The Mind-Body Interface in Somatization: When Symptom Becomes Disease represents a unique contribution to the clinician's tool chest for diagnosing and treating psychosomatic illness. Beginning with a discussion of contemporary disease classification, the authors clarify matters greatly by talking in terms of chronic and situational somatization, showing that chronic patients use illness as a way of life while situational patients somatically respond to existential crises, and revealing how both are rooted in the mind-body interface. Drawing on elements of personality theory, the authors discuss the core conflicts and character structure inherent in both types of somatization and suggest treatment options appropriately geared toward the needs of each. Book jacket.

Unlike other texts on the subject, this book aims to provide a well-integrated approach to the diagnosis and treatment of the pervasive effects of the mind/body splitting that lead to somatoform disorders.

There is growing scientific evidence that how we experience our bodies can powerfully influence whether we get sick, how we get sick, and how we manage illness. Somatic awareness--the ability to perceive, interpret, and act on the basis of internal bodily sensations--is at the cutting edge of the mind-body interface. Such awareness is a key factor in many forms of self-regulatory therapy, including relaxation and biofeedback. Grounded in the existing research, this book identifies the somatic experiences associated with health and well-being and describes how awareness of these states can be a powerful clinical tool. Integrating empirical data, case examples, and pointers for practice, Bakal uses a psychobiological framework to build a much-needed bridge between traditional and alternative health care approaches. The book first enumerates the physiological, cognitive, and emotional variables that underlie internal bodily experience, presenting research that closely links specific subjective states to improved health and healing. Somatization symptoms are then shown to result from an insufficient awareness of inner physical states: Many individuals only "notice" the body when their reactions reach symptomatic or illness levels. Bakal describes the clinical applications of these findings for such anxiety- and pain-related disorders as migraine, unexplained dizziness and shortness of breath, benign chest pain, and asthma. Thought-provoking findings on placebos and self-regulation are discussed, and the book suggests ways that somatic awareness may enable patients to actively harness the placebo effect and achieve significant symptom control. Broadening the scope of the discussion to include immune system illnesses, Bakal shows how reducing bodily tension, fatigue, and stress through somatic awareness may play a significant role in the clinical management of arthritis, multiple sclerosis, and cancer. The book's final chapter looks at therapeutic touch, biofeedback, and breathing retraining. A brief overview of each modality is provided, and general principles are delineated for how patients can be guided to develop and use conscious awareness of somatic states to promote their physical well-being. Synthesizing scientific data from many different areas of research, the book makes the dimensions of somatic awareness understandable to clinicians in a range of settings. Its clear, accessible style will enhance its appeal to a broad audience of health psychologists, behavioral medicine specialists, and other mental health and medical professionals interested in holistic health care approaches.

Emphasizing the concepts and technologies of clinical psychophysiology in providing an evidence-based empirical approach to problems of patients in primary care medicine, this text has a bio-psychosocial perspective.

Diagnostic Essentials of Psychopathology: A Case-Based Approach by Cheree Hammond brings together dozens of fictional cases which represent a range of human experiences, featuring people of different ages, ethnicities, genders, ability levels, and religions. Each disorder has several cases associated with it to capture the truly unique nature of working with various client intersections, and half of the cases provide the correct "answers" or diagnosis to allow students to check their understanding of this process. Some cases focus on a diagnosis, others with analysis, and others let the student practice on their own as a way to further student reflection and learning. This casebook is specifically written for disciplines that are grounded in a humanistic approach (Counseling, Social Work, Counseling Psychology). The author provides a framework for using the medical model that is presented in the DSM-5.

While most abnormal psychology texts aim solely for magnitude, The Oxford Textbook of Psychopathology aims for scope and depth. Its exceptional collection of authors not only reflects the reality of the heterogeneous nature of psychopathology, but it allows the reader to be exposed to a variety of notions about the favored approaches, the most crucial issues, and the most informative forms of discourse. As a volume focused on understanding underlying psychopathology with extensive coverage of personality diagnosis, it is a valuable tool for mental health workers, clinical psychologists, psychiatrists, and graduate students.

The Mind-Body Interface in Somatization: When Symptom Becomes Disease represents a unique contribution to the clinician's tool chest for diagnosing and treating psychosomatic illness. This book breaks new ground by asking and answering many of the key questions that trouble every practicing clinician: Why do patients use somatization? Can we predict who will be a somatizer? Is there an underlying process involved? Why are these patients so difficult to treat? Beginning with a discussion of contemporary disease classification, The Mind-Body Interface in Somatization clarifies matters greatly by talking in terms of chronic and situational somatization, showing that chronic patients use illness as a way of life, while situational patients somatically respond to existential crises, and revealing how both are rooted in the mind-body interface. Drawing on elements of personality theory, the authors discuss the core conflicts and character structure inherent in both types of somatization and suggest treatment options appropriately geared toward the needs of each. The Mind-Body Interface in Somatization describes how chronic somatization can be addressed by cognitive-behavioral therapy and Dialectical Behavioral Therapy, while situational somatization can be managed with short-term existential psychotherapy. Concluding with a discussion of medications that may be helpful to the somatizing patient, this volume represents an original approach to explaining what goes on in the mind of the somatizer.