Clinical Handbook of Health Psychology : A Practical Guide Guide to Effective Interventions » (2nd Edition)

Camic, Paul M., PhD (Univ of Chicago); Knight, Sara J., PhD (Northwestern Univ)

The second edition of this health psychology text/reference for graduate students and practitioners takes into account advancements made in health psychology assessment and treatment since the publication of the first edition in 1998. Camic (liberal education, Columbia College Chicago) and Knight (psychiatry, urology, University of California-San Francisco) present foundations of good practice in the field, then present material on the most important medical conditions psychologists deal with, including cardiovascular and respiratory disorders, chronic pain, diabetes, endocrine and gastrointestinal problems, and AIDS. A final section looks at the roles of community, social, spiritual, and creative involvement. Annotation © 2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

Lisa K. Sharp

This book is organized around several chapters on organ-specific disorders and/or symptoms. It closes with chapters on social support, spirituality, medical art therapy, and risk reduction in specific populations. Much information is organized into tabular form making it accessible as a reference. The goal is to provide an empirically-based text on healing for practitioners of clinical health psychology. Specifically, the editors seek to present information across the range of biological, psychological, and social sources of knowledge on the healing process. The extent of biopsychosocial integration of information varies somewhat across contributors. This book is appropriate for an audience from graduate students to experienced clinicians who are interested in learning about clinical health psychology. Chapters on organ-specific disorders and/or symptoms include a succinct explanation of relevant pathophysiology, biomedical treatment, psychological referral issues, psychological assessment, psychological treatment, professional practice issues, and case illustrations. There is mild variation in organization across chapters and in the quality of case illustrations. This book is very complete in addressing the primary medical issues faced by clinical health psychologists. It assumes minimal medical knowledge and provides basic, yet important pathophysiology relevant to each topic. References to review articles and supplementary sources are plentiful. Case illustrations highlight many clinical techniques used in clinical health psychology without excessive use of the vernacular. Information is accessible to advanced graduate students as well as experienced clinical healthpsychologists. This is a unique addition to the field and complements similar texts such as Belar'sClinical Health Psychology in Medical Settings: A Practitioner's Guidebook (American Psychological Association, 1995), Sweet's Handbook of Clinical Psychology in Medical Settings (Plenum, 1991), and Rozensky's Psychological Assessment in Medical Settings (Plenum, 1997) without being redundant.