Many of the greatest strides in medical care have neither been glamorous nor made the front page of The New York Times. They have been simple measures such as sanitation, immunization, and provision of clean, whole some food. And even more glamorous medical breakthroughs and tech niques like heart transplants are often last-ditch responses to largely preventable medical problems that required a lifetime to develop. Chang ing those life styles which may cause, worsen, or exacerbate disease and uti lizing current medical knowledge may be the most important strides medicine will make in the next few decades. To meet this challenge, tech niques have already been developed to change eating and nutritional pat terns that may lead to obesity and heart disease. In addition, interventions are being developed for a wide variety of medical problems. Many of these techniques are based on behavioral principles. Several years ago, one of the editors of this book gave a behavioral medi cine seminar for psychiatry residents concerning behavioral principles and their application to medicine. As the seminar developed, it became evident that many of the important articles on the subject were scattered through out a wide body of literature, which encompassed a variety of disciplines and journals. No single source was available to provide the state of the art of this emerging field. This book was spawned, in part, as an attempt to overcome this deficit.

Many of the greatest strides in medical care have neither been glamorous nor made the front page of The New York Times. They have been simple measures such as sanitation, immunization, and provision of clean, whole some food. And even more glamorous medical breakthroughs and tech niques like heart transplants are often last-ditch responses to largely preventable medical problems that required a lifetime to develop. Chang ing those life styles which may cause, worsen, or exacerbate disease and uti lizing current medical knowledge may be the most important strides medicine will make in the next few decades. To meet this challenge, tech niques have already been developed to change eating and nutritional pat terns that may lead to obesity and heart disease. In addition, interventions are being developed for a wide variety of medical problems. Many of these techniques are based on behavioral principles. Several years ago, one of the editors of this book gave a behavioral medi cine seminar for psychiatry residents concerning behavioral principles and their application to medicine. As the seminar developed, it became evident that many of the important articles on the subject were scattered through out a wide body of literature, which encompassed a variety of disciplines and journals. No single source was available to provide the state of the art of this emerging field. This book was spawned, in part, as an attempt to overcome this deficit.

Many of the greatest strides in medical care have neither been glamorous nor made the front page of The New York Times. They have been simple measures such as sanitation, immunization, and provision of clean, whole some food. And even more glamorous medical breakthroughs and tech niques like heart transplants are often last-ditch responses to largely preventable medical problems that required a lifetime to develop. Chang ing those life styles which may cause, worsen, or exacerbate disease and uti lizing current medical knowledge may be the most important strides medicine will make in the next few decades. To meet this challenge, tech niques have already been developed to change eating and nutritional pat terns that may lead to obesity and heart disease. In addition, interventions are being developed for a wide variety of medical problems. Many of these techniques are based on behavioral principles. Several years ago, one of the editors of this book gave a behavioral medi cine seminar for psychiatry residents concerning behavioral principles and their application to medicine. As the seminar developed, it became evident that many of the important articles on the subject were scattered through out a wide body of literature, which encompassed a variety of disciplines and journals. No single source was available to provide the state of the art of this emerging field. This book was spawned, in part, as an attempt to overcome this deficit.

Kiesler's Beyond the Disease Model of Mental Disorder goes beyond recent volumes which argue that psychotropic medications are being overused and abused in contemporary mental health settings. Elliott Valenstein, for example, an emeritus professor of psychology and neuroscience at the University of Michigan, recently argues that people should be highly suspicious of the claim that all mental illness is primarily a biochemical disorder. In his 1998 book, Blaming the Brain: The Truth about Drugs and Mental Health, Valenstein does not argue that drugs never work or that patients should discontinue taking medication. Valenstein's central point, instead, is that drugs do not attack the real cause of a disorder, since biochemical theories are an unproven hypothesis and probably a false one. Inasmuch as Kiesler's volume is concerned exclusively with scientific explanations of mental disorders, it does not review at all the evidence for psychotropic medications or for other treatments of mental disorders. Kiesler does highlight a message similar to that of Valenstein, who rejects the hypothesis that mental illness is primarily a biochemical disorder. After a comprehensive review of the relevant scientific evidence, Kiesler concludes that henceforth the study of mental disorders must be guided by multicausal theories and research that systematically include an array of biological, psychological, and sociocultural causal factors. Kiesler adds that, in order for this to be accomplished, the mental health field and the public at large must first abandon the invalid monocausal biomedical (disease) model of mental disorder.

This book is primarily based on the proceedings of a confer en. :::e entitled -Health Psychology: A workshop in Behavioral Medi cine, Treatment and Research Issues,- held April 8-9, 1983 at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center and Oklahoma Chil drens Memorial Hospital, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. This conference brought together researchers from pediatric psychology, pedia tri cs, clinical psychology, developmental psychology, !1eurology, and psychiatry as part of a continuing medical education ~eries. While Health Psychology and Behavioral Medicine are the fastest growing segments of Psychology, relatively little atten tion has been paid to the pediatric segment of the life cycle. Yet, if we are serious about risk factor reduction and prevention of chronic diseases, it is precisely intervention with the young which will give the largest, most cost-effective results. Thus, the primary focus of the conference was on the pedia tric aspects of health and disease. Chapter 1 deals with the problems of behavioral health and sets forth some goals for our nation by the year 1990. Chapters 2 and 3 present an overview of behavioral medicine and the research trends current and predictive of the future for the field. Chapter 4 takes on issues about psychology, child health, and human deve lopment. Chapter 5 addresses issues in pediatric medical compl i ance and how this situation might be improved. Chapter 6 deals wi th prematurity and the family, and Chapter 7 addresses pain management problems in the young.

Painâ€"it is the most common complaint presented to physicians. Yet pain is subjectiveâ€"it cannot be measured directly and is difficult to validate. Evaluating claims based on pain poses major problems for the Social Security Administration (SSA) and other disability insurers. This volume covers the epidemiology and physiology of pain; psychosocial contributions to pain and illness behavior; promising ways of assessing and measuring chronic pain and dysfunction; clinical aspects of prevention, diagnosis, treatment, and rehabilitation; and how the SSA's benefit structure and administrative procedures may affect pain complaints.

First multi-year cumulation covers six years: 1965-70.