Behavior and Medicine by Danny Wedding, Margaret Stuber, M. L. Stuber

Warren Lee Holleman

This is an attractive, interesting book on psychosocial aspects of health, featuring chapters on the various stages of the life cycle; health issues related to love, sexuality, and work; assessing the mental health of patients; and unhealthy behaviors associated with preventable illnesses. Authors from throughout the United States contributed to the volume. The purpose is to describe how behavior affects health and to encourage the reader to practice a more humane, effective style of medicine. This is an extremely important task, considering the way medical education gives insufficient attention to the psychosocial component of health and the therapeutic value of empathy. The book meets this objective. Targeted especially to medical students, the book will be useful to students in other health professions as well, including nursing, public health, psychology, and physician assistants. The most striking feature is the extraordinary number of paintings, photographs, poems, and literary excerpts used effectively to illustrate the themes of the chapters. This second edition has significantly fewer references than the earlier one, appropriate given its purpose of introducing the subject to a broad range of students. The book is an excellent introduction to the psychosocial dimension of health, illness, and medicine. The chapters are written in a compact, clinically relevant, and interesting style that will engage all students, including those seeking a different perspective than the standard one taught in basic sciences and those who generally have to be dragged kicking and screaming to the trough of behavioral medicine.

Doody Review Services

Reviewer:Marie A Dewitt, MD (Rush University Medical Center)
Description:This is a unique, multidisciplinary textbook that reexamines the impact of the often overlooked contributions of psychosociocultural factors in the individual experiences in, and behavior toward, healthcare. It also focuses on the maladaptive behaviors of physicians, patients, industries, and current health policy that have contributed to the current state of healthcare in the United States.
Purpose:The purpose is to educate current generations of healthcare professionals about the significance of cultural, social, economic, and political beliefs and constraints in which patient behaviors occur.
Audience:Although the original targeted audience was medical students preparing to take the United States Medical Licensing Examination, it appears that the book is also used by students of various healthcare professions including those in public health, nursing, and social work.
Features:This edition reemphasizes the commitment to the education of the original target audience with a focus on, and organization around, the six core domains of education recently recommended by the Institute of Medicine. The book is realistically organized for the medical student with italics and bold highlighting important concepts or terms. Suggested readings are listed at the end of each chapter, although it is unclear whether these also serve as the references for the chapter. An appendix of study questions for the USMLE behavioral sciences component are provided as an appendix. Pertinent photographs, poems, and clinical vignettes complement thetext.
Assessment:This is an amazing resource that fulfills an important role in the comprehensive education of healthcare professionals. It is a reminder of the humanistic approach to medicine in the modern era with a focus on the societal and cultural contributions to an individual's experience with, and behavior within, the healthcare system. Finally, it also serves as a strong reminder of the sickness of our current healthcare delivery model and the need to change this fundamental component prior to anticipating significant changes in the behavior of patients.

Booknews

Despite the suffering evident in the cover art, by Edward Munch, Wedding (psychiatry and neurology, U. of Missouri-Columbia School of Medicine) is optimistic about the healing power of art and relationships. The 29 chapters explore healthcare-patient/societal relationships, bases of human behavior, the life cycle, patient issues, decision-making about patients, and behavior and disease. Appends information on assessment, medical statistics and research design, the medicine-literature link; poetry; and the answer key to practice questions. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Rating

4 Stars! from Doody

Product Details

• Table of Contents

Table of Contents