Psychotherapy of Character: The Play of Consciousness in the Theater of the Brain

Eddie’s mother was up on a ladder cleaning the kitchen ceiling when her water broke. She was annoyed at the interruption, and the mess. Contemporary psychiatry has fallen under the sway of biological reductionism, where our patients do not receive proper care. They are treated primarily or exclusively with psychoactive drugs. The result has been a pharmaceutical epidemic, with psychiatric drug sales topping $70 billion a year. Pharmaceutical psychiatry ignores the complexities of the human condition as if the agency of human suffering can be cured by a pill. Eddie never really enjoyed swimming…. he couldn’t stop water from pouring into his nose and sinuses. It didn’t occur to him to tell his counselors, never mind his parents, where he could have gotten nose clips. It didn’t occur to him that anyone would be responsive to his needs. In Psychotherapy of Character, Dr. Berezin presents a much-needed alternative to the prevailing doctrine, one that is grounded in an understanding of human nature. Suffering is not a brain problem, it is a human problem. He illuminates the practice and effectiveness of psychotherapy through the story of his patient, Eddie. Eddie’s complicated inner life, varied experiences, and ultimate breakthrough, stand in contrast to the destructive and false promises of a magical cure. He introduces a new and inclusive paradigm of consciousness for the twenty-first century. On the surface, he lived a successful college life. Eddie was due to graduate with honors, and was accepted into a prestigious PhD program in biology. All the while, he felt alone and dead inside. No one really knew him.

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Mad in America

An updated edition of the classic history of schizophrenia in America, which gives voice to generations of patients who suffered through “cures” that only deepened their suffering and impaired their hope of recovery Schizophrenics in the United States currently fare worse than patients in the world’s poorest countries. In Mad in America, medical journalist Robert Whitaker argues that modern treatments for the severely mentally ill are just old medicine in new bottles, and that we as a society are deeply deluded about their efficacy. The widespread use of lobotomies in the 1920s and 1930s gave way in the 1950s to electroshock and a wave of new drugs. In what is perhaps Whitaker’s most damning revelation, Mad in America examines how drug companies in the 1980s and 1990s skewed their studies to prove that new antipsychotic drugs were more effective than the old, while keeping patients in the dark about dangerous side effects. A haunting, deeply compassionate book’updated with a new introduction and prologue bringing in the latest medical treatments and trends’Mad in America raises important questions about our obligations to the mad, the meaning of “insanity,” and what we value most about the human mind.

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American Normal

Asperger’s Syndrome, often characterized as a form of “high-functioning autism,” is a poorly defined and little-understood neurological disorder. The people who suffer from the condition are usually highly intelligent, and as often as not capable of extraordinary feats of memory, calculation, and musicianship. In this wide-ranging report on Asperger’s, Lawrence Osborne introduces us to those who suffer from the syndrome and to those who care for them as patients and as family. And, more importantly, he speculates on how, with our need to medicate and categorize every conceivable mental state, we are perhaps adding to their isolation, their sense of alienation from the “normal.” -This is a book about the condition, and the culture surrounding Asperger’s Syndrome as opposed to a guide about how to care for your child with Aspergers. -Examines American culture and the positive and negative perspectives on the condition. Some parents hope their child will be the next Glenn Gould or Bill Gates, others worry that their child is abnormal and overreact.

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Panic Disorder

The book focuses on the neurobiological and treatment aspects of panic disorder. It describes the most recent research data and pharmacological therapeutic aspects of panic disorder. The biochemical, respiratory, imaging, and translational aspects will be together with diagnostic and pharmacological discussion. We have the collaboration of important and recognized researchers from various countries – Brazil, USA, Italy, Spain, United Kingdom, and Switzerland – all of them with a continuous and relevant work on anxiety disorders. “Panic Disorder: Neurobiological and Treatment Aspects” is intended to be a reference book for those who research or treat panic disorder and anxiety disorder patients.

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The Latest Help for Your Nerves

The Latest Help for Your Nerves

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Benzodiazepines

U. Vianna Filho In his historical evolution, man has been able to dominate nature by means of his technological achievements, his knowledge and his inventiveness, attaining an increasing control over the world and its organization. As a result, his power over his fellow men has also increased, giving him more ,and more responsibility which leads, of necessity, to one existential problem: is the contemporary man, with all his power and knowledge, really happy? Technological progress has brought him several rights and desires: health, better insight into the future and greater control over his own des tiny, but despite all this he still suffers from insecurity and from all the new problems that he has to face, which fact accounts for his imperfections and limitations that inevitably generate anxiety. Anxiety, therefore, constitutes one of the main characteristics of modern man. It can be foreseen today that, in the near future, the entire population of any large city will suffer from anxiety and behave in a ‘neurotic’ way. Man is seeking relief from pain, suffering and, naturally, also anxiety. Thus all possible efforts are being made to find a solution for this anxiety. The search for substances that are able to eliminate anxiety is one of the constant concerns of modern science, and, in this context, one of the turn ing points, as we will see in this volume, has been the discovery of the chemi cal agents known as the benzodiazepines.

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Exposure Therapy for Anxiety

Exposure therapy is the most effective psychological treatment for anxiety, yet many clinicians lack confidence in their ability to implement it effectively while keeping clients engaged. This indispensable book provides guidelines for conducting exposure-based interventions and overcoming common roadblocks. Drawing on cutting-edge theory and research, the authors walk clinicians through assessment and treatment planning and demonstrate a wealth of specific exposure exercises. Chapters are organized around common anxiety triggers that may cut across different diagnoses, making it easier to tailor treatment to each individual’s needs. Several reproducible handouts and forms can be downloaded and printed in a convenient 8 1/2″ x 11″ size.

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Personality and Individual Differences

Revisiting the Classic Studies is a series of texts that introduces readers to the studies in psychology that changed the way we think about core topics in the discipline today. It provokes students to ask more interesting and challenging questions about the field by encouraging a deeper level of engagement, both with the details of the studies themselves and with the nature of their contribution. Edited by leading scholars in their field and written by researchers at the cutting edge of these developments, the chapters in each text provide details of the original works and their theoretical and empirical impact, and then discuss the ways in which thinking and research has advanced in the years since the studies were conducted. Personality and Individual Differences: Revisiting the Classic Studies traces 14 ground-breaking studies by researchers such as Hans Eysenck, Raymond Cattell, Ernest Tupes and Raymond Christal to re-examine and reflect on their findings and engage in a lively discussion of the subsequent work that they have inspired.

Mental Health and High School Curriculum Guide (Version 3)

The Mental Health & High School Curriculum Guide (Version 3) is an updated and revised version of the original edition. This comprehensive curriculum guide provides six modules that can be used together or separately in High School classrooms to enhance mental health literacy.

Is it You, Me, Or Adult A.D.D.?

Presents a guide to maintaining a relationship with an adult diagnosed with the disorder, with information on the basics, challenges, and options for treatment.

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