The Complete Guide to Mental Health for Women by Lauren Slater, Jessica Daniel, Amy Banks (Editor), Jessica Henderson Daniel (Editor)

Product Details

Synopsis

An indispensable home reference for women, from the college years to old age. The Complete Guide to Mental Health For Women is designed to help women take control of their mental health, whether their concern is a specific disorder or simply the psychological stresses of a life in transition. Within an accessible format that includes tables, charts, and comprehensive lists, over fifty experts provide the most up-to-date information on the entire range of women's mental health issues, including:
Addiction
Anxiety
Bipolar Disorder
Depression
Eating Disorders
LIfespan Psychology
Life Issues From Sexuality tTo Relationships to Traumatic Experience and Illness
Postpartum Depression
Psychopharmacology
Psychotherapeutic Treatments, From EMDR and Dialectical Behavioral Therapy To Traditional
Insight Therapy
Mental Health Effects of Racism and Poverty
Questions to Ask a Psychologist or Psychiatrist
Trauma
Drawing on the latest thinking in psychiatry and psychology, and written for women of diverse backgrounds, this trade reference guide to women's mental health provides a comprehensive and readable overview to the psychological issues that concern women most. Arguing that women want and need to understand their mental health as more than a question of disorder or normality, it begins with the life cycle, helping women understand the major issues and biological changes associated with young adulthood, middle age, and old age. The Complete Guide to Mental Health for Women also specifically addresses the psychological importance of women's sexuality and relationships, and discusses how social contexts, such as poverty and racism, affect mentalhealth.

Part Two explores specific mental disorders, including those, like postpartum depression, related to times when women are particularly vulnerable to mental illness. Part Three takes a closer look at treatments, including the use of antidepressants and other drugs, and various types of psychotherapy, from cognitive behavioral treatments to EMDR and beyond. The Complete Guide to Mental Health for Women ends with a section on life enhancements that discusses some of the activities that can help us live fuller lives.

Library Journal

Written for lay readers, this four-part guide addresses mental health issues that pertain to women, from aging and depression to pregnancy and trauma. In Part 1, editor Slater (Prozac Diary) and professors Jessica Henderson Daniel and Amy Banks (both Harvard Medical Sch.) offer a helpful overview on "Psychology and the Life Cycle," which explains the main issues and biological changes of young adulthood, middle age, and old age. In Part 2, more than 50 psychiatrists and psychologists contribute adequate mainstream introductions to the aforementioned topics with good See Also references. Then in Part 3, readers learn about the full range of psychotherapeutic therapies (e.g., EDMR, antidepressants, and psychotherapy), before a closing discussion on "life enhancers" such as exercise. The bibliography is sparse and somewhat eccentric. As the only recent reference that covers both the female life cycle and specific mental disorders, this book is recommended as a starting point for patrons and especially for small libraries that can't afford to purchase the many books that deal in greater depth with the specific issues covered here.-Mary Ann Hughes, Neill P.L., Pullman, WA Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

Biography

LAUREN SLATER is the author of the best-selling Welcome to My Country, Prozac Diary, Lying: A Metaphorical Memoir, Spasm: A Memoir with Lies, Love Works Like This, and Opening Skinner's Box. She is also a Boston-based psychologist.