Abject Relations presents an alternative approach to anorexia, long considered the epitome of a Western obsession with individualism, beauty, self-control, and autonomy. Through detailed ethnographic investigations, Megan Warin looks at the heart of what it means to live with anorexia on a daily basis. Participants describe difficulties with social relatedness, not being at home in their body, and feeling disgusting and worthless. For them, anorexia becomes a seductive and empowering practice that cleanses bodies of shame and guilt, becomes a friend and support, and allows them to forge new social relations.

Demonstrating how psychologists use theory, philosophy, and history to illuminate the subjects they study, this book explores both the obstacles and benefits of integrating these perspectives into contemporary Western psychology. It offers a timely survey of current ideas at the crossroads of these disciplines and represents new ideas about how psychology can respond to changes on what it means to be human and on how to further this knowledge. The convergence of history, theory, and philosophy is examined from three perspectives: the reconsideration of the importance of context in psychology; the argument that psychology is embedded in morality, values, and politics; and the consideration of the practice of such convergence, looking at how history, theory, and philosophy function in psychology. This book presents contemporary thinking by noted scholars who have made significant contributions to a re-visioning of psychology.

Achievements in Medicine 1974-1989

In the mid- to late 1940s, a group of young men rattled the psychiatric establishment by beaming a public spotlight on the squalid conditions and brutality in our nation’s mental hospitals and training schools for people with psychiatric and intellectual disabilities. Bringing the abuses to the attention of newspapers and magazines across the country, they led a reform effort to change public attitudes and to improve the training and status of institutional staff. Prominent Americans, including Eleanor Roosevelt, ACLU founder Roger Baldwin, author Pearl S. Buck, actress Helen Hayes, and African-American activist Mary McLeod Bethune, supported the efforts of the young men. These young men were among the 12,000 World War II conscientious objectors who chose to perform civilian public service as an alternative to fighting in what is widely regarded as America’s "good war." Three thousand of these men volunteered to work at state institutions, where they found conditions appalling. Acting on conscience a second time, they challenged America’s treatment of its citizens with severe disabilities. Acts of Conscience brings to light the extraordinary efforts of these courageous men, drawing upon extensive archival research, interviews, and personal correspondence. The World War II conscientious objectors were not the first to expose public institutions, and they would not be the last. What distinguishes them from reformers of other eras is that their activities have faded from professional and popular memory. Steven J. Taylor’s moving account is an indispensable contribution to the historical record.

Addiction to alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs is one of the major public health issues of our time. It accounts for one of every five deaths in the United States and costs approximately one-half trillion dollars per year in health care expenditures and lost productivity. Its human costs are untold and perhaps uncountable. Addiction and Art puts a human face on addiction through the creative work of individuals who have been touched by it. The art included here presents unique stories about addiction. Many pieces are stark representations of life on the edge. Others are disturbing contemplations of life, meaning, and death. Some even reflect the allure of addiction and a fondness for substance abuse. A panel of addiction scientists, artists, and professionals from the art world selected the 61 pieces included here from more than 1,000 submissions. Accompanied by a written statement from the artist, each creation is emblematic of the destructive power of addiction and the regenerative power of recovery. Stunning and occasionally unsettling, this unique portfolio reveals addiction art as a powerful complement to addiction science.

This accessible work is the first in more than seventy-five years to discuss the many roles of adrenaline in regulating the "inner world" of the body. David S. Goldstein, an international authority and award-winning teacher, introduces new concepts concerning the nature of stress and distress across the body's regulatory systems. Discussing how the body's stress systems are coordinated, and how stress, by means of adrenaline, may affect the development, manifestations, and outcomes of chronic diseases, Goldstein challenges researchers and clinicians to use scientific integrative medicine to develop new ways to treat, prevent, and palliate disease. Goldstein explains why a former attorney general with Parkinson disease has a tendency to faint, why young astronauts in excellent physical shape cannot stand up when reexposed to Earth's gravity, why professional football players can collapse and die of heat shock during summer training camp, and why baseball players spit so much. Adrenaline and the Inner World is designed to supplement academic coursework in psychology, psychiatry, endocrinology, cardiology, complementary and alternative medicine, physiology, and biochemistry. It includes an extensive glossary.

Affirmative action programs have significantly changed American medicine for the better, not only in medical school admissions and access to postgraduate training but also in bringing a higher quality of health care to all people. James L. Curtis approaches this important transition from historical, statistical, and personal perspectives. He tells how over the course of his medical education and career as a psychiatrist and professor--often as the first or only African American in his cohort--the status of minorities in the medical professions grew from a tiny percentage to a far more equitable representation of the American population. Advancing arguments from his earlier book, Blacks, Medical Schools, and Society, Curtis evaluates the outcomes of affirmative action efforts over the past thirty years. He describes formidable barriers to minority access to medical-education opportunities and the resulting problems faced by minority patients in receiving medical treatment. His progress report includes a review of two thousand minority students admitted to U.S. medical schools in 1969, following them through graduation and their careers, comparing them with the careers of two thousand of their nonminority peers. These samples provide an important look at medical schools that, while heralding dramatic progress in physician education and training opportunity, indicates much room for further improvement. A basic hurdle continues to face African Americans and other minorities who are still confined to segregated neighborhoods and inferior school systems that stifle full scholastic development. Curtis urges us as a nation to develop all our human resources through an expansion of affirmative action programs, thus improving health care for everyone. James L. Curtis is Clinical Professor Emeritus of Psychiatry, Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons.

Written by authors who speak directly from their years of personal and professional experience with health projects in Africa, this book provides an integrated historical, social, political, economic, and health introduction to a series of African countries. It also offers a comprehensive view of major health issues for those aiming to undertake humanitarian and global health work in Africa.

In the introductory chapter, the editors discuss the concepts of globalism and humanitarianism, and provide a framework for thinking about global health. They introduce readers to significant aspects of African history and agencies that play major roles in global health work in Africa. The "Tips for Travelers to Africa" chapter provides a wealth of information on preparing for travel to Africa and working successfully and effectively in African cultures.

Individual chapters on Botswana, Ghana, The Maghreb, Rwanda, South Africa, Tanzania, and Uganda focus on key health or environmental issues, projects, and solutions unique to each country. Written jointly by U.S. and African medical personnel participating in major health initiatives, the chapters offer vibrant accounts of work on leading causes of disease and death or environmental problems.