system.” —Pete Earley, New York Times-bestselling author of Crazy: A Father’s Search Through America’s Mental Health Madness Finally, a book that explains everything you ever wanted to know about psychiatry! In Shrink Rap, three psychiatrists from different specialties provide frank answers to questions such as: • What is psychotherapy, how does it work, and why don’t all psychiatrists do it? • When are medications helpful? • What happens on a psychiatric unit? • Can Prozac make people suicidal? • Why do many doctors not like Xanax? • Why do we have an insanity defense? • Why do people confess to crimes they didn’t commit? Based on the authors’ hugely popular blog and podcast series, this book is for patients and everyone else who is curious about how psychiatrists work. Using compelling patient vignettes, Shrink Rap explains how psychiatrists think about and address the problems they encounter, from the mundane (how much to charge) to the controversial (involuntary hospitalization). The authors face the field’s shortcomings head-on, revealing what other doctors may not admit about practicing psychiatry. Candid and humorous, Shrink Rap gives a closeup view of psychiatry, peering into technology, treatments, and the business of the field. If you’ve ever wondered how psychiatry really works, let the Shrink Rappers explain. “A fascinating peek into the minds of those who study minds.” —The Washington Post “Most of us easily understand how to treat a broken arm, but a fractured psyche? That’s an entirely different matter. Or is it? This clear-headed presentation of psychiatric services and methods covers a lot of ground and achieves a conversational tone that’s both educational and entertaining.” —Baltimore Magazine

Falling Into the Fire
Falling Into the Fire

Author: Christine Montross

Publisher: Penguin

Published: 2014-07-29

Total Pages: 257

ISBN-13: 0143125710

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Falling Into the Fire is psychiatrist Christine Montross’s thoughtful investigation of the gripping patient encounters that have challenged and deepened her practice. The majority of the patients Montross treats in Falling Into the Fire are seen in the locked inpatient wards of a psychiatric hospital; all are in moments of profound crisis. We meet a young woman who habitually commits self-injury, having ingested light bulbs, a box of nails, and a steak knife, among other objects. Her repeated visits to the hospital incite the frustration of the staff, leading Montross to examine how emotion can interfere with proper care. A recent college graduate, dressed in a tunic and declaring that love emanates from everything around him, is brought to the ER by his concerned girlfriend. Is it ecstasy or psychosis? What legal ability do doctors have to hospitalize—and sometimes medicate—a patient against his will? A new mother is admitted with incessant visions of harming her child. Is she psychotic and a danger or does she suffer from obsessive thoughts? Her course of treatment—and her child’s future—depends upon whether she receives the correct diagnosis. Each case study presents its own line of inquiry, leading Montross to seek relevant psychiatric knowledge from diverse sources. A doctor of uncommon curiosity and compassion, Montross discovers lessons in medieval dancing plagues, in leading forensic and neurological research, and in moments from her own life. Beautifully written, deeply felt, Falling Into the Fire brings us inside the doctor’s mind, illuminating the grave human costs of mental illness as well as the challenges of diagnosis and treatment. Throughout, Montross confronts the larger question of psychiatry: What is to be done when a patient’s experiences cannot be accounted for, or helped, by what contemporary medicine knows about the brain? When all else fails, Montross finds, what remains is the capacity to abide, to sit with the desperate in their darkest moments. At once rigorous and meditative, Falling Into the Fire is an intimate portrait of psychiatry, allowing the reader to witness the humanity of the practice and the enduring mysteries of the mind

The Myth of Mental Illness
The Myth of Mental Illness

Author: Thomas S. Szasz

Publisher: Harper Collins

Published: 2011-07-12

Total Pages: 436

ISBN-13: 0062104748

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“The landmark book that argued that psychiatry consistently expands its definition of mental illness to impose its authority over moral and cultural conflict.” — New York Times The 50th anniversary edition of the most influential critique of psychiatry every written, with a new preface on the age of Prozac and Ritalin and the rise of designer drugs, plus two bonus essays. Thomas Szasz's classic book revolutionized thinking about the nature of the psychiatric profession and the moral implications of its practices. By diagnosing unwanted behavior as mental illness, psychiatrists, Szasz argues, absolve individuals of responsibility for their actions and instead blame their alleged illness. He also critiques Freudian psychology as a pseudoscience and warns against the dangerous overreach of psychiatry into all aspects of modern life.

Unprotected
Unprotected

Author: Miriam Grossman

Publisher: Penguin

Published: 2007-08-28

Total Pages: 228

ISBN-13: 9781595230454

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Our campuses are steeped in political correctness—that's hardly news to anyone. But no one realizes that radical social agendas have also taken over campus health and counseling centers, with dire consequences. Psychiatrist Miriam Grossman knows this better than anyone. She has treated more than 2,000 students at one of America's most prestigious universities, and she's seen how the anything- goes, women-are-just-like-men, "safer-sex" agenda is actually making our sons and daughters sick. Dr. Grossman takes issue with the experts who suggest that students problems can be solved with free condoms and Zoloft. What campus counselors and health providers must do, she argues, is tell uncomfortable, politically incorrect truths, especially to young patients in their most vulnerable and confused moments. Instead of platitudes and misinformation, it's time to offer them real protection.

The Book of Woe
The Book of Woe

Author: Gary Greenberg

Publisher: Penguin

Published: 2013-05-02

Total Pages: 359

ISBN-13: 1101621109

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“Gary Greenberg has become the Dante of our psychiatric age, and the DSM-5 is his Inferno.” —Errol Morris Since its debut in 1952, the American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders has set down the “official” view on what constitutes mental illness. Homosexuality, for instance, was a mental illness until 1973. Each revision has created controversy, but the DSM-5 has taken fire for encouraging doctors to diagnose more illnesses—and to prescribe sometimes unnecessary or harmful medications. Respected author and practicing psychotherapist Gary Greenberg embedded himself in the war that broke out over the fifth edition, and returned with an unsettling tale. Exposing the deeply flawed process behind the DSM-5’s compilation, The Book of Woe reveals how the manual turns suffering into a commodity—and made the APA its own biggest beneficiary.

The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump
The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump

Author: Bandy X. Lee

Publisher: Thomas Dunne Books

Published: 2019-03-19

Total Pages: 544

ISBN-13: 1250212863

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As this bestseller predicted, Trump has only grown more erratic and dangerous as the pressures on him mount. This new edition includes new essays bringing the book up to date—because this is still not normal. Originally released in fall 2017, The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump was a runaway bestseller. Alarmed Americans and international onlookers wanted to know: What is wrong with him? That question still plagues us. The Trump administration has proven as chaotic and destructive as its opponents feared, and the man at the center of it all remains a cipher. Constrained by the APA’s “Goldwater rule,” which inhibits mental health professionals from diagnosing public figures they have not personally examined, many of those qualified to weigh in on the issue have shied away from discussing it at all. The public has thus been left to wonder whether he is mad, bad, or both. The prestigious mental health experts who have contributed to the revised and updated version of The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump argue that their moral and civic "duty to warn" supersedes professional neutrality. Whatever affects him, affects the nation: From the trauma people have experienced under the Trump administration to the cult-like characteristics of his followers, he has created unprecedented mental health consequences across our nation and beyond. With eight new essays (about one hundred pages of new material), this edition will cover the dangerous ramifications of Trump's unnatural state. It’s not all in our heads. It’s in his.