The Pain Detective Every Ache Tells A Story

Sure to be welcomed by the thousands suffering persistent pain, this volume explores what physicians often ignore—how psychological and social issues can influence health, illness, pain, and recovery. "Pain is everywhere and everyone is talking about it," says Dr. Hillel Finestone, M.D., a researcher and rehabilitation specialist whose work has been featured in publications as diverse as The Lancet, and USA Today. The key to understanding causes and solutions for many apparently mysterious, recurring aches, he explains, lies in understanding the mind-body relationship and the "real meaning" behind symptoms with no immediately obvious cause. Taking the reader into several diagnostic sessions to illustrate what he sees as a "detective" process to find the source of pain, Finestone explains how psychological and social issues can influence health and healing, for better or worse. Low back and neck pain, fibromyalgia and even work related pains are delved into.In addition to vignettes that illustrate the ideas discussed and show dramatic incidences of how healing the mind can also heal the body, Finestone uses unique and useful diagrams which explain how mind and body are physiologically connected and reactive to each other. In these pages, readers can follow Dr, Finestone through patient sessions and understand, step by step, how the "pain detective" works to help his patients—and perhaps his readers, too—find lasting relief.

This book offers a unique glimpse into the startlingly complex world of acute children's psychiatry through 12 chapters, each inspired by the actual visit of a child in psychiatric crisis to one of the most well-known psychiatric emergency rooms in the nation. Suicide by Security Blanket, and Other Stories from the Child Psychiatry Emergency Service: What Happens to Children with Acute Mental Illness takes the reader inside the child psychiatry emergency room at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) in Boston. Each chapter highlights both the child's dilemma and the doctors' thought processes, and stresses the elements of rapid assessment. The real-life patient stories also offer myriad teaching points about child development and the warning signs of illness, and provide compelling lessons regarding types of interactions with school systems, health care systems, and family systems. Each individual story presents the breadth and depth of the child psychiatric emergency evaluation at MGH, from initial assessment to disposition, presenting a genuine glimpse into the children's psychiatric emergency room at one of the nation's most famous psychiatric departments. This book demonstrates vividly how even the best-intentioned communities can fail to offer services to their neediest families. Each story presents a fascinating glimpse into the complex and sometimes tragic world of child psychiatry on the front lines.

This empowering book provides a comprehensive resource to help readers of all ages understand pain, seek the right diagnosis and treatment, and allow them to take control of their pain. Unfortunately, pain is a universal human experience. For many, their experience of pain transcends an occasional or nagging discomfort and disrupts their lives. Understanding Pain: What You Need to Know to Take Control presents insights that will be useful to anyone who wants to be more knowledgeable about recognizing pain conditions through symptoms and telltale signs, and needs to be fully informed about the various treatment options available. Providing information that is at once cutting-edge, comprehensive, and easy-to-understand, the chapters also provide the resources needed to obtain further information about the topic. The book covers all major pain syndromes in a manner accessible to those without backgrounds in science or pain treatment, explicitly explaining symptoms, tests that may be needed, and treatments and rehabilitation techniques that are possible. The last section of the text discusses pain issues of specific populations, such as children, the elderly, and women during childbirth.

This volume provides a practical exploration of one of today's most complex and challenging issues—the care of an elderly parent—with an innovative approach that emphasizes how rewarding the caregiver/care-receiver relationship can be. For anyone facing this often overwhelming situation, Sustenance and Hope for Caregivers of Elderly Parents: Bread of Angels offers a wealth of insights from experienced caregivers, extraordinary personal stories, and most importantly, reassurance and support. It is a refreshing new vision of the positive potential for caregiving and the rewards that come with evolving relationships between adult children and their parents. Gloria G. Barsamian's remarkably perceptive new volume dispels the myth that caretaking is a thankless burden. Like no other work, it captures the emotions of today's millions of caregivers, as well as care-receivers, spouses, and grandchildren. A longtime social worker, Barsamian shows how old ways of thinking about caregiving can be replaced with new, healthier possibilities that enrich the lives of caregivers and care-receivers.

A comprehensive summary of sport-related concussion for parents, coaches, and athletes that considers the physics behind the injury, identifies what can be done to reduce the risk of its occurrence, and describes how to respond to a suspected concussion. Concussion injury among athletes continues to be a subject of great concern. Increasing attention and research is focusing on the most vulnerable of athletes—children. What strategies can be taken to best protect young athletes in sports from grammar school football leagues to high school hockey and soccer teams from concussion? How do we treat youngsters who suffer head injuries in sports? What are the ethical considerations in allowing children to play such sports, given the risks to still-developing brains? In this updated and expanded guide, William Meehan, MD, explains simply and clearly how coaches, parents, and others who work with young athletes can recognize concussion; best help children and youths recover from concussion injuries; and take steps to become proactive to prevent concussion. Readers will learn what causes a sport-related concussion; what happens to brain cells during a concussion; and why concussion, which in the past was dismissed as a trivial injury, is taken so much more seriously now. The book explains how to decrease the risk of concussion; addresses the potential for cumulative effects from multiple concussions, including chronic traumatic encephalopathy; and discusses the ethical dimensions of deciding whether an athlete with multiple concussions should continue to participate in high-risk sports.

This compelling book examines what causes compulsive eating, and provides methods for dealing with the emotional and psychological issues at the root of the problem. Weight loss has been a struggle for countless people in our food-obsessed culture; even achieving a healthy relationship with food is difficult for many Americans. Why is this? Respected author Marcia Sirota examines this phenomenon, exploring the emotional and psychological factors involved with overeating and food addiction. Emotional Overeating: Know the Triggers, Heal Your Mind, and Never Diet Again starts with the root cause of obesity and ends with practical techniques to find freedom from the urge to overeat. The author provides an overview of the overeating and obesity problem, offers a critical look at the downfalls of dieting, and reveals the reasons why many of us use food to supplant a real emotional need. The book includes numerous exercises and specific tools for healing, as well as an avenue to effortless permanent weight loss.

Road traffic injuries are a neglected global pandemic. Up to 50 million people a year worldwide are injured or disabled in car accidents. The deleterious impact on the global economy is immense. Thousands of those injured die of opiate overdoses, trying to deal with chronic pain. The post-accident life of a survivor is all too often devastated by spinal or severe orthopedic injuries, depression, anxiety, PTSD, sleep disturbances, mild episodic or chronic pain, and/or a traumatic brain injury that can cause personality changes, cognitive and memory impairments, and debilitating fatigue. A substantially reduced quality of life with career changes and setbacks, broken and overstressed relationships, and financial hardships that continue for many years, often ensue. First Responders, healthcare providers, the survivors’ community and to the largest degree, the survivors’ family, are forced to deal with the staggering impacts. Auto accidents can dramatically alter lives, forever. Where do survivors and their families go for help? How do survivors heal and get their lives back? Everyone is desperate for hope and evidence-based solutions to manage disabling conditions and ultimately reclaim their lives. This is the first book to offer comprehensive, evidence-based information to both the survivors and their caregivers on understanding, managing, and healing physical and emotional traumas sustained in auto accidents. Based on James Zender's more than fifteen years’ experience as a clinical psychologist specializing in auto-accident trauma care, Recovering From Your Car Accident leads survivors and their families through the extensive process of emotional and physical recovery. With empathy and compassion, Dr. Zender explains how to conquer the multitude of challenges that often result from auto accidents, including managing pain, depression, and anxiety, addressing concerns about the future and finances, personality changes, emotional and cognitive dysfunction, post-traumatic stress, traumatic brain injury, and strained personal relationships. Through stories recounted by Dr. Zender's patients, survivors will learn that they are not alone and that there is hope for a better tomorrow. Policymakers will gain insight into accident prevention and will be inspired to implement policy improvements to better meet the needs of the auto accident community. Helpful tips throughout this book and a resource section featuring the best online and community support options will aid survivors and their families with rehabilitation. Recovering from Your Car Accident will assist survivors with rebuilding their lives and discovering new ways to thrive.

A clear, concise, and essential guide providing key information about cancer survivors and their needs—and how those needs can best be met. Excellent Care for Cancer Survivors: A Guide to Fully Meet Their Needs in Medical Offices and in the Community is edited by the director of the Lance Armstrong Cancer Survivorship Program at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute and comprised of articles by experts from that prestigious institution, from the Harvard Medical School, and other leading cancer programs. Its goal is simple: to assure that the millions of cancer survivors in the United States get the help they need to live life to its fullest. This timely work, enriched by conversations with cancer survivors themselves, explains the array of challenges that may affect survivors, from physical needs to psychological, spiritual, sexual, and financial issues. Topics such as nutrition and exercise are also addressed, as are risk assessment, rehabilitation, and possible cognitive dysfunction after chemotherapy. A final section explains the nuts and bolts of starting a professional cancer survivorship program, from staffing to fundraising, exploring what can and is being done to help cancer survivors in different settings achieve optimal health and quality of life.