Handbook of Primary Care Psychology

Book excerpt: This handbook is designed to provide authoritative information to the psychologist working in primary-care settings and to those seeking to learn about clinical issues in such settings. Scholarly and at the same time practical, this volume offers both the clinician and the researcher a wide-ranging look at the contexts in which psychological services become of paramount importance to the health of the patient.The handbook will cover the prevalent psychological conditions in the primary-care setting--depression, anxiety, somatization, eating disorders, and alcoholism; illnesses in which psychological disorders play a major role, such as heart disease, diabetes, cancer, pain management, headache, asthma, low back pain, sleep disorders, among others; and issues of concern to psychologists treating children (ADHD, disciplinary problems, etc.), treating women (abuse, infertility, menopause, sexual dysfunction), treating men (workaholism, alcoholism, sexual dysfunction), and treating the older patient (death and dying, cognitive impairment, late life depression).Other important topics include psychological side effects of common medications, resistance to treatment, spiritual concerns in the treatment of patients, cultural differences in healing, suicide, AIDS, prevention of disease, and many others.Leonard Haas is a noted authority in the area of primary-care psychology and has recruited expert contributors for the 41 chapters and two appendices that make up this definitive handbook for a growing and important subspecialty in clinical psychology. The work may also be used in graduate courses in health psychology.