Secrets Unraveled: Overcoming Munchausen Syndrome


Book Description

...Secrets Unraveled offers a gripping account of how a psychotherapy relationship can help even the most tortured mind. The mystery of mental illness is never more evident than with Munchausen Syndrome or Factitious Disorder, where people intentionally make themselves sick or injured to gain love and attention. Seldom discussed, this disturbing condition often leaves clinicians baffled. Dr. Hall delves exhaustively into his patient's abusive childhood, telling the story of how she developed such a crippling disorder. In this bold, brave book, readers will find solace, insight and inspiration. [It] is a landmark book that should interest not only Munchausen patients and their professional caregivers, but also anyone interested in psychology, mental health treatment, and medical mysteries. This is the first book that firmly counters the therapeutic nihilism surrounding the condition, offering hope to patients and families that recovery is achievable. The unique presentation of dual voices - the patient's and the therapist's - allows profound insights into the challenging psychodynamics of Munchausen syndrome and the effort required for resolution. I heartily recommend Secrets Unraveled to all interested readers. -- back cover.




Dying to be Ill


Book Description

Most of us can recall a time when we pretended to be sick to reap the benefits that go along with illness. By playing sick, we gained sympathy, care, and attention, and were excused from our responsibilities. Though doing so on occasion is considered normal, there are those who carry their deceptions to the extreme. In this book, Dr. Marc Feldman describes people’s strange motivations to fabricate or induce illness or injury to satisfy deep emotional needs. Doctors, family members, and friends are lured into a costly, frustrating, and potentially deadly web of deceit. From the mother who shaves her child’s head and tells her community he has cancer, to the co-worker who suffers from a string of incomprehensible "tragedies," to the false epilepsy victim who monopolizes her online support group, "disease forgery" is ever-present in the media and in many people’s lives. In Dying to be Ill: True Stories of Medical Deception, Dr. Feldman, with the assistance of Gregory Yates, has chronicled this fascinating world as well as the paths to healing. With insight developed from 25 years of hands-on experience, Dying to be Ill is sure to stand as a classic in the field.




Functional Neurologic Disorders


Book Description

Functional Neurologic Disorders, the latest volume in the Handbook of Clinical Neurology series, summarizes state-of-the-art research findings and clinical practice on this class of disorders at the interface between neurology and psychiatry. This 51-chapter volume offers an historical introduction, chapters on epidemiology and pathophysiolology, a large section on the clinical features of different type of functional neurologic symptoms and disorders (including functional movement disorders, non-epileptic seizures, dizziness, vision, hearing, speech and cognitive symptoms), and then concluding with approaches to therapy. This group of internationally acclaimed experts in neurology, psychiatry, and neuroscience represent a broad spectrum of areas of expertise, chosen for their ability to write clearly and concisely with an eye toward a clinical audience. This HCN volume sets a new landmark standard for a comprehensive, multi-authored work dealing with functional neurologic disorders (also described as psychogenic, dissociative or conversion disorders). - Offers a comprehensive interdisciplinary approach for the care of patients with functional disorders seen in neurologic practice, leading to more efficient prevention, management, and treatment - Provides a synthesis of research efforts incorporating clinical, brain imaging and neurophysiological studies - Fills an existing gap between traditional neurology and traditional psychiatry - Contents include coverage of history, epidemiology, clinical presentations, and therapy - Edited work with chapters authored by leaders in the field, the broadest, most expert coverage available




My Son Marshall, My Son Eminem


Book Description

To this day Debbie Nelson is asked why she abandoned her son Marshall as a boy, beat him repeatedly, and then had the audacity to dog him with lawsuits when he became rich and famous. My Son Martial, My Son Eminem is her rebuttal to these widely believed lies-a poignant story of a single mother who wanted the world for her son, only to see herself defamed and shut out when he got it. Debbie Nelson encouraged her talented son to chase success-even when Eminem hijacked her good name in his lyrics and press for "street cred," a movie that ultimately alienated them from each other by the notoriety and bitterness it spawned. In My Son Marshall, My Son Eminem, Debbie Nelson details the real story of Eminem's life from his earliest days in a small town in Missouri and his teenage years in Detroit, to his rise to stardom and very public mom-bashing.




Deviance and Medicalization


Book Description

A classic text on deviance is updated and reissued.




Life on the Circuit with Lincoln


Book Description

"Originally commenced as a pastime, and to please a circle of friends alone, success, in any degree, can only be hoped for, because of my vantage ground as an intimate and close friend of Mr. Lincoln, and because, by reason of such intimacy, of the novelty of some of the facts and deductions, and not, in any sense, by reason, but in spite of, its literary style or, rather, the lack thereof."--Preface.




Structural Equation Models


Book Description

This compact reference surveys the full range of available structural equation modeling (SEM) methodologies. It reviews applications in a broad range of disciplines, particularly in the social sciences where many key concepts are not directly observable. This is the first book to present SEM’s development in its proper historical context–essential to understanding the application, strengths and weaknesses of each particular method. This book also surveys the emerging path and network approaches that complement and enhance SEM, and that will grow importance in the near future. SEM’s ability to accommodate unobservable theory constructs through latent variables is of significant importance to social scientists. Latent variable theory and application are comprehensively explained and methods are presented for extending their power, including guidelines for data preparation, sample size calculation and the special treatment of Likert scale data. Tables of software, methodologies and fit statistics provide a concise reference for any research program, helping assure that its conclusions are defensible and publishable.




Forensic Pathology of Infancy and Childhood


Book Description

The investigation of sudden or unexplained death of children represents a unique medical and forensic area of study. Children have unique anatomic and functional characteristics that must be recognized and understood by the medical investigator. Further complicating this process is the fact that the anatomic structure, composition and function of various organs and organ systems in the pediatric population change throughout the developmental stages of childhood. The disease processes, reactions to trauma and risk factors for accidental death and homicide change from infancy through adolescence. Forensic Pathology of Infancy and Childhood provides an authoritative, comprehensive reference text devoted to the medicolegal investigation of sudden unexpected death in children. With contributions from internationally renowned experts, individual chapters focus on specific unique causes and organ systems with detailed accounts of the changes in fatal diseases, risk factors of causes of sudden death, and responses to fatal trauma that occur as a child grows from neonatal stage through infancy, toddlerhood, childhood and adolescence. This text is an essential reference resource for forensic pathologists, medical examiner offices, pediatric pathologists, pediatric hospitals, anatomic pathologists and those in training as well as those in related legal professions.




Psychiatry


Book Description

For more than half a century, Thomas Szasz has devoted much of his career to a radical critique of psychiatry. His latest work, Psychiatry: The Science of Lies, is a culmination of his life’s work: to portray the integral role of deception in the history and practice of psychiatry. Szasz argues that the diagnosis and treatment of mental illness stands in the same relationship to the diagnosis and treatment of bodily illness that the forgery of a painting does to the original masterpiece. Art historians and the legal system seek to distinguish forgeries from originals. Those concerned with medicine, on the other hand—physicians, patients, politicians, health insurance providers, and legal professionals—take the opposite stance when faced with the challenge of distinguishing everyday problems in living from bodily diseases, systematically authenticating nondiseases as diseases. The boundary between disease and nondisease—genuine and imitation, truth and falsehood—thus becomes arbitrary and uncertain. There is neither glory nor profit in correctly demarcating what counts as medical illness and medical healing from what does not. Individuals and families wishing to protect themselves from medically and politically authenticated charlatanry are left to their own intellectual and moral resources to make critical decisions about human dilemmas miscategorized as "mental diseases" and about medicalized responses misidentified as "psychiatric treatments." Delivering his sophisticated analysis in lucid prose and with a sharp wit, Szasz continues to engage and challenge readers of all backgrounds.




Investigating Chemistry


Book Description

In its new second edition, Investigating Chemistry: A Forensic Science Perspective remains the only book that uses the inherently fascinating topics of crime and criminal investigations as a context for teaching the fundamental chemical concepts most often covered in an introductory nonmajors course. Covering all the standard topics, Matthew Johll capitalizes on the surge of interest in the scientific investigation of crime (as sparked by CSI and other television shows), bringing together the theme of forensic science and the fundamentals of chemistry in ways that are effective and accessible for students. This edition features refined explanations of the chemical concepts, which are the core of the book, as well as a more thoroughly integrated forensic theme, updated features, and an expanded media/supplements package.