How can mind/body medicine help cope with depression?.Serlin, Ilene A.
PsycCRITIQUES. Vol 54(15), 2009, No Pagination Specified.
Reviews the book, Unstuck: Your guide to the seven-stage journey out of depression by James S. Gordon. Unstuck is written as though it were addressed directly to the reader instead of to other health care professionals. Gordon begins by offering a holistic rather than medical-model definition of depression.
Depression, according to Gordon, is not a problem with neurotransmitters, or an illness listed in the DSM, or a disease like diabetes that can be cured with drugs, even though there is most likely a genetic predisposition to it. Depression is more like the Dark Night of the Soul, he says, which can be lifted with meditation, imagery, movement, support, and insight. Instead of using an illness model, Gordon frames his model of seven stages of growth and healing on the basis of the archetypal quest for healing.
Underlying this stage theory are the assumptions that a breakdown can be a breakthrough and that the goal of healing is wholeness. After defining the seven-stage model, Gordon goes on to consider the use of specific modalities such as meditation, imagery, and movement.
The reviewer has several reservations to Gordon's approach. It reminds her of a menu, a cut-and-paste approach to assembled, branded techniques of psychospiritual healing practices. She also notes that psychologists and art therapists seem to be replaced by other health care professionals.
However, some patients, when faced with serious illness or loss, can make radical changes in their lifestyles, belief systems, and sense of self, and this book can provide valuable help for their journey. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2009 APA, all rights reserved)
Ethnicity and suicide: Considerations for researchers, interventionists, and teachers.Stewart, Sunita; Claassen, Cindy
PsycCRITIQUES. Vol 54(15), 2009, No Pagination Specified.
Reviews the book, Suicide among racial and ethnic minority groups: Theory, research, and practice edited by Frederick T. L. Leong and Mark M. Leach .
Worldwide suicide rates are increasing tremendously. If we wish to address this staggering and increasing mental health threat, the cultural context in which suicides occur urgently needs to be clarified.
In this book, editors Frederick Leong and Mark Leach provide an updated description of this context within American minority groups that will be useful for clinicians, researchers, and students of suicide within and outside the mental health professions. While admitting from the onset that significant additional research is needed to isolate those cultural factors most relevant to suicide prevention, the editors have produced a book that can serve as the benchmark against which future progress in this field can be measured.
This book serves to highlight the shortcomings in the body of knowledge about ethnic-minority individuals in Western culture. Much of what we know about the psychology of humans is based on findings from middle-class Caucasian individuals. When cultural groups are studied, the brush strokes are often broad, with little appreciation of the variability within groups. Culture is frequently seen as a “nuisance” variable, adding error instead of information.
Meaningful research with ethnic-minority populations is difficult because of an absence of appreciation for the viewpoint of individuals inside the culture and a mistrust of outsiders, who, too frequently, use the minority community for academic ends while giving little back. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2009 APA, all rights reserved)
Worldwide suicide rates are increasing tremendously. If we wish to address this staggering and increasing mental health threat, the cultural context in which suicides occur urgently needs to be clarified.
In this book, editors Frederick Leong and Mark Leach provide an updated description of this context within American minority groups that will be useful for clinicians, researchers, and students of suicide within and outside the mental health professions. While admitting from the onset that significant additional research is needed to isolate those cultural factors most relevant to suicide prevention, the editors have produced a book that can serve as the benchmark against which future progress in this field can be measured.
This book serves to highlight the shortcomings in the body of knowledge about ethnic-minority individuals in Western culture. Much of what we know about the psychology of humans is based on findings from middle-class Caucasian individuals. When cultural groups are studied, the brush strokes are often broad, with little appreciation of the variability within groups. Culture is frequently seen as a “nuisance” variable, adding error instead of information.
Meaningful research with ethnic-minority populations is difficult because of an absence of appreciation for the viewpoint of individuals inside the culture and a mistrust of outsiders, who, too frequently, use the minority community for academic ends while giving little back. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2009 APA, all rights reserved)
ToM 101: A guide to mainstream theory of mind research.Charles, Eric
PsycCRITIQUES. Vol 54(15), 2009, No Pagination Specified.
Reviews the book, Theory of mind: How children understand others’ thoughts and feelings by Martin J. Doherty.
The last 30 years have seen a rapid escalation of research into how people develop a theory of mind (ToM). The central questions in this research are, broadly: What do children of various ages understand about others’ minds, and what are the relations between an individual’s mind and his or her behavior?
This book claims that the field has matured to the point where a true synthesis is possible because agreement on many basic issues has been reached. These claims are well supported through the author's presentation of a broad overview of past and current results, opinions of major investigators, and a delineation of future directions.
The biggest praise that I can give to this book is that the author accomplishes his goals; the book is exactly what it sets out to be. That is also my biggest criticism: It fairly represents the field and hence has all of the field’s flaws. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2009 APA, all rights reserved)
The last 30 years have seen a rapid escalation of research into how people develop a theory of mind (ToM). The central questions in this research are, broadly: What do children of various ages understand about others’ minds, and what are the relations between an individual’s mind and his or her behavior?
This book claims that the field has matured to the point where a true synthesis is possible because agreement on many basic issues has been reached. These claims are well supported through the author's presentation of a broad overview of past and current results, opinions of major investigators, and a delineation of future directions.
The biggest praise that I can give to this book is that the author accomplishes his goals; the book is exactly what it sets out to be. That is also my biggest criticism: It fairly represents the field and hence has all of the field’s flaws. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2009 APA, all rights reserved)
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