Review
"...written crystal clearly, ... a very enjoyable up-to-date "read" filled with wise perceptions and precious information and recommendations." --
Frederick S. Sierles, MD, Professor and Director of Medical Student Education in Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and ScienceThis well organised edition of what is now a standard teaching text in North America has a structure reminiscent of Carl Jung s posthumously published Man and his Symbols (Aldus Jupiter 1964) which was aimed at the general reader. Sections such as Mind-Body Interactions in Health and Disease, Physician-Patient Interactions and Social and Cultural Issues in Health Care have their individual chapters illustrated with classical pictures (e.g. Albrecht Durer s Melencolia on page 142) and epigrams and poetry whose authors range from Epicurus to Albert Schweitzer.
UK-based readers may be pleasantly surprised by the catholicity of sources acknowledged by the US-based contributors Winnicott of Great Britain takes his place on page 134 alongside continental-based psychodynamic theorists such as Freud, Jung, Adler and Erikson (the latter of identity crisis fame) as does Professor D R Laurence late of the Pharmacology Department of University College Hospital Medical School London. But how does the book stand up as a didactic work ? Quite well in the opinion of this reviewer. Americanisms apart (and even these have teaching value for any Army doctor liable for NATO duties which means most of us) this text covers the gamut of behaviour science involved in medical practice without in any way usurping the place of an introductory textbook of psychiatry.
Overall the book represents fairly good value for its price and size. No topic is introduced at a level of complexity which would require a second reading. Nevertheless plenty of direction to the reader who wishes to explore the literature further is given in the Suggested Readings sections which conclude each of the 26 chapters. The final chapter headed American Medicine is Sick is worth reading as a very short account of how an essentially unplanned healthcare system can deliver virtually any diagnostic or therapeutic modality to those who can afford to pay, yet earlier (page 258) the American Medical Association s Council on Ethical and Judicial Affairs considers that the patient s failure to pay a bill is itself not sufficient justification for terminating a therapeutic relationship. A text for the DMSD library service definitely; but for the GP s or specialist s office only if the occupant is especially interested, perhaps if engaged in research with a behaviour science aspect. Edinburgh graduates will doubtless approve of the book s references to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and to the medical bildungsroman author (page 358) Colin Douglas. --Nicholas Cooper, Journal of the Royal Army Medical Corps, September 2006
About the Author
Danny Wedding, PhD, MPH, is Director of the Missouri Institute of Mental Health, Saint Louis, MO, and Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Neurology, University of Missouri-Columbia School of Medicine, Columbia, MO. He has been teachning behavioral science to medical students for many years. Other than being a passionate teacher, he is also a lover of fine art.
The other contributors to the book are all leading educators at major medical faculties, and include:
Andy Balas, John Beaton, Debra Bendell Estroff, Larry Bradley, Howard Brody, George Brown, John Carr, Rosalind Cartwright, Salvador Ceniceros, Steve Cody, Judith Cope, Barbara Cubic, Shirley Damrosch, Denny Davidson, Nancy Diehl, James Dietch, Carol Donley, Kristofer Hagglund, Lawrence Hartledge, Wendy Heller, Bryan R. Johnson, Brick Johnstone, Jeff Kelly, Martin Kohn, Joe Labarbara, David B. Larson, Susan S. Larson, John Linton, Leon McGahee, Sharon Murphy, Barry Nurcombe, John Ruark, Mark Savickas, Darlene Shaw, David Snyder, Harriet A. Squier, John Stone, George Ulett, Marie Veitia, Edward Walker, Fred Wolf, Peter Zeldow
