Psychological research has veered away from qualitative design, often because the methodologies have been misunderstood. Dr. Camic and his colleagues offer us a great deal in this book. Chapters talk about both attitude and strategies. Some are familiar methods, others are newer. It is an essential book for students and researchers, and I hope it will bring more psychologists back to qualitative work.

In detailing the largest and most significant research study of its type (i.e. The MacArthur Study of Mental Disorder and Violence), Rethinking Risk Assessment describes what is surely to become the seminal work in the area violence and mental illness. The authors point to the methodological flaws in many earlier studies that failed to establish clear links between mental illness and violence. It moves beyond previous studies to point to a clear link between serious mental illness and an increased risk of violence.

Although based upon a North American population (i.e. with its higher societal rates of violence generally) the size of the study, and the relationships it demonstrates suggest that this work has significant implications for other jurisdictions. The book illustrates tools clinicians can use to assist with identification of those with higher for risk of violence.

Although actuarial methods do not offer a panacea for problems associated with risk prediction, they nevertheless provide pointers for increasing the precision with which such assessments can be made. Monahan et. al. acknowledge the limitations of such methods, and point to the complexity of clinical risk assessment for violence potential. The authors also point to the broader contextual, and problematic issues associated with false positives and negatives, in terms of prediction.

Armed with the information contained within this text, clinical staff will have a thorough grounding in the most up to date evidence in the field. This should provide a solid foundation from which staff can approach the complex issue of considering risk assessment generally.

I do not have this book in hand to write this review. In fact I have been trying to locate a copy for nigh on a year. So I speak from memory. The seduction of madness chronicles the exertions required to go mad and the treacherous rewards of following the invitation and the compulsions which make it possible. It illuminates the link with spiritual seeking and genuine mystical experience. It is neither a romanticization of madness nor a disempowering judgement of those who may have emerged from the dread territory with experiences they consider to be of lasting value. Podvoll begins with accounts of "meaningful" madness, using the accounts of those who have been through it to shed light on survival techniques both during and after such episodes. He goes on to give a pioneering model for accompanying those afflicted by psychosis, back into 'normal' life, by emphasizing 'islands of clarity,' periods, however brief, where basic sanity shines through and, if acknowledged, can develop and be shared. This book should be required reading for all aspiring psychiatrists, psychologists, therapists, as well a those who suffer psychosis and those who are near to them. It is a stunning and compassionate book whose value will be unmistakeable to all who seek the true unfolding of human potential.

This is by far the best introductory text to statistics for students in the behavioral sciences I have come across.

The conceptual layout makes this textbook especially engaging. Unlike most statistics textbooks this one presents more difficult concepts in a step-by-step manner, which allows for better understanding.

The authors have done a superb job of explaining the logic behind the statistical procedures. This is important, for without this understanding one will likely misapply statistics and/or misread statistics.

In short, here one finds not only an introduction to descriptive and inferential statistics for behavioral scientists, but also a text that will give the reader a firm grounding in the logic behind statistics.

As I read this book three things became apparent: one, the authors know their subject inside and out; second, they understand their beginning audience; last and most importantly they know how to teach. I strongly recommend this well written book to anyone needing to learn stats.

In contrast to the now popular emphasis on addictive drugs "hijacking" the brain reward centers and producing pleasure, Dr. Khantzian life work has pursued an alternative route in explaining why addictive drugs can become so compelling in an individual's life. His emphasis has mainly and consistently been on the human psychological vulnerabilities involved in addictive suffering. Based on three decades of clinical work with patients, as well as numerous clinical investigative studies, Dr.Khantzian has persuasively instructed us that suffering and problems with selfregulation are at the root of addictive disorders. His work has repeatedly underscored that individuals who become dependent on addictive substances (including alcohol and nicotine) do so not because they seek pleasure or self-destruction (some have considered addictions as "suicide on the installment plan"), but more because they use alcohol and other addictive drugs as an attempt to self-medicate their suffering and to regulate their lives. Although in the long run such attempts cause great disruption in peoples' lives, in the short run individuals have the powerful discovery that each class of drugs have appeal because they relieve a range of painful feelings and help to cope with powerful emotions and behaviors that for them are otherwise overwhelming and unmanageable. Dr.Khantzian has been described as the "father of the self-medication hypothesis of addictive disorders," and has also written extensively on "self-care" deficits associated with the addictions, the importance and utility of modified group techniques and self-help groups in recovery and effective treatments. Dr. Khantzian writes persuasively, evocatively, and compassionately about the human vulnerabilities involved in addictive disorders. Dr. Alan Stone, Professor of Law and Psychiatry at Harvard University, has characterized Dr. Khantzian as a "master ... clinician exploring the internal world of the addicted person ... convincingly demonstrating his self-medication hypothesis," and novelist Dr. Michael Palmer has said that Dr. Khantzian's book, Treating Addiction as a Human Process, is a "highly intelligent volume that can be read with pleasure and awe from beginning to end. It is the cornerstone on which the next generation of knowledge in addiction medicine will be built." Dr. Khantzian has been acknowledged as a pioneering clinician in understanding the psychological and psychiatric pain associated with substance use disorders, and his focus on the self-medicating function of abused substances, and the refinement of his work stressing addict's ego deficits of selfregulation and self-care have become the standard in the field of addiction treatment.

Edward J. Khantzian is Clinical Professor of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, and a founding member of the Department of Psychiatry at The Cambridge Hospital. He has spent more than 20 years studying psychological factors associated with drug and alcohol abuse. Dr. Khantzian is a practicing psychiatrist and psychoanalyst,participant in numerous clinical research studies on substance abuse, and lecturer and writer on psychiatry, psychoanalysis, and substance abuse problems. Dr. Khantzian has been involved in studies diagnosing psychiatric disorders in heroin addicts, the psychological nature of addictive vulnerability, group therapeutic approaches for cocaine abusers, and studies of polysubstance abusers. His studies,publications, and teaching has gained him recognition for his contributions on selfmedication factors and self-care deficits in substance use disorders and the importance of modified techniques in group therapy for substance abusers. "The above words are not mine ,they were taken from another web site and posted here for information purposes. It would be wonderful if a truly new light has shone in this whole area of addiction and a new understanding begins to grow."

I have two autistic children, and I think this is a must-read book for others in my situation. It will help to give an overall sense of the history of autism, and the history of the perception and beliefs about autism, as well as other brain disorders. It is not simply another in a long series of attacks on Freud, but rather a careful examination of the various perverse and strained interpretations of Freud that give the "father of psychoanalysis" an unnecessarily tainted reputation. The great joy of reading this book is sharing in Bernard Rimland's ultimate validation of his belief in the biological basis of autism, and in his abilty as a parent of an autistic child to permanently shelve the idea of the "refrigerator parent".

This book was more than I expected. Although it deals with a limited field of psychiatry, namely psychoses of schizophrenia, autism and OCD, as they relate to misuse of psychoanalysis in their treatment, the author gripped me from the start. I enjoyed the historical review of psychiatrists in the heyday of Freud, Jung, Adler, and was interested to learn of American counterparts in the mid 1900s. The description of case-histories was interesting, specifically the author's personal interviewing of these patients and patients families. In the ever evolving field of medicine, will we return to some of Freud's original theories? It will be interesting to follow. A new theory as to a possible treatment for autism using growth hormone, I believe, invites new debate. What does the author know and think about this newest treatment?

This is a wonderful book about a shameful period in psychiatric medicine. You come away angry at this group of medical professionals whose wild claims for "cure" were never subjected to critical thinking or to rigorous scientific review. Not only was damage done to the individuals who suffered from schizophrenia, autism and obsessive compulsive disorder by looking for help where none was possible, but there was incalculable damage done to the families who were made to bear the burden of having caused the diseases of their children. Sadly, one isn't surprised at this after reading Dolnick's thorough and thoughtful introductory chapters on Freud and his followers. This book is well written by someone who has a real flair for explaining concepts and making academic arguments real to a lay reader.This is a wonderful book about a shameful period in psychiatric medicine. You come away angry at this group of medical professionals whose wild claims for "cure" were never subjected to critical thinking or to rigorous scientific review. Not only was damage done to the individuals who suffered from schizophrenia, autism and obsessive compulsive disorder by looking for help where none was possible, but there was incalculable damage done to the families who were made to bear the burden of having caused the diseases of their children. Sadly, one isn't surprised at this after reading Dolnick's thorough and thoughtful introductory chapters on Freud and his followers. This book is well written by someone who has a real flair for explaining concepts and making academic arguments real to a lay reader.

Self-help is big business. According to Gerald Rosen (1993) as many as 2000 self-help books are published each year. However, only a very few have been evaluated empirically. This sad state of affairs is a poor response to the appeal made by Rosen (1987) that self-help books should first be evaluated empirically before being sold to the general public. Additionally, the little research that has been done on do-it-yourself treatment books sometimes demonstrates major limitations in their usefulness. Yet psychologists continue to develop and market new programs with increasingly exaggerated claims. This is potentially a problem. Especially as psychologists often use self-help books as adjuncts to their clinical practice (Starker, 1988). The good news from research (e.g. Gould & Clum, 1993) is that certain self-help programs can be quite effective. Fairburn’s Binge Eating Disorder treatment (Carter & Fairburn, 1998) and the Albany protocol for Panic Disorder (Barlow & Craske, 1994) are two good examples. In Gould and Clum’s (1993) meta-analysis, fears, depression, headaches, and sleep disturbances were especially amenable to self-help approaches. Sometimes with effect sizes as large as for therapist assisted treatments.

How can busy clinicians keep up with the flood of new self-help books, and know which to recommend? Guilford Press offers a solution. In an attempt to help the clinicians a guide to self-help resources in mental health has been published. It includes ratings and reviews of more than 600 self-help books, autobiographies and popular films. It also includes hundreds of Internet sites, and listings of online support groups. The book addresses 28 prevalent clinical disorders and life challenges – from Schizophrenia, Anxiety and Mood Disorders to Career Development, Stress Management and Relaxation.

To determine the usefulness of the self-help resources a series of national studies have been conducted over the past 7 years. The methodology consisted of a lengthy survey mailed to clinical and counselling psychologists residing throughout the USA. A total of 2,500 psychologists contributed with their expertise and judgement in evaluating the books, movies, and Internet sites. The self-help resources were rated on a 5-point scale (-2 to +2). These data were converted into a one to five star rating (negative ratings were given a dagger). On this basis, 19% of the self-help books were rated as “very helpful” and fortunately only 1% as “very harmful” [e.g. the assertiveness training book Winning Through Intimidation by Ringer (1973) and the weight management book the Beverly Hills Diet by Mazel (1981). Interestingly, many of the books by Scientologist guru L Ron Hubbard are categorized as extremely bad].

When looking more closely at a specific disorder, let us say for example panic disorder, there are some good books that I feel are missing. This is probably because of the rating criteria. In order for a book to be included in this self-help guide the psychologists used as referees had to know about the book beforehand. It was their rating of previously read books that mattered. Hence, if there were good books out there that had not been read by many referees [like the Australian panic disorder workbook by Franklin (1996)], they would automatically receive a lower rating. Thus, a low rating does not necessarily mean that a book is less helpful than a higher rated book – only that it has not reached a wide audience. For example, an excellent book, An End to Panic (Zuercher-White, 1998), previously recommended in a review article (Carlbring, Westling, & Andersson, 2000) was described as “highly regarded by the psychologists in our national studies but not well known, leading to a 3-star rating.” (p. 79). Another thing that disturbed me was that this particular author’s name was misspelled. Instead of Zuercher the surname appeared as Luerchen. No wonder the book was “not well known”! One wonders how many other errors this survey included.

In a perfect world all self-help books would be scrutinized in the same manner as other treatments. However, as a majority of the published books still have not been evaluated, this new guide to self-help is a step in the right direction. Despite questionable inclusion criteria and a few errors I thoroughly recommend this excellent guide to self-help

From books and movies to the Internet, Authoritative Guide to Self-Help Resources in Mental Health provides a strong survey of self-help resources in mental health which reveals the good ones, bad ones, and how general consumers can tell the difference. Five national studies involving over 2,500 mental health professionals lends to a rating of over six hundred titles and films, along with Internet sites evaluated by a clinical psychologist.

This book contains reviews / lists of the best (and worst) of self-help books / movies and internet resources. It has been compiled using surveys of 1000's of mental health professionals and gives essential guidance on which resources are helpful, and which are best left alone.

The book is clearly-written and well laid out - each chapter relates to a specific problem area eg mood disorders, men's issues, abuse, anxiety etc.

I found the recommendations on books particularly helpful - one can immediately determine which are the best books to read on their own specific problem. Clearly, the input of mental health professionals gives a "scientific" basis on recommendations which in turn leads to a systematic process of choosing which resources should be given credence.

Essential reading if you want to build up a collection of serious (i.e. most useful) self-help resources.

Unfortunately, the author neglects the health psychology of safety behaviors and behavioral modification strategies for changing injury risks. This is particularly disappointing since injuries are the leading cause of death from age 1-44 and dominate morbidity and mortality for young adults, the readers and benefactors of the courses this book is designed to accompany.

This book describes how psychology and health are interconnected using the 'biopsychosocial model'. The book is an excellent resource and is a MUST for everyone studying psychology as well as an excellent supplement guide to anyone in medical and nursing science, social welfare and heath nutrition. This book is subdivided into several parts and are further segregated into fifteen chapters which are detailed, stimulating and fascinating to read and understand...and are as well organised in this book. Furthermore, there are inclusions of health psychological assessment on self-questionnaires relating to topics on stress, depression, pain, etc.,

The are many other book and author references at the end section of this book, which further encourages the reader to perform self-research on other book.

Sarafino had included in the chapters - various research methods, the body physical system (nervous, endocrine, digestive, cardiovascular and the immune system). What is even more interesting about the book is that it has chapters and subsections in describing stress, illness, methods of coping with stress and illness, health promotion program, nutrition, weight control and diet, patient-practitioner relations, managing and controlling clinical pain, aids, stroke cancer, arthritis, Alzheimer's disease etc...etc..,

What I really like this Sarafino's book on health psychology is on the chapter 10 of 'Hospital settings, procedures, and effects on patients'. It provides chapter and subsection description on organising and function hospitals, coping processes in hospital patients, preparing patients for stressful medical procedures, coping with diagnosis of cancer, children in hospital setting .......

This book, which I strongly recommend.... is worth every cent of it! And further it is definitely worth keeping it for years to come!!!

I disagree with the reader from Minneapolis who feels that this book won't help you worry less -- you just have to read past the case studies that dominate the first two sections. The third section of the book (chapters 19-26) contains a good deal of practical advice that goes beyond Prozac, exercise, and low alcohol consumption. I would recommend this book as a good starting point for those who know they worry too much, but aren't sure if they worry enough to see a physician or psychologist.

I found this book applys to all areas of one's life fom work to personal relationships. It is percise in defining the types of toxic worrys people have day to day and may not realize how it affects us and people we are in contact with. It not only points the worrys but also provides solutions and techniques to deal and overcome excessive worry. The author really knows what he is talking about. The case histories make it r easy reading and I was able to relate to some of the cases.

I picked up Dr. Hallowell's book about three years ago. I was in a horrible job with a demanding and verbally abusive boss and thought I had died and gone to Hell. On more than one occasion I seriously considered driving my car into a tree just to avoid having to go to work another miserable day. I was in counseling with a psychologist at the time who, though quite a funny guy, was of no help to me. I worried about a lot of things. I worried about everything: how to survive in a rotten job; how to regain joy in my life with my wife and newborn son; how to stop self-destructive behaviors; how to get back my lost sense of humor. I was, needless to say, desperate! Then, while browsing through the "Self-help Section" of the bookstore, I was grabbed by the title of Dr. Hallowell's book: "Worry". I bought the book and read case studies all about myself. People who suffered exactly like I did. I learned that I wasn't a failure. I wasn't crazy. I wasn't destined to live out the rest of my life as a miserably unhappy man. I talked about the book with my wife and told her I thought I was depressed and really needed help. I went to a psychiatrist who said I was suffering from Major Depression. He prescribed medication and long term therapy. The change in me was dramatic. I felt better, mentally and physically, enjoyed my family, regained my sense of humor, and, best of all, I quit my job. Of course I found another job and I'm still in therapy. I'm no longer depressed. This book literally saved my life.

This book is a one-sided polemic. The author clearly believes that only the "biological" approach to psychiatry is worth anything, but instead of presenting his case as an honest argument, he gives us a weighted, colored, and biased view of history. I was very disappointed.

Shorter's book is an important addition to the history of psychiatry. It falls short because of Shorter's "over kill" in his polemic against psychoanalysis. The Freudian perspective needs thoughtful criticism, but Shorter's attacks become carping. Psychoanalysis has made important cultural contributions, and many people have received benefit from the analyst's couch. Good history should have a direction, even a perspective. But Shorter's history would have been better served with a calmer and more balanced voice.

This book is a well written acount of the development of psychiatry through the ages. It shows in great detail (sometimes too much, hence only 4 stars) the rise, fall and rise of biological psychiatry. Especially the part of the second rise and the decline of psychoanalysis is a must read for everyone interested in this subject. After reading this book everyone should understand that there is only one side to psychiatry and that is the biological side.