This book discloses the true causes of cancer, why it appears in a specific person, how to eliminate its root cause, why conventional treatment is not enough, the ways to avoid its recurrence, and if you are healthy, how to stay well.
Winner of the Pulitzer Prize and a documentary from Ken Burns on PBS, this New York Times bestseller is “an extraordinary achievement” (The New Yorker)—a magnificent, profoundly humane “biography” of cancer—from its first documented appearances thousands of years ago through the epic battles in the twentieth century to cure, control, and conquer it to a radical new understanding of its essence. Physician, researcher, and award-winning science writer, Siddhartha Mukherjee examines cancer with a cellular biologist’s precision, a historian’s perspective, and a biographer’s passion. The result is an astonishingly lucid and eloquent chronicle of a disease humans have lived with—and perished from—for more than five thousand years. The story of cancer is a story of human ingenuity, resilience, and perseverance, but also of hubris, paternalism, and misperception. Mukherjee recounts centuries of discoveries, setbacks, victories, and deaths, told through the eyes of his predecessors and peers, training their wits against an infinitely resourceful adversary that, just three decades ago, was thought to be easily vanquished in an all-out “war against cancer.” The book reads like a literary thriller with cancer as the protagonist. Riveting, urgent, and surprising, The Emperor of All Maladies provides a fascinating glimpse into the future of cancer treatments. It is an illuminating book that provides hope and clarity to those seeking to demystify cancer.
Psychosocial problems appear within a medical context worldwide, and are a major burden to health. Psychosomatic Medicine: An International Primer for the Primary Care Setting takes a uniquely global approach in laying the foundations of bio psychosocial basic care (such as recognizing psychosocial and psychosomatic problems, basic counseling and collaboration with mental health specialists) and provides relevant information about the most common mental and psychosomatic problems and disorders. The scope of the book is intercultural—it addresses global cultures, subcultures living in a single country and strengthening the care given by physicians working abroad. This clinically useful book outlines best practices for diagnosing the most common bio psychosocial problems and mastering the most common communication challenges (e.g. doctor-patient conversation, breaking bad news, dealing with difficult patients, family and health systems communication and collaboration). Every chapter integrates basic theoretical background and practical skills and includes trans-culturally sensitive material, important for work with patients from different cultures. Psychosomatic Medicine: An International Primer for the Primary Care Setting serves as an excellent resource for clinicians hoping to gain and develop knowledge and skills in psychosomatic medicine.
This volume is an encyclopedic book on psychosomatic disorders, written for neurologists, psychiatrists, psychologists, psychiatric social workers, and other mental and physical health professionals. It could be used as a textbook in advanced training programs for the above-mentioned profes sions. It covers the entire field of mind-body issues in psychology and psychiatry and related areas of clinical medicine. The mind-body relationship is a two-way street. Anxiety, fear, anger, and other emotional states can produce physiological changes such as tears, elevated heart rate, and diarrhea. When these changes affect one's health, they belong to the province of psychosomatic medicine. On the other hand, the intake of alcohol and other substances can affect such psycholog ical processes as thinking and mood. When the intake of substances is helpful, they belong to the province of psychopharmacology. The substances that are hurtful and adversely affect one's mental health belong to the category of addictions and drug abuse. All these issues are somatopsychic. The present volume does not deal with somatopsychic phenomena no matter what effect they may have. It deals with the physical effects of psychological issues, and only with those that cause harm to the human body. Thus, it describes and analyzes psychosomatic disorders. It is divided into four major parts: theoretical viewpoints, etiological considerations, the psychosomatic diseases, and treatment methods.
The properties and function of human communication. Called “one of the best books ever about human communication,” and a perennial bestseller, Pragmatics of Human Communication has formed the foundation of much contemporary research into interpersonal communication, in addition to laying the groundwork for context-based approaches to psychotherapy. The authors present the simple but radical idea that problems in life often arise from issues of communication, rather than from deep psychological disorders, reinforcing their conceptual explorations with case studies and well-known literary examples. Written with humor and for a variety of readers, this book identifies simple properties and axioms of human communication and demonstrates how all communications are actually a function of their contexts. Topics covered in this wide-ranging book include: the origins of communication; the idea that all behavior is communication; meta-communication; the properties of an open system; the family as a system of communication; the nature of paradox in psychotherapy; existentialism and human communication.
It is often suggested that the incidence of cancer and coronary heart disease could be much reduced or even eliminated if only people would stop smoking cigarettes and eat fewer high-cholesterol foods. The evidence, however, shows that such views are simplistic and unrealistic and that, instead, cancer and CHD are the product of many risk factors acting synergistically. Psychosocial factors (stress, personality) are six times as predictive as smoking, cholesterol level or blood pressure and much more responsive to prophylactic treatment. This book admits that, while smoking is a risk factor for cancer and CHD, its effects have been exaggerated. A more realistic appraisal of a very complex chain of events incorporating many diverse factors is given, and appropriate action to prevent cancer and coronary heart disease is discussed.
This book is the definitive guide for oncologists, general medical practitioners and other healthcare professionals with an interest in integrative oncology. Guiding you on how to conduct the “ultimate consultation” from an integrative medicine perspective, this text is a valuable educational tool, presenting the latest evidence-based approaches to managing the cancer patient, as well as anecdotes and practical recommendations from Dr. Sali’s decades of clinical experience as a leading expert in integrative oncology. Topics include the role of mind-body medicine in cancer, stress reduction, diet, sleep, sunshine and Vitamin D, exercise, vitamins and other supplements, supportive complementary medicines including Chinese herbal medicine and acupuncture, and innovative investigative and treatment technologies. Written by two clinicians who are also educators and researchers, A Clinician's Guide to Integrative Oncology provides practical, evidence-based information and patient advice that clinicians can put into practice immediately.
Howard P. Greenwald takes an incisive look at how class, race, sex, psychological state, type of health care, and available treatments affect one’s chance of surviving cancer. Drawing on a ten-year survival study of cancer patients, he synthesizes medical, epidemiological, and psychosocial research in a uniquely interdisciplinary and eye-opening approach to the question of who survives cancer and why. Scientists, health care professionals, philanthropists, government agencies, and the public all agree that significant resources must be allocated to fight this dreaded disease. But what is the most effective way to do it? Greenwald argues that our priorities have been misplaced and calls for a fundamental rethinking of the way the American medical establishment deals with cancer. He asserts that prevention and experimental therapy have only limited value, whereas the availability of conventional medical care has a greater influence on cancer survival. Class and race become strikingly significant in predicting who has access to health care and thus can obtain medical treatment in a timely, effective manner. Greenwald counters the popular notion that personality and psychological factors strongly affect survival, and he underscores the importance of early detection. His research shows that health maintenance organizations, while sometimes prone to delays, offer low-income patients a better chance of ultimate survival. Greenwald pleads for immediate attention to the inadequacies and inequalities in our health care delivery system that deter patients from seeking early medical care. Instead of focusing on research and the hope for a breakthrough cure, Greenwald urges renewed emphasis on ensuring available health care to all Americans. In its challenge to the thrust of much biomedical research and its critique of contemporary American health care, as well as in its fresh and often counterintuitive look at cancer survival, Who Survives Cancer? is invaluable for policymakers, health care professionals, and anyone who has survived or been touched by cancer. This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press’s mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1992.