The Amygdala: A Functional Analysis Review

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(More customer reviews)If you are interested in the amygdala, there are now many good books on the market, but this one is the best general overview I have found so far. It is both a good place to start in understanding what is currently known about the amygdala and a useful reference for more amygdala-experienced persons. It is too technical for the general reader, but understandable to anyone with a basic, college-level understanding of biopsychology and brain anatomy.
The book covers what is known about the circuitry of the amygdala itself and how it relates to the rest of the brain in both humans and primates. There are a lot of useful illustrations and tables that list the connections. Later chapters become more conceptual and discuss what these connections or their absense means for the function of the brain or the animal. Various disorders are discussed, including Alzheimer's disease.
There is a lot of emphasis on the issue of the amygdala processing emotions, especially fear and anger. There is discussion about emotionally-charged imagery and its effect on the brain through the processing by the amygdala. Unfortunately, the nature of creativity wasn't pursued more, but that is largely due to how far research has been able to go so far. Nonetheless, there are some interesting implications about how and why we experience visual art.
This is an excellent reference book, although I read it cover-to-cover, skimming over the more data-oriented text. It could easily be as useful to anyone studying mind states, philosophers, more science-oriented artists, or persons studying isses of perception as it would be to any number of scientists. I recommend it both as an excellent document and a great read.

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The amygdala is a central component of the limbic brain system and is known to be vital to understanding aspects of emotions, memory and social behavior. Dysfuction of the structure is also thought to contribute to a variety of disorders, including autism, Alzheimer's Disease and schizophrenia. The nature of its contribution to these fundamental aspects of behavior and cognition, and its relationship with other regions of the brain has remained elusive. However, since Aggleton's first book on the subject - The Amygdala: Neurobiological Aspects of Emotion, Memory, and Mental Dysfunction (1992) - there have been some major advances in our understanding of the processes involved and a dramatic rise in the volume of research. Scientists are now able to define its contribution in an increasingly precise manner. Leading experts from around the world have contributed chapters to this comprehensive and unique review, describing current thinking on the enigmatic brain structure. This book for all those with an interest in the neural basis of emotion and memory.

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Mindfulness and Psychotherapy Review

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(More customer reviews)As a psychotherapist for 30 years and a mindfulness practitioner for nearly 10 years, I have read a lot of good books and articles on both subjects. "Mindfulness and Psychotherapy" is as clear and helpful in both disiplines as any I have encounted. The editors have done a 'mindful' job in selecting from an array of perspectives. Mindfulness is defined and contextualized for our western psychotherapeutic practice, while also placed in an historical and cultural framwork that informs and enlightens our understanding. Indeed the more philosophical essays are perhaps the strongest pieces in this marvelous compendium. We are reminded that the Buddah saw himself as a physician who sought to diagnose and find a cure for human suffering. Out of his own intimate encounter with suffering, he devised and revised a program that we in western psychological science are just now testing and finding curative-both for our clients and for ourselves.
There is much here to be considered by all schools of psychotherapy. Paul Fulton presents an intriguing chapter on Mindfulness as Clinical Training. There are concise chapters on teaching mindfulness skills to clients (even children)with varying disorders, including panic,anxiety, depression, and psychophysiological problems. There is a comprehensive while managable 'Resources for the Clinician" appendix.
Andrew Olendzki deserves special mention for his piece on "The Roots of Mindfulness." I had to stop highlighting as each page was yellowed with brightness.
If you are a psychotherapist, a meditator, or thinking of practicing either, you will do well to read this wonderful book.

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Responding to growing interest among psychotherapists of all theoretical orientations, this practical book provides a comprehensive introduction to mindfulness and its clinical applications. The authors, who have been practicing both mindfulness and psychotherapy for decades, present a range of clear-cut procedures for implementing mindfulness techniques and teaching them to patients experiencing depression, anxiety, chronic pain, and other problems. Also addressed are ways that mindfulness practices can increase acceptance and empathy in the therapeutic relationship. The book reviews the philosophical underpinnings of mindfulness and presents compelling empirical findings. User-friendly features include illustrative case examples, practice exercises, and resource listings.

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Treatment Plans and Interventions for Depression and Anxiety Disorders Review

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(More customer reviews)A great many books have been written about cognitive therapy, but few are as useful to the cognitive practitioner as this book by Robert Leahy and Stephen Holland. It is a book that is remarkable for its scholarship and distilled years of clinical acumen, and clinicians, graduate students, and psychiatrists in training will find it practical beyond measure. I am a great admirer of Leahy and Holland's previous work, and this new effort has exceeded my own heightened expectations for such a volume. The book is a compendium of information that is valuable beyond measure, and makes a profound claim on the attention of all serious cognitive therapists, and those who are in training to learn cognitive therapy. The book is also likely to attract a wide audience among teachers of cognitive therapy courses in graduate and medical schools, and internship and residency programs. Among the particular glories of this excellent book are that the reader gets easy and immediate access to "state of the art" treatments for depression and anxiety disorders, detailed treatment plans, a CD that allows printable forms for patients and therapist, a detailed list of cognitive therapy interventions, and medication charts. The book is a first rate summary of knowledge about disorders and their treatments, synthesized into usable form by two master cognitive therapists, and so it is likely to be of great value to clinicians, graduate students, and psychiatrists in training. Thus, the book by Leahy and Holland is key reference work that serious cognitive practitioners will want for their libraries, and that both experienced and novice therapists can find helpful.
John H. Riskind, Ph.D. Center for Cognitive Therapy of Northern Virginia (NOVA) Fairfax, VAand Professor of Psychology George Mason University Fairfax, VA 22030

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Includes CD-ROM with Reproducible Forms!This one-of-a-kind resource provides the busy practitioner with empirically supported treatments for seven frequently encountered disorders: major depression, generalized anxiety, panic and agoraphobia, PTSD, social phobia, specific phobia, and obsessive-compulsive disorder. Serving as ready-to-use treatment packages, chapters describe basic cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) techniques and how to tailor them to each disorder. Also featured are diagnostic flow charts; therapist forms for assessment and record keeping; client handouts and homework sheets; and session-by-session case examples. Tips for troubleshooting common therapeutic roadblocks are presented, as are strategies for ensuring third-party payment authorization. The searchable CD-ROM enables clinicians to rapidly generate individualized treatment plans, print extra copies of therapist and client forms, find the facts about commonly prescribed medications, and learn more about cognitive-behavioral techniques. Facilitating effective treatment that is adapted to the realities of the typical outpatient setting, including the demands of managed care, this book and CD-ROM will be prized by novice and experienced clinicians alike.

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Oxford Textbook of Psychotherapy Review

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(More customer reviews)The font size is a joke!? It's the smallest print letter I've ever seen! What's the point of editing an interesting and complete book, if the reader's gonna end up with a headache after 5 minutes of reading? If I had known, I'd definitely wouldn't have bought it.

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With the publication of this book psychotherapy finally arrives at the mainstream of mental health practice. This volume is an essential companion for every practising psychiatrist, clinical psychologist, psychotherapy counsellor, mental health nurse, psychotherapist, and mental health practitioner. It is integrative in spirit, with chapters written by an international panel of experts who combine theory and research with practical treatment guidelines and illustrative case examples to produce an invaluable book. Part One gives a comprehensive account of all the major psychotherapeutic approaches. Parts Two and Three systematically describe psychotherapeutic approaches to the major psychiatric disorders and personality disorders. Many chapters are multi-authored and describe the psychodynamic, cognitive behavioural and other approaches for treating these illnesses. Part Four examines applications and modifications of psychotherapy across the lifecycle. Part Five describes psychotherapy with specific populations such as medical patients and those where gender is an issue, and finally Part Six tackles some of the special topics of concern to psychotherapists including ethics, legal issues, and psychotherapy and neuroscience. The first of its kind, this is a 'must have' volume for all trainee and practising psychological therapists, whatever their background - psychiatry, psychology, social work, or nursing.

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The Mindful Path to Self-Compassion: Freeing Yourself from Destructive Thoughts and Emotions Review

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(More customer reviews)If you want to understand how to apply Mindfulness and Loving-Kindness Practice in daily life to reduce suffering; it is described in this book in clear, cliche-free language. The author, a seasoned meditation practitioner, teacher, and psychotherapist, includes excerpts from contemporary brain research to bring this outstanding treatment of the topic, to a higher level. This book is highly readable, and the descriptions of how to put Self-Compassion into practice, make this book especially user-friendly. As a psychotherapist, Mindfulness Meditation practitioner, and reader of a lot of books on Mindfulness, Psychology, and the brain, I HIGHLY recommend this book. It is truly OUTSTANDING!

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The Loss of Sadness: How Psychiatry Transformed Normal Sorrow into Depressive Disorder Review

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(More customer reviews)To say I enjoyed this book might be a stretch. There were parts that were laborious because it was like reading a very long journal article on the topic. My effort to get through the book were paid off by how I conceptualize two things - the role of context in classification and the art of criticism without destructive criticism. I will detail both below.
Context: The authors make it clear from the beginning that depression is inappropriately diagnosed these days. Typical behavioral responses to sadness are probably misconstrued as depression. I found that part of the thesis quite compelling. Even more compelling was the fact that the evidence seems to favor their perspective. The point is driven home by anecdotes, data, and theory. I liked the combination because it kept the reader (me) thinking throughout the book.
Criticism: Where I think the authors deserve the most praise is for their delicate and precise criticism of the DSM. They do a remarkable job of detailing the merits of clinical diagnosis while also describing the warts. Unlike most DSM critics who want to throw all classification out, they recognize the importance of mental illness types. I was reminded of Paul Meehl's critique of the antinosological critics (in "Why I don't attend case conferences") while reading this book. These authors did not fall into Meehl's trap. Instead, they offered both sides of the situation and made it clear that their omission of context did nothing to denigrate the DSM specifically. Perhaps they were cautious of the criteria and the application of DSM diagnostic criteria without considering the context and history of the patient.
If you find either point worth reading then buy this book. I plan to make all my graduate students read parts of this book for both points above.


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Depression has become the single most commonly treated mental disorder, amid claims that one out of ten Americans suffer from this disorder every year and 25% succumb at some point in their lives. Warnings that depressive disorder is a leading cause of worldwide disability have been accompanied by a massive upsurge in the consumption of antidepressant medication, widespread screening for depression in clinics and schools,and a push to diagnose depression early, on the basis of just a few symptoms, in order to prevent more severe conditions from developing. In The Loss of Sadness, Allan V. Horwitz and Jerome C. Wakefield argue that, while depressive disorder certainly exists and can be a devastating condition warranting medical attention, the apparent epidemic in fact reflects the way the psychiatric profession has understood and reclassified normal human sadness as largely an abnormal experience. With the 1980 publication of the landmark third edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-III), mental health professionals began diagnosing depression based on symptoms--such as depressed mood, loss of appetite, and fatigue--that lasted for at least two weeks. This system is fundamentally flawed, the authors maintain, because it fails to take into account the context in which the symptoms occur. They stress the importance of distinguishing between abnormal reactions due to internal dysfunction and normal sadness brought on by external circumstances. Under the current DSM classification system, however, this distinction is impossible to make, so the expected emotional distress caused by upsetting events-for example, the loss of a job or the end of a relationship- could lead to a mistaken diagnosis of depressive disorder. Indeed, it is this very mistake that lies at the root of the presumed epidemic of major depression in our midst. In telling the story behind this phenomenon, the authors draw on the 2,500-year history of writing about depression, including studies in both the medical and social sciences, to demonstrate why the DSM's diagnosis is so flawed.They also explore why it has achieved almost unshakable currency despite its limitations. Framed within an evolutionary account of human health and disease, The Loss of Sadness presents a fascinating dissection of depression as both a normal and disordered human emotion and a sweeping critique of current psychiatric diagnostic practices. The result is a potent challenge to the diagnostic revolution that began almost thirty years ago in psychiatry and a provocative analysis of one of the most significant mental health issues today.

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Group Treatment for Substance Abuse: A Stages-of-Change Therapy Manual Review

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(More customer reviews)This manual combines the effective therapy of Motivational Interviewing with the Catalysts of Change. It utilizes two tracks, a cognitive track that can be used to motivate substance users by eliciting and providing specific information to raise consciousness and allow for self-reevaluation. It also has a behavioral track that helps substance users become aware of and develop coping strategies for lasting change. The authors did an excellent job arranging these evidenced-based exercises so that the participants seem to be able to grow into the change process from one session to the next. Printable worksheets are provided with every session with very clear step by step instructions. I've been a group therapist for 25 years, this is the best collection of group exercises I've used. As a clinical assistant professor in a university setting I use it with psychology interns as a teaching manual and they have consistantly reported an increased confidence in their ability to provide group therpy following this manual.

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This practical manual presents a 29-session treatment program designed to engage, motivate, and stimulate processes of change in clients at all stages of recovery. The program is based on the research-supported transtheoretical model of behavior change. The manual describes skills-building activities and interventions that are likely to be most effective with clients as they cycle from the earlier stages of change/m-/precontemplation, contemplation, and preparation/m-/to the later stages, action and maintenance. Each of the structured sessions is presented in a consistent, highly accessible format, including a clear rationale, summary of objectives, and overview of the main activities that will take place. Step-by-step guidelines for implementation are provided, as well as strategies for using a motivational interviewing style. The manual is complete with all needed handouts and exercise forms, ready to photocopy and distribute to clients. Ideal for use with groups, the approach can easily be adapted to individual treatment.

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