Carl C. Bell

Affect Regulation and Prevention of Risky Behaviors

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Psychiatry for People of African Descent in the USA

People of African Descent (PAD) in the USA are comprised of both African Americans—who have marched a rough terrain, from roots in Africa to crossing the ocean to the USA, experiencing enslavement and for some, to present day mass incarceration—and more recent African and Caribbean immigrants. For some African Americans, the path through American slavery has led many to exposure of significant collective and personal trauma that deeply influences their mental and physical health. For other PAD who had voluntarily immigrated to the USA, the path has been one of historical colonialism, national independence, and recent immigration. In order to effectively treat and even prevent mental disorders in PAD, it is important to know and appreciate the history, context, and dynamics that influence this diverse group of people. Without this knowledge and subsequent deliberate responses, the mental and emotional strife that some PAD face will persist. This chapter provides a description of the history, context, and dynamics that influence the mental health and wellness of PAD in the USA. The authors also identify and delineate treatment needs, suggest ways to address these needs, delineate gaps within the system, and provide recommendations for next steps. Ideally, after reading this chapter, readers will have taken one step forward along their path to better the mental health treatment of African Americans and have an idea of directions for future learning and growth. Unfortunately, our information about the recent PAD immigrants is just beginning to be unearthed, so we will need to be patient until we can speak more authoritatively about these populations’ issues.

The American Psychiatric Press Textbook of Neuropsychiatry

This invaluable, peerless book examines the explosion of knowledge in neuropsychiatry. The chapter authors, world-renowned experts in their fields, do a striking job of presenting complex material in an easy to understand and remember fashion. Section 1, on the basic principles of neuroscience, begins by recognizing the neurodevelopmental aberrations that cause many neuropsychiatric disorders. As understanding of the neuron increases, these disorders will soon be pre- ventable. The chapter on electrophysiology touts the study of sleep and psychiatric disorders as rich areas for future fruitful investigations. This section also contains a great deal of up-to-date information about central nervous system receptors and substantive data on which parts of the brain are responsible for behavioral, emotional, and cognitive functions. The second section contains worth-while information on examining neuropsychiatric patients, electrodiagnostic techniques, and neuropsychological tests. A new chapter on clinical imagining is extremely informative about new techniques and contains computed tomographic

Comprehensive Textbook of Psychiatry/VI

This two-volume text covers nearly every aspect of modern psychiatry. Because the last edition was published in 1989, the advent of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition (DSM-IV) called for major changes in the 30th anniversary edition of the Kaplan and Sadock text. Thus, it is nearly 25% larger than the previous edition. The volumes contain 53 chapters, 27 of which focus on the diagnostic approach taken in DSM-IV , and accordingly, diagnostic categories are highlighted with a critical commentary on the criteria and a case example. A new useful addition are the color pictures of all the drugs currently used in psychiatry in the United States. Another serviceable feature is that contributors were asked to note with an asterisk the five most important references in their long bibliographies. The preface has a succinct and pithy explication of the crisis in US health care and is well

No Dancin' in Anson: An American Story of Race and Social Change

This refreshingly candid, easy to read little book seeks to explain issues, ie, the psychologies, underlying ethnic difference and racial prejudice, dynamics that ameliorate or worsen the social impact of Americas increasing racial diversity. Dr Ainslie teaches his valuable lessons by telling the story of Anson, Texas, and its social and legal struggle over whether the town should allow a high school prom with dancing. The controversy is presented as a symptom of an underlying conflict over the changes Anson endured from the legal death of segregation and resultant increase in the ethnic composition of the population from 12% to 35%. Using this social stage, the author tells stories of individuals and families, thereby delving into the individual and collective psyches of the participants—insiders and outsiders—in the right-to-dance conflict, thus crystalizing the psychodynamics of otherness. The book is an interesting mixture of sociology and psychoanalysis, intermingling an ethnographic approach with

Oxford Textbook of Psychiatry

This is a well-written textbook with a pragmatic orientation toward practice, chock-full of hard-to-find clinical tidbits. Because of its British roots, the tome is more international in coverage than US texts, such as the Comprehensive Textbook of Psychiatry/VI (Baltimore, Md: Williams & Wilkins; reviewed in JAMA , March 20, 1996). Accordingly, its pages contain many cross-cultural pearls. Comparisons with the International Statistical Classification of Diseases, 10th Revision (ICD-10) and the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition (DSM-IV) are made throughout. Sometimes authors follow the ICD-10 criteria, other times DSMIV criteria, depending on which they feel are more useful to the clinician; thus, the reader is afforded both classifications. Each of the 22 chapters begins with a useful introduction explaining crucial concepts and principles of the various types of psychiatric disorders, helping the reader to organize the massive amount of data presented. Rather than appearing in a stand-alone chapter,

The Police-Mental Health Partnership: A Community-Based Response to Urban Violence

The nine authors, five from the Child Study Center at Yale University and four from the New Haven Department of Police Service, have done an outstanding job in collaborating on this important little book. Their cooperation is a reflection of the actual partnership within the Child Development—Community Policing (CDCP) Program in New Haven, Conn, which was designed to ameliorate the traumatic impact of violence on childrens lives. The introduction outlines the scope of the problem of community violence and reviews several studies that give some indication of how many children are exposed to this type of trauma. In addition, there are explanations of community policing and community mental health and how the CD-CP Program was developed based on the principles of Dr James Comer. Referred to as a manual by the lead author, this how-to handbook outlines the components of the CD-CP Program. The first component—the child development fellowship—was designed

They Say You're Crazy: How the World's Most Powerful Psychiatrists Decide Who's Normal

The main point of this book is to contest the use of self-defeating personality disorder (SDPD) and late luteal phase dysphoric disorder (LLPDD) as diagnoses for women. Dr Caplan, a psychologist, feels that women who are labeled with these diagnoses are going to be damaged by the intervention. Accordingly, she wants to expose the decisionmaking process about who is normal, as she feels that being knowledgeable about this background can help persons overcome the damage done to them when they are called abnormal. It is the authors opinion that the constructing of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, Fourth Edition (DSM-IV) , of the American Psychiatric Association (APA) was a disingenuous and dishonest process. Dr Caplan underscores most peoples concern with being classified as normal, and she appropriately notes that being labeled mentally abnormal causes countless people to have a poor self-image. She feels mental health professionals tend to overdiagnose rather than

The Most Solitary of Afflictions: Madness and Society in Britain 1700-1900

This text seeks to document the historical reasons for the shift from the medieval British societal response of not segregating the mentally ill to the 19th-century practice of patients being incarcerated in a specialized, bureaucratically organized, state-supported asylum system which isolated them both physically and symbolically from the larger society. The author notes that medieval England had an unsystematic approach to the care of the mentally ill, and the state had to take more control. In the 18th century these individuals were isolated from society in workhouses, prisons, and hospitals. Since the mentally ill did not fit into these settings, the desire to separate them out began to be a priority, and they became identified as a market. In 1815 a parliamentary inquiry began, and the bad conditions in asylums were exposed. The first attempt at passing reform bills failed owing to their threat to the mad business. Since local

Treating the Homeless Mentally III: A Task Force Report of the American Psychiatric Association

This is an informative, well-written, easy-to-read, good book by experts in the field. It begins by noting that the recommendations published in the first task force report, The Homeless Mentally Ill (1984), were never fully carried out and strongly recommends actualization of the first reports suggestions. The book has a balanced approach and advocates for patients rights without throwing out the need for medication and involuntary commitment. advoca[ting] patients rights without throwing out... medication and involuntary commitment Section one covers the context of treatment and provides an excellent literature review that addresses the prevalence of mental illness and drug abuse among the homeless. A down-to-earth discussion of deinstitutionalization looks at the hard realities of the seriously and chronically mentally ill and their actual potential for vocational rehabilitation. The need for therapeutic but realistic optimism is stressed along with this populations need for asylum and shelter in the community. There is