Currently, there are a limited amount of guidelines to help clinicians manage patients with obesity and comorbid mental disorders. This expertly written source fills the gap in the literature by providing a clear overview of obesity and its relationship to mental illness while reviewing the most recent methods to manage and control the condition wi

The interaction of culture and mental illness is the focus of the Clinical Manual of Cultural Psychiatry, which is designed to help mental health clinicians become culturally competent and skilled in the treatment of patients from diverse backgrounds. The product of nearly two decades of seminar experience, the book teaches clinicians when it is appropriate to ask "Is what I am seeing in this patient typical behavior in his or her culture?" The ability to see someone else's worldview is essential for working with ethnic minority and culturally diverse patients, and the author, who designed the course that was this handbook's precursor, has expanded the second edition to take into account shifting demographics and the changing culture of mental health treatment. The content of the new edition has been completely updated, expanded to include new material, and enhanced by innovative features that will prove helpful for mental health clinicians as they encounter diverse patient populations. The new chapter on women reflects the fact that mental health disparities extend beyond ethnic minorities. Women have significantly higher rates of posttraumatic stress disorder and affective disorders, for example, yet research on women has been limited largely to the relationship between reproductive functioning and mental health. Two new chapters address the alarming number of unmet mental health needs that lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender patients suffer from. These chapters emphasize the need for mental health providers and policy makers to remedy these disparities. A new chapter has been added to help clinicians determine the role religious and spiritual beliefs play in psychological functioning, because religious and spiritual beliefs have been found to have both positive and negative effects on mental health. The newly introduced DSM-5® Cultural Formulation Interview (CFI) is addressed in the book's introduction and is included in its entirety, along with an informant module, 12 supplementary modules, and guidelines for their use in a psychiatric assessment. In addition, the reader has access to videotaped examples using simulated patients to illustrate practical application of the DSM-5® Outline for Cultural Formulation and CFI. Extensive information on ethnopsychopharmacology, reviewing clinical reports of ethnic variation with several different classes of psychotropic medications and examining the relationship of pharmacogenetics, ethnicity, and environmental factors to pharmacologic treatment of minorities. The book updates coverage of African American, Asian American, Latino/Hispanic, and Native American/Alaskan Native cultures as they relate to mental health issues while retaining the nuanced approach that was so effective in the first edition. Course-tested and DSM-5® compatible throughout, the Clinical Manual of Cultural Psychiatry is a must-read for clinicians in our diverse era.

The publication of the Cultural Formulation Outline in the DSM-IV represented a significant event in the history of standard diagnostic systems. It was the first systematic attempt at placing cultural and contextual factors as an integral component of the diagnostic process. The year was 1994 and its coming was ripe since the multicultural explosion due to migration, refugees, and globalization on the ethnic composition of the U.S. population made it compelling to strive for culturally attuned psychiatric care. Understanding the limitations of a dry symptomatological approach in helping clinicians grasp the intricacies of the experience, presentation, and course of mental illness, the NIMH Group on Culture and Diagnosis proposed to appraise, in close collaboration with the patient, the cultural framework of the patient's identity, illness experience, contextual factors, and clinician-patient relationship, and to narrate this along the lines of five major domains. By articulating the patient's experience and the standard symptomatological description of a case, the clinician may be better able to arrive at a more useful understanding of the case for clinical care purposes. Furthermore, attending to the context of the illness and the person of the patient may additionally enhance understanding of the case and enrich the database from which effective treatment can be planned. This reader is a rich collection of chapters relevant to the DSM-IV Cultural Formulation that covers the Cultural Formulation's historical and conceptual background, development, and characteristics. In addition, the reader discusses the prospects of the Cultural Formulation and provides clinical case illustrations of its utility in diagnosis and treatment of mental disorders. Book jacket.

This book highlights the field of youth mental health and why it is a specialty distinct from both child and adolescent and adult mental health. Youth Mental Health: Approaches to Emerging Mental Ill-Health in Young People examines issues such as mental health literacy, e-Health, family, psychological, vocational and pharmacological interventions. The authors also discuss issues that are particularly pertinent to young people, such as suicidality, substance abuse, gender identity and sexuality, attention deficit disorder and eating disorders. Taking a preventative focus, this book presents evidence for youth mental health as an important and growing field, makes the case for the reform of existing service structures to better serve this group and outlines the latest specialised approaches to treatment. Drawing on the knowledge and expertise of leading thinkers in youth mental health, this book is instrumental for mental health professionals who wish to design new specialised mental health systems for young people.

Culture permeates human activity the world over. In today's technological "global village," people from very different cultures are interacting more closely and more often than ever -- making it critical for clinicians to understand and incorporate cultural dimensions into their daily practices. This volume offers a contemporary pragmatic understanding of how culture is inextricably intertwined with mental health and mental illness. In Chapter 1, the 17-member GAP Committee on Cultural Psychiatry begins by discussing the history (particularly within the last two decades) and scope of culture in clinical psychiatry. In Chapter 2, the authors describe 11 selected cultural variables that strongly influence clinical work: ethnic identity, race, gender and sexual orientations, age, religion, migration and country of origin, socioeconomic status, acculturation and acculturative processes, language, dietary influences, and education. In Chapter 3, the authors present a brief history and detailed analysis of the Cultural Formulation, the newest instrument for ensuring thorough clinical assessments, explaining its clinical use based on DSM-IV guidelines. In Chapter 4, the authors integrate the 11 cultural variables described in Chapter 2 with the use of the Cultural Formulation described in Chapter 3, producing an extraordinary cross-section of case vignettes: How the son of Irish Catholic immigrants struggles to reconcile old-country traditions with life in modern American society The sometimes painful and always complex process and outcomes of acculturation for a Pakistani Muslim family who had come to the United States for only a temporary period but ended up staying permanently Diagnosing social phobia in an Asian American, whose traditional reticence must be viewed within the context of Asian culture Loss of country of origin and family ties as catalysts leading to significant behavioral changes and severe depressive symptoms in an African immigrant tribesman from Kenya and the cultural context of his recovery The interplay of gender, age, and religion with developmental issues, personality organization, and symptom development for a "good Catholic girl" The existential, interpersonal, and clinical experiences of a Protestant minister from predominantly Catholic Ecuador, who came to the United States as pastor of an Hispanic church in a predominantly white city In Chapter 5, the authors conclude with a summary and suggestions regarding the complex issues raised by a thorough cultural assessment. Enhanced by a detailed index, this powerful work meets the significant -- and rapidly growing -- need for psychiatrists and other mental health professionals to understand the role of culture in psychiatry and to integrate this knowledge into their practice so that they can provide the most comprehensive and useful care to their patients.

"This is the colorful and dramatic biography of two of America's most controversial entrepreneurs: Moses Louis Annenberg, 'the racing wire king, ' who built his fortune in racketeering, invested it in publishing, and lost much of it in the biggest tax evasion case in United States history; and his son, Walter, launcher of TV Guide and Seventeen magazines and former ambassador to Great Britain."--Jacket.