T. Berry Brazelton and Joshua Sparrow
Touchpoints Birth to Three: Your Child’s Emotional and Behavioral Development
De Capo Press
T. Berry Brazelton, child development guru and HMS clinical professor emeritus of pediatrics at Children’s Hospital Boston, first released his guide to the first three years of a child’s life in 1992. In response to new research, technological advances, and a rapidly changing world, Brazelton, along with Joshua Sparrow, HMS assistant professor of psychiatry at Children’s, has released a fully revised edition of his New York Times best seller. The new version addresses present-day concerns like childhood obesity along with current trends in childcare, like cosleeping. Brazelton’s book is laid out in three sections. The first offers a chronological preview of a child’s development, including common questions and concerns Brazelton has encountered in his practice. The second is an encyclopedia of development challenges—like tantrums, bed-wetting, and sibling rivalry—and how parents can resolve them. The third describes the role that “allies,” such as grandparents and babysitters, play in the child’s development. The book also includes a directory of useful addresses and websites.
Lawrence Epstein and Steven Mardon
The Harvard Medical School Guide to a Good Night’s Sleep
McGraw–Hill
Everyone knows that getting a good night’s sleep is important to overall health, but a large number of people have trouble putting this advice into practice. Lawrence Epstein writes that studies have shown nearly 75 percent of adults have sleep complaints, and more than half exhibit one or more signs of insomnia. Epstein, an HMS instructor in medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and a physician in the BWH Division of Sleep Medicine, presents a comprehensive guide to identifying sleep problems and needs and implementing changes to improve the duration and quality of sleep. The book provides an overview of the importance of sleep, what happens to the body without sleep, and common sleep complaints. Epstein then discusses specific sleep disorders and situations that can make sleep challenging. The book also gives information on sleep medications and what to expect when visiting a sleep specialist.
Jean Fain
Float to Health & Well-being: A Jean Fain Relaxation CD
Self-published
Stress takes a toll on the body, not only emotionally but physically as well. On her audio CD, Jean Fain, an HMS teaching associate in psychiatry at Cambridge Hospital, attests that while relaxation techniques are the simplest, cheapest, and safest way to combat the harmful effects of stress, they are often overlooked. By practicing relaxation, says Fain, listeners can improve mood and concentration, increase energy, and be better equipped to deal with ongoing health issues like chronic pain. The CD includes two relaxation sessions: a full-length version, which Fain recommends using every day, and a mini-session for those short on time or unable to sit still for longer periods. Fain talks the listener through both sessions, giving suggestions on breathing and what to focus on. With practice, Fain says, listeners should be able to illicit the relaxation response at any time, with or without the CD.
Mark Feldman, Lawrence S. Friedman, and Lawrence J. Brandt, Editors
Sleisinger & Fordtran’s Gastrointestinal and Liver Disease
Saunders Elsevier
Considered by some as the definitive clinical resource in the field, this venerable two-volume set covers the spectrum of gastroenterologic and hepatic disorders from the esophagus to the anorectum. Lawrence Friedman, chair of medicine at Newton–Wellesley Hospital and an HMS professor of medicine, and his co-editors have retained the overall organization of the book while adding new chapters, such as one on gastrointestinal stromal tumors by George Demetri of the Dana–Farber Cancer Institute. One third of the contributing authors, which include nearly a dozen from the Harvard Medical community, are new to this edition, to ensure fresh, updated, and critically assessed content. Expanded sections reflect scientific advances and changing times; for example, discussion of at least 20 new drugs in gastroenterology; eating disorders; obesity; and liver diseases caused by anesthetics, toxins, and herbal preparations. Nearly all endoscopic and histologic figures are now in full color, and, as in early editions, integrated with the text in each chapter.
Joseph Glenmullen, Sidney Wanzer
To Die Well: Your Right to Comfort, Calm, and Choice in the Last Days of Life
De Capo Press
Planning ahead of time gives patients the power to ensure that end-of-life care is carried out as desired, even when they are no longer able to make decisions. Being prepared can also better equip family members to make difficult choices for their loved ones. Sidney Wanzer, former director of Harvard University Health Services and a leader in the right-to-die movement, along with Joseph Glenmullen, HMS clinical instructor in psychiatry at Cambridge Hospital, have authored a straightforward guide to ensuring a good death for patients that is also comforting for their families. The book gives a detailed discussion of a patient’s rights; what to expect from doctors; and the benefits, problems, methods, and legal issues of hastening death. The book also includes chapters on the importance of advanced directives, the history of the end-of-life movement, and sample living-will documents.
Carolyn Kaelin, Francesca Coltrera, Josie Gardiner, Joy Prouty
The Breast Cancer Survivor’s Fitness Plan
McGraw–Hill
Research has suggested that regular exercise may reduce the risk of recurrence in breast cancer patients. What’s more, a regular exercise program can help women recover from some of the side effects of breast cancer treatment, such as fatigue, muscle loss and weight gain, loss of mobility, and bone loss. Carolyn Kaelin, HMS assistant professor of surgery and the founding director of the Comprehensive Breast Health Center at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and her co-authors have created a fitness plan that takes into consideration special challenges breast cancer survivors may face when becoming active after treatment. The book includes chapters on what to expect for women who have undergone lumpectomies, mastectomies, and reconstructive surgeries, and the fitness plan is adaptable accordingly. Kaelin and her co-authors also offer nutrition advice and worksheets to track fitness gains.
Jeffrey Katz
Heal Your Aching Back
McGraw–Hill
Back pain is a frequent complaint—most people will experience it at some point in their lives—and often the origins of back pain can be mysterious. Trying to get a diagnosis and treatment for back pain can be just as frustrating and drawn out as the pain itself, with patients visiting doctor after doctor, only to get a different recommendation each time. Jeffrey Katz, HMS associate professor of medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, suffered from back pain as a medical student and has subsequently realized that the advice he was given was wrong. In his guide for back pain sufferers, Katz leaves no stone unturned, discussing in detail the reasons for back pain, possible diagnoses, different surgeries, and methods of pain control. He also offers tips for performing everyday tasks like driving and working at a computer in ways that will help sufferers avoid a relapse.
Arthur Kleinman
What Really Matters: Living a Moral Life Amidst Uncertainty and Danger
Oxford University Press
Extraordinary circumstances can test the values even of people with the strongest convictions. In the midst of chaos and violence, mere survival from one day to the next can overshadow the most important things in a person’s life, such as relationships, religious beliefs, and political affiliation. Arthur Kleinman, HMS professor of medical anthropology in the Department of Social Medicine, tells the stories of several individuals who found themselves in such situations and examines what happens to morals and values of people in troubling and stressful situations. Kleinman’s exploration of identity and ethics lends a sense of humanity to atrocities large and small, from war to poverty to illness. Kleinman also asserts that while danger and uncertainties may seem like abnormalities in an otherwise peaceful existence, they are, in fact, eventualities that everyone will likely face at some point, and they play a large role in shaping an individual’s identity.
Marvin Krims
The Mind According to Shakespeare
Praeger
Shakespeare’s characters are no strangers to psychoanalytic theory—every year, thousands of high school students learn about Freud’s Oedipus complex not in psychology class but in English, while reading Hamlet. But literary characters, no matter how complex, do not easily lend themselves to psychoanalytic method. Marvin Krims, an HMS lecturer on psychiatry at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, with careful reading and a little imagination, attempts to analyze some of Shakespeare’s best-known characters and also gives insight into the mind of the readers and the Bard himself. Making inferences from Shakespeare’s texts, Krims shows us how Romeo’s traumatic childhood left its imprint on his adult personality and why we feel uncomfortable after watching a staging of The Taming of the Shrew. In a series of mock letters, Krims treats Beatrice from Much Ado About Nothing as though she were an actual patient.
JoAnne Manson and Shari Bassuk
Hot Flashes, Hormones and Your Health: Breakthrough Findings to Help You Sail Through Menopause
McGraw–Hill
When research showed that hormone replacement therapy for menopause posed more health risks than benefits, millions of women stopped taking it. Soon after, many found that their symptoms returned. Others opted not to begin hormone therapy and suffered through uncomfortable symptoms instead. According to JoAnn Manson, the Elizabeth F. Brigham professor of women’s health at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, hormone replacement therapy is still an option for women in good cardiovascular health who have just entered menopause. In fact, she writes, for these women, the health benefits may outweigh the risks. In her book, Manson gives an in-depth analysis of the benefits and risks of hormone replacement therapy and provides a series of worksheets, questionnaires, and charts to help the reader determine if she is a good candidate. Manson also offers suggestions for alternative treatments for women unwilling or unable to undergo hormone therapy.
Richard Mollica
Healing Invisible Wounds: Paths to Hope and Recovery in a Violent World
Harcourt
Society, world governments, and the medical community all have a history of treating survivors of trauma and violence as lost causes, as outcasts to be managed rather than treated. It is only recently that the psychological impact of violence and trauma has entered into the public discourse, writes Richard Mollica, HMS professor of psychiatry at Massachusetts General Hospital and director of the Harvard Program in Refugee Trauma. Mollica cofounded the program, then the Indochinese Psychiatry Clinic, in response to a need for culturally aware care for area refugees. In this book, he recounts the stories of people he has met who have suffered immensely due to war, hurricanes, terrorist attacks, and genocide and reveals their remarkable ability to overcome their pain and loss and to heal themselves. Mollica places particular emphasis on the “trauma story” and the importance of allowing survivors to tell their stories in their own language.
Timothy O’Farrell and William Fals-Stewart
Behavioral Couples Therapy for Alcoholism and Drug Abuse
Guilford
Drug and alcohol addiction has long been treated as a “family disease,” since addiction affects not just the user but the entire family. Many of the best-known treatments, such as 12-step programs, involve the entire family, and familiar language, like codependence and enabling, springs from this approach. Studies have shown a particular kind of family therapy, behavioral couples therapy (BCT), to be a highly effective method for treating substance abuse. According to Timothy O’Farrell, HMS professor of psychology in the Department of Psychiatry at Brockton VA Medical Center, and William Fals-Stewart, director of the Addiction and Family Research Group in Western New York, this method is surprisingly underused despite the demonstrated effectiveness. The guide offers a thorough discussion of BCT and how O’Farrell and his co-author have used it in clinical settings, along with clinical tools like a “recovery contract,” checklists, and sample scripts.
Richard J. Shaw and David R. DeMaso
Clinical Manual of Pediatric Psychosomatic Medicine
American Psychiatric Publishing
Psychosomatic medicine, also known as consultation-liaison psychiatry, refers to specialized expertise in providing mental health services to physically ill children and teens, explain David DeMaso, HMS professor of psychiatry (pediatrics) and psychiatrist-in-chief at Children’s Hospital Boston, and his co-author Richard Shaw of Stanford University in their opening chapter. From anxiety to mood disorders to delirium, psychiatric disorders can emerge directly from an illness or treatment or be completely unrelated. Either way, they can affect the course of severity of the illness and complicate treatment. The authors provide a brief history of the subspecialty and its complex position on the pediatric medical team. Other chapters aim to fulfill the book’s recommendations that a psychiatric consultant have expertise in the field of adjustment to acute and chronic illness; a firm grounding in developmental and family issues and psychiatric disorders specific to childhood; and a knowledge of procedures, medications, hospital routines, and medical outcomes. The publisher’s website calls the manual “the only complete text on the subject.”
Julie Silver
After Cancer Treatment: Heal Faster, Better, Stronger
Johns Hopkins University Press
As a physician, Julie Silver, HMS assistant professor of physical medicine and rehabilitation, had treated cancer patients for years. It was not until she was diagnosed with cancer herself that she truly understood the toll cancer treatment takes on the body. Even after she completed her treatment, chemotherapy left her feeling weak and old, suffering from neuropathy, low stamina, and insomnia. To spur the recovery process, she formulated a comprehensive plan for healing that takes into account physical, emotional, and spiritual well-being. Silver draws from several traditions, including conventional and Eastern medicine, and balances resting, relaxation techniques, and pacing oneself with exercise, goal--setting, and taking an active role in one’s own health. The recommendations Silver presents run the gamut from what vitamins to take and avoid to suggestions for prayer and meditation. The book also examines the future of cancer care and includes a nationwide directory of resources for patients and families.
Alvin Townley
Legacy of Honor: The Values and Influence of America’s Eagle Scouts
St. Martin’s
This exploration of the character and achievements of men who served as Eagle Scouts covers the experiences of Zayed Yasin, a third-year student at HMS, and Edward Benz, president of Dana–Farber Cancer Institute, among many other leaders. As one of the student speakers at his 2002 graduation from Harvard College, Yasin described the precarious situation of being an American Muslim in the United States after 9/11. Beginning with that event, Yasin describes in the book the stabilizing framework scouting offered, which he sees as wholly compatible with his Muslim faith. In the section on Benz, the Dana–Farber chief says that scouting was the seed of his self-confidence, which grew as he did, enabling him to embrace responsibility and leadership. Author Alvin Townley, not affiliated with HMS, was also an Eagle Scout.
