Expands and refines the psychosomatic approach in clinical practice Psychosomatic medicine has developed methods to increase diagnostic accuracy and improve targeted therapeutic approaches in all fields of medicine. In this context, clinimetrics, the science of clinical measurements, provides unprecedented opportunities for psychosomatic assessment. This volume illustrates how this approach can be translated into everyday practice complementing and improving the medical interview. The most sensitive and reliable clinical methods are presented for evaluating specific psychosocial aspects of disease, i.e. childhood adversities, life events and chronic stress, lifestyle, sexual function, subclinical and affective disturbances, personality, illness behavior, well-being and family dynamics. Each chapter provides practical illustrations as to how crucial information can be obtained with specific methods individualized according to the patients' needs. A hyperlink is provided to a website that contains many of the instruments assessed in the volume. This book enables the reader to understand the value of the psychosomatic approach in clinical practice. It is intended to expand and refine the skills of clinicians who work in general and specialized medicine and psychiatry, whether physicians, psychologists or other health professionals.

This book explores the life and theories of Michael Balint, who kept alive Ferenczi's analytic traditions in Budapest and brought them to London, where they became a vital part of the Independent Group's theory and practice. Balint's theoretical understanding of regression, 'new beginnings', 'basic fault', as well as his profound impact on medicine, are all described. The work in the Balint groups by general practitioners, psychiatrists, and physicians are explored. Whole person and psychosomatic medicine, championed by Balint, is contrasted with today's more compartmentalised approach to medicine, including the increasing separation of the GP from the family. In the second part of the book Dr Sklar reflects on the complex tasks involved in psychodynamic assessment. Vignettes illustrate the importance of understanding the forces in family dynamics, the value of an early memory and a dream, and the sexual life of the patient. The author argues that Balint's ideas are of particular significance to us today, in our world of quick fixes and the overspecialisation of medicine.

This volume is the seventh in an ongoing series addressed to the in psychological assessment. The overall aim of the developing frontiers series is to bring critical examinations of recent advances in assessment to clinicians, researchers, university teachers, and graduate students, and thus to help them to keep abreast of an important and rapidly expanding field of psychology. This aim of course cannot be fulfilled in a single volume, but it can be met, at least to a large degree, in a continuing series. In this context we encourage those readers who are pleased with the offerings in this volume to consult appropriate chapters in earlier volumes of the series. The term psychological assessment, as used in this series, encom passes all of the various techniques - tests, rating scales, interview schedules, surveys, direct observational methods, and psychophysiol ogical procedures - that are employed in scientifically based practice and research to provide an improved understanding of individual per sons, groups, or environmental settings. Thus, the whole field of assess ment is taken as the proper area of concern for the series. This includes both what are sometimes called traditional assessment and behavioral assessment, as well as approaches not typically classed in either of these categories.

The Textbook of Pediatric Psychosomatic Medicine provides a comprehensive, empirically based knowledge of assessment and treatment issues in children and adolescents with physical illness. Scholarly, authoritative, and evidence based, it is the first volume of its kind and will help to define the field going forward. Addressing a very wide range of medical subspecialties, this volume is a first step for researchers who want to obtain a review of the psychiatric issues in their respective specialties. In addition, the book offers many special features, including An exceptionally strong section on psychopharmacology in the medical setting, which is complemented by a comprehensive set of reference tables on psychopharmacological agents, including doses, side effects, and indications for use in the physically ill child. Definitive chapters on less commonly reviewed topics that are of particular relevance for clinicians who treat physically ill children, including pediatric palliative care, Munchausen syndrome by proxy, and pediatric feeding disorders. Coverage of key legal and forensic issues in pediatric psychosomatic medicine. Presentation of material in graphical and tabular formats for maximal usefulness, including templates of specific questions for assessing common psychiatric symptoms and flowcharts illustrating step-by-step approaches to pain and somatoform disorders. Relevance to a broad range of professionals, including psychiatrists, pediatricians, psychologists, nurses, medical students, and social workers who work with children in medical settings. May be adopted as a textbook for psychology undergraduate classes, social work internships, and both general and child psychiatry residency training programs. The editors are recognized both nationally and internationally as being among the foremost experts for their respective fields, and they have assembled the leading practitioners of pediatric psychosomatic medicine to create this volume. The only complete text on pediatric psychosomatic medicine, this volume is destined to prove seminal in the field and indispensable in the clinician's library.

A practical and conceptual guide to treating depression using both Beckian CBT and the latest, cutting-edge third wave CBT approaches, including mindfulness and metacognitive therapy. It provides an understanding of depression and its treatment and a clear practical guidance on how to use each treatment approach. Covers CBT, metacognitive therapy, and third-wave behavioural approaches within one volume Presents the theoretical background and evidence for each approach, and describes application in a clear case study approach which clearly outlines the contrasting features of the treatments Includes separate chapter commentaries on the theory and clinical material covered Internationally renowned contributors include Arthur Nezu, David A. Clark, Robert Zettle, Keith Dobson, Ruth Baer, Adrian Wells and Robert Leahy

The Advances in Personality Assessment Series began in the early 1980s to facilitate the rapid dissemination of important new developments in theory and research on all aspects of personality assessment. Impressed with the extensive research on test development and validation that was going on at that time, the editors were concerned with the limited publication resources devoted to personality assessment. With this series, they hoped to provide a publication opportunity and resource for reports of personality assessment research and/or clinical practice that might not conveniently fit in journal format because of length, focus, or content. The first nine volumes have accomplished this goal exceptionally well by highlighting new empirical and theoretical developments, providing descriptions of new scale development, and in publishing timely reviews of important research. Volume 10 -- the last in the series -- continues in the same tradition as the previous volumes, with chapters devoted to scale construction, theoretical interpretation, and empirical analysis. The editors conclude the series knowing that an important void has been filled. They close with a feeling of both accomplishment and a slight sense of regret now that their efforts for more than a decade are at an end, as well as assurance that the torch has been passed on to others.

Bariatric surgery plays an important role in the treatment of obesity; in this comprehensive resource the worldwide leaders of the field provide the most up-to-date information on the psychosocial issues that affect their patients. Included is an overview and history of surgical procedures, complete with illustrations, practical advice on topics such as physical activity and nutritional care after surgery, and essential information that allows clinicians to assist their clients as much as possible; for example, how pre-weight loss surgery psychosocial evaluations can serve as clinical interventions in their own right, and how structured interviews and questionnaires can be used in multiple contexts such as screening, treatment planning, and prognostic assessment. A distinctive chapter includes an overview of the special issues present in treating adolescents, who increasingly are the target of bariatric surgery procedures. This book is an essential reference for clinicians from the evaluation through the follow-up and aftercare of bariatric surgery patients.