If, as a health care or social service provider, one was called upon to help someone who has experienced terror in the hands of a hostage taker, an irate and chronically abusive spouse or parent, or a has survived a motor vehicle accident, landslide, earthquake, hurricane or even a massive flood, what would be one's priority response? What would be considered as the most pressing need of the individual requiring care? Whatever the answer to each of these questions, people who have experienced terror, suffer considerable psychological injury. Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder in a Global Context offers some answers to meet the needs of health care and socials service providers in all settings, whether in a hospital emergency room, at the war front, or natural disaster site. The take home message is, after providing emergency care, there is always a pressing need to provide mental health care to all victims of traumatic stress.
Culture and PTSD examines the applicability of PTSD to cultural contexts beyond Europe and North America and details local responses to trauma and how they vary from PTSD as defined by the American Psychiatric Association.
"In the second edition of this handbook, experts on traumatic stress have contributed chapters on topics spanning classification, epidemiology and special populations, theory, assessment, prevention/early intervention, treatment, and dissemination and treatment. This expanded, updated volume contains 39 chapters which provide research updates, along with highlighting areas that need continued clarification through additional research. The handbook provides a valuable resource for clinicians and investigators with interest in traumatic stress disorders"--
This volume brings together the leaders in the field of PTSD research to present an up-to-date summary and understanding of this complex disorder. All of our current knowledge and controversies concerning the diagnosis, epidemiology, course, pathophysiology and treatment are described in detail. The evidence for efficacy for each of the different forms of psychotherapy and pharmacotherapy is reviewed. Particular attention is paid to at-risk groups, including minorities, and coverage of PTSD throughout the world is reviewed as well. The authors present state-of-the-art findings in genetics, epigenetics, neurotransmitter function and brain imaging to provide the most current and comprehensive review of this burgeoning field.
Current research and clinical observations suggest pronounced gender-based differences in the ways people respond to traumatic events. Most notably, women evidence twice the rate of PTSD as men following traumatic exposure. This important volume brings together leading clinical scientists to analyze the current state of knowledge on gender and PTSD. Cogent findings are presented on gender-based differences and influences in such areas as trauma exposure, risk factors, cognitive and physiological processes, comorbidity, and treatment response. Going beyond simply cataloging gender-related data, the book explores how the research can guide us in developing more effective clinical services for both women and men. Incorporating cognitive, biological, physiological, and sociocultural perspectives, this is an essential sourcebook and text.
The Handbook of Psychiatric Measures offers a concise summary of key evaluations that you can easily incorporate into your daily practice. The measures will enhance the quality of patient care assisting you, both in diagnosis and assessment of outcomes. Comprising a wide range of methods available for assessing persons with mental health problems, the Handbook contains more than 275 rating methods, from the Abnormal Involuntary Movement Scale to the Zung Self-Rating Depression Scale. In this fully revised edition, more than 40 measures have been added both to the book and to the accompanying CD-ROM. The Handbook features: Thoroughly examined and revised measures that provide the most relevant and timely information for clinicians. New measures that empirically provide better patient evaluation Updated costs, translations, and contact information for each measure This handy compendium includes both diagnostic tools and measures of symptoms, function and quality of life, medication side effects, and other clinically relevant parameters. It focuses on measures that can be most readily used in either clinical practice or research. Most of the measures are designed to improve the reliability and validity of patient assessment over what might be accomplished in a standard clinical interview. The measures also demonstrate that the use of formal measures can improve the collection, synthesis, and reporting of information as compared with the use of unstructured examinations. Seventeen disorder-specific chapters, organized in DSM-IV-TR order, include measures for: Disorders of childhood and adolescence Cognitive disorders Sexual dysfunction Eating disorders Sleep disorders Aggression and much more. The discussion of each measure includes goals, description, practical issues, psychometric properties, and clinical utility, followed by references and suggested readings. This revised edition includes updated measure descriptions, new measure variants and research, and newly selected measures particularly appropriate to the domain of discussion. As a clinical tool, this book Describes how, when, and to what purpose measures are used Points out practical issues to consider in choosing a measure for clinical use Addresses limitations in the use of measures including ethnic, cultural, and socioeconomic factors that influence their interpretation Use of this special resource is further enhanced by a CD-ROM containing the full text of more than 150 of these measures -- an invaluable aid for reference and clinical decision-making.
This volume provides mental health professionals and healthcare policy planners with an unprecedented reference on the cross-national descriptive epidemiology of mental disorders.
“An essential book” on PTSD, an all-too-common condition in both military veterans and civilians (The New York Times Book Review). Post-traumatic stress disorder afflicts as many as 30 percent of those who have experienced twenty-first-century combat—but it is not confined to soldiers. Countless ordinary Americans also suffer from PTSD, following incidences of abuse, crime, natural disasters, accidents, or other trauma—yet in many cases their symptoms are still shrouded in mystery, secrecy, and shame. This “compulsively readable” study takes an in-depth look at the subject (Los Angeles Times). Written by a war correspondent and former Marine with firsthand experience of this disorder, and drawing on interviews with individuals living with PTSD, it forays into the scientific, literary, and cultural history of the illness. Using a rich blend of reporting and memoir, The Evil Hours is a moving work that will speak not only to those with the condition and to their loved ones, but also to all of us struggling to make sense of an anxious and uncertain time.
