Practitioner S Guide To The Neuropsychiatry Of Hiv Aids

The last decade has seen tremendous gains in our understanding of the profound impact of HIV/AIDS on brain functioning. This comprehensive handbook is designed for mental health clinicians, especially those without extensive neurological training, who need to be able to recognize and address HIV-associated cognitive/motor impairment, dementia, and related disorders. The book presents the most current information on neurological and neuropsychiatric manifestations of HIV disease, promotes early identification of neurologically related mental status disturbances, and details common psychiatric features seen in these patients. Treatment issues are covered in depth, with chapters on pharmacology, psychotherapeutic approaches, and occupational therapy. Special attention is given to ethical and legal issues that may confront helping professionals, patients, and significant others.

Although efforts have been made and continue to be made to reduce the rate of HIV transmission in the U.S. and globally, the rates continue to increase in the majority of countries. In the U.S., members of minority communities remain especially at risk of HIV transmission. An individual’s discovery that he or she has contracted HIV, or that a loved one has contracted the illness, often raises significant issues that necessitate interaction with mental health professionals. Mental Health Practitioner’s Guide to HIV/AIDS serves as a quick desk reference for professionals who may be less familiar with the terminology used in HIV/AIDS care and services.

The author has written an easily accessible summary of neuropsychological tests, neuropsychiatric disorders, and the relationships of test performance to disorder and treatment strategy. This ready reference provides neuropsychologists with an understanding of the medical context within which neuropsychological evaluation and psychosocial therapy takes place.

Once again, in their new edition of a classic American handbook of clinical psycho pharmacology, Drs. Gelenberg and Bassuk and their colleagues have produced a master work of sound clinical guidelines for the use of medicines as an increasingly central component of contemporary psychiatric practice. They have recruited an outstanding panel of coauthors, but have managed to maintain a high level of consistency of quality and style throughout the many chapters on specific classes of psychiatric illnesses and their corresponding treatments. The book continues to encapsulate the clinically rele vant essentials of the pharmacology of each major class of psychotropic agents in a way that clinicians can easily grasp. Moreover, it provides sound and carefully consid ered specific guidelines to diagnosis, drug selection, and dosing and patient assessment, with particularly rich presentations on the recognition and management of adverse effects. Inclusion of chapters on pediatric and geriatric populations and on topics pertaining to substance abuse disorders and medicolegal aspects of the field are unusual in books of this kind, and so are particularly valuable. Students and trainees will appreciate the handbook's well-organized and readable style, and practicing clinicans should be satisified with its balanced consideration of older, standard treatments as well as the latest medicines and trends in clinical psychopharmacology, with glimpses into future developments.

The impetus for this volume began with our research in the 1980's involving serial neuropsychological evaluation with various patient populations. At that time, reports on the practice effects associated with routinely utilized clinical neuropsychological instruments were sparse. While test-retest data were available for almost all assessment instruments, this was usually in the form of correlation coefficients and not changes in mean performance between or across assessment periods (see McCaffrey & Westervelt, 1995 for a detailed discussion of these and related issues). Clinical neuropsychological practitioners had few guidelines to assist them in determining if a change in a patient's performance across assessments was due to an intervention, maturation, practice effects, or a combination of factors. This volume represents our efforts at reviewing the literature between 1970 and 1998 and extracting the reported information on practice effects. The tables include the assessment instrument used, information on the subject/patient groups, the sample size (n}, gender, age, intervention, interval between the assessments, scores at both assessment points, and the citation. Those studies that reported data on more than two assessment points are indicated by a notation~ however, any data beyond the second assessment are not reported and the interested reader should refer to the original article. The tables are arranged alphabetically for the most widely used assessment instruments. Those instruments for which there was limited data on practice effects are grouped by "domain" (e. g.

This volume serves as an aid in the process of differential diagnosis which frequently confronts neuropsychologists. The guide is a compendium of information of the base rates of symptoms across a variety of disorders which neuropsychologists encounter. In addition to serving as a convenient source of information on symptom base rates, this volume also contains detailed cross referencing of symptoms across disorders. It is intended for use by clinical neuropsychologists and psychologists.

"It is sure to be an invaluable resource to scientist-practitioners during the education and training process as well as to those continuing their professional development . . . with this Handbook, we have a great resource to facilitate what is ready for translation from research to practice now. Our patients can benefit from these services now and we need a well-trained health care workforce to meet these needs." --From the Foreword by Cynthia D. Belar, Ph.D. ABPP The Health Psychology Handbook: Practical Issues for the Behavioral Medicine Specialist is a comprehensive yet practical volume that consolidates information needed by health psychologists working alongside other healthcare professionals. It facilitates the progression of the learner from the classroom to the clinical setting by focusing on the translation of science to practice using concrete examples. The Handbook is divided into four major parts. Part I highlights practical issues faced by health psychologists in a medical setting (how to motivate patients, consultation-liaison, assessment and screening, brief psychotherapies, ethical issues, etc.). Part II concentrates on treating unhealthy behaviors (alcohol and nicotine use, noncompliance, overeating/obesity, physical inactivity, stress). Part III considers behavioral aspects of medical problems (pain management, hypertension, diabetes, cancer, sexual dysfunction, HIV/AIDS, irritable bowel syndrome, insomnia). And Part IV takes up special issues relevant to practice and research in the field (minority issues, women′s issues, working with geriatric populations, public health approaches to health psychology and behavioral medicine). Besides considering health problems, the handbook also discusses professional issues, such as: Working with a multidisciplinary staff Conducting research Evaluating outcomes Practicing in public health settings The Handbook will prove an invaluable resource for those already working in the field of health psychology as well as for those in training. "The editors have developed an excellent sense of the needs of behavioral medicine practitioners . . . I found myself quite enthusiastic about the ability of the editors to conceptualize the problems of the practitioner and the ways to address them in this volume . . . The choice of authors is excellent." --William Lovallo, University of Oklahoma & VA Medical Center "A handbook like this is a very valuable resource . . . The clinical focus is what is special about the Handbook." --Lynn Kozlowski, Pennsylvania State University

This new edition of HIV and Psychiatry is fully revised and brings together a strong, international team of experts to create the most up-to-date handbook for mental health professionals dealing with HIV-infected and HIV-affected people. HIV care has become more complex, involving increasingly successful treatments with combinations of antiretrovirals from different classes. Patients now live longer, making the need for effective psychiatric care greater than ever to ensure good adherence to drug treatments and the best possible quality of life. Using case studies throughout, this training manual addresses all of the issues involved in caring for HIV and AIDS patients in order to help clinicians provide the best, state-of-the-art care for these individuals.