Fall 2009 Bookshelf

Food and Nutrition Controversies Today: A Reference Guide
Myrna Chandler Goldstein and Mark A. Goldstein
Greenwood Press
Reports and studies about nutrition and food often get a lot of attention, but sometimes those reports offer little in the way of practical advice for patients or their doctors and may even contradict one another. Author Myrna Goldstein and her husband Mark Goldstein, HMS assistant professor of pediatrics at Massachusetts General Hospital, have taken 16 of the most talked about food controversies, such as bottled water vs. tap, farm-raised vs. fresh fish and genetically modified foods, reviewed the literature and presented their conclusions. They caution that the chapters are only meant to provide an introduction to the discussions and provide a list of resources for further reading on each topic.

The Placebo Response and the Power of Unconscious Healing
Richard Kradin
Routledge
In clinical research, the placebo effect is a familiar phenomenon, but little is known about how this response is elicited, says Richard Kradin, HMS associate professor of pathology at Massachusetts General Hospital. Kradin delves into the history of the placebo in medicine, noting that at one time all medical treatments were placebos, and examines the placebo response’s place in modern medicine. He reviews what is known about the placebo response, who experiences it and when, and he attempts to determine if it can be generalized or if there are many different kinds of response for different diseases and treatments.

A Mind Apart: Poems of Madness, Melancholy and Addiction
Mark S. Bauer, Editor
Oxford University Press
Mark Bauer, HMS professor of psychiatry at the VA Boston Healthcare System (also see Overcoming Bipolar Disorder), was asked to give a poetry reading by the Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance. When he began searching for appropriate poems, he was surprised to find no anthologies that suited his needs. In response, he collected more than 200 poems, spanning seven centuries, that address either “mental illness” in a clinical sense or “madness” in a cultural sense while addressing a wide range of mental states, from mania to depression to drug addiction. He mines from the work of Emily Dickinson, Sylvia Plath and Shakespeare and includes the lyrics to popular songs published in the early 1800s. An in-depth introduction offers insight into his choices for the anthology.

Current Diagnosis & Treatment: Gastroenterology, Hepatology, & Endoscopy
Norton J. Greenberger, Richard S. Blumberg and Robert Burakoff, Editors
McGraw Hill
Over the past decade, basic and translation research has revealed new insights and ushered in dramatic changes to the fields of gastroenterology and hepatology, such as the use of endoscopy for diagnosis and treatment. The fields have also seen the advent of subspecialties in pancreatic disease and inflammatory bowel disease, along with intersections with other specialties, like radiology. Editors Norton Greenberger, HMS clinical professor of medicine; Richard Blumberg, HMS professor of medicine; and Robert Burakoff, HMS associate professor of medicine, all at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, have provided a concise, up-to-date guide to the diagnosis and treatment of gastrointestinal and hepatic disorders, almost exclusively using authors from HMS and BWH.

The Violent Person
Raymond B. Flannery Jr.
The American Mental Health Foundation
Healthcare workers are often witnesses to violent behavior and are sometimes even victims of it. In his book, Raymond Flannery Jr., HMS associate clinical professor of psychology in the Department of Psychiatry at Cambridge Hospital, defines a behavioral emergency as one in which a potentially violent person needs medical care. In three parts, Flannery discusses the basic nature of behavioral emergencies and some general strategies to assess and manage risk; four common situations that can lead to behavioral emergencies, psychological trauma, domestic violence, psychiatric emergencies and youth violence; and some self-care techniques to help clinicians deal with the stress and trauma of responding to behavioral emergencies.

Overcoming Bipolar Disorder
Mark S. Bauer, Amy M. Kilbourne, Devra E. Greenwald, Evette J. Ludman, and Linda McBride
New Harbinger Publications
Bipolar disorder has a biological component that can be treated with drugs, but it has a behavioral component, too, say Mark Bauer, HMS professor of psychiatry at the VA Boston Healthcare System (also see A Mind Apart: Poems of Madness, Melancholy and Addiction), and his co-authors. Patients can learn to live well in spite of their symptoms. This workbook gives patients a step-by-step approach to understanding the disorder, dealing with triggers and coping with symptoms, and maintaining relationships with family and friends.

Cardiac Imaging: The Requisites (3rd Edition)
Stephen Wilmot Miller, Lawrence M. Boxt and Suhny Abbara, Editors
Mosby Elsevier
The third edition of Cardiac Imaging, part of The Requisites series of radiology textbooks, reflects the increased usage of echocardiography and cardiac magnetic resonance and new uses of technology for noninvasive cardiac imaging. The first part of the book provides an overview of cardiac imaging and descriptions of the most commonly used technologies. The other chapters examine the major categories of disease and how imaging technologies can be used to identify and manage them. Befitting a book about imaging, editors Stephen Miller, HMS associate professor of medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital; Lawrence Boxt of the Albert Einstein College of Medicine; and Suhny Abbara, HMS associate professor of radiology at MGH have included dozens of photos and illustrations, many in full color.

Essential Atlas of Cardiovascular Disease
Peter Libby, Editor
Springer
The latest edition of the Essential Atlas of Cardiovascular Disease, from the series originally edited by Eugene Braunwald, the Hersey Distinguished professor of the theory and practice of physic at HMS and Brigham and Women’s Hospital, presents the most up-to-date information on the major principles and recent advances in cardiovascular medicine. Edited by Peter Libby, the Mallinckrodt professor of medicine at HMS and chief of cardiology at BWH, the book is image heavy, reflecting the importance of imaging in cardiovascular disease diagnosis and treatment. The text addresses the most common clinical problems in cardiovascular medicine and describes the strengths and weaknesses of the newest diagnostic and management technologies versus older ones.

In Her Wake: A Child Psychiatrist Explores the Mystery of her Mother’s Suicide
Nancy Rappaport
Basic Books
In 1963, after a publicized divorce and custody battle, a mother commits suicide, leaving behind four-year-old Nancy Rappaport, now an HMS assistant professor of psychiatry at Cambridge Health Alliance, and her five siblings. Mining court documents, newspaper articles, her mother’s unpublished novel, and her own memories and those of family and friends, Rappaport pieces together her mother’s story and uses it as a framework to examine her own life as a girl growing up without a mom, as a child psychiatrist and as a mother.