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Handbook of pediatric psychology, 2nd edition
Pergamon
Behat,. Res. Ther. Vol. 34, No. 5/6, pp. 515-519, 1996 Copyright © 1996 Published by ElsevierScienceLtd Printed in Great Britain. All rights reserved 0005-7967/96 $15.00 + 0.00 S0005-7967(96)00011-3
BOOK REVIEWS M. C. ROBERT (Ed.): Handbook o f Pediatric Psychology, 2nd Edition. Guilford Press, New York (1995). 814 pp. The appearance of this enormously expanded second edition of the collection, originally put together some 10 years ago, is extremely welcome---and a remarkable index of the progress accomplished in the recent past. The new edition is astonishingly comprehensive and succeeds so well in combining theory and practice that neither clinician nor researcher can afford to neglect its contents. The book is divided into 6 parts--professional issues, cross-cutting aspects (a poor title), prevention, physical conditions, problems, special issues. In fact it contains chapters on all of the better developed aspects of pediatric-clinical psychology (e.g. asthma, diabetes, preparation for medical procedures, enuresis, ADHD, etc.) and some welcome new departures such as psychoimmunology. Many of the chapters are outstanding (e.g. Glaros & Epkins on "habit disorders", Linscheid & Fleming on eating disorders, Varni et al. on pain, and numerous others), and all are usefully informative. The handbook will serve as a valuable resource, a reference text and a prompt to research. My only reservation is that too many of the chapters are uncritical. It is not sufficient merely to report therapeutic and other claims; they vary greatly in quality and the reader should be given the benefit of the experts' critical evaluation of the data. Some of the claims are dubious and do nothing to further this long-delayed development of pediatric clinical psychology. In my opinion pediatric-clinical psychology has enormous potential and may ultimately prove to be one of psychology's major contributions to health care. S. RACHMAN
STEPHEN PALMER and WINDY DRYDEN: Counselling for Stress Problems. Sage, London (1995). x + 262 pp. £12.95 paperback; £25.00 hardback. This book is part of a series entitled Counselling in Practice published by Sage and edited by Windy Dryden. The series intends to offer practical advice to counsellors and psychotherapists dealing with clients with a variety of common problems. Palmer and Dryden present a conceptual model of stress which considers the interaction of different modalities of the stress response. They emphasize the need for a multimodal assessment as an important guide to tailor the therapy to the client's particular requirements and suggest that this model encourages treatment adherence and enhances therapeutic outcome. The most remarkable aspect of this book is that the authors clearly demonstrate how to employ a wide range of therapeutic interventions for stress related problems in a rational and flexible manner. Useful techniques such as disputing irrational beliefs, coping imagery, behavioural rehearsal and assertion training are well described and case examples illustrate their application in the therapeutic context. A last section covers occupational stress and gives information on how to run stress counselling groups and stress management workshops. It also includes hints on dealing with clients who do not complete self-help assignments and on relapse prevention. This is a very good book that can be used as a handbook of multimodal techniques and is well recommended both to students and to mental health professionals at all levels. LIGIA M. OTO
A. STEPTOE and J. WARDLE (Eds): Psychosocial Processes and Health--A Reader. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge (1994). 525 pp. £60.00. The interface between psychological processes and physical health has been the site of growing interest in the last few decades, with a plethora of reports from many different sources. There has been a need for some time for someone to draw together some of these threads, and the present volume is a valiant attempt to do this. The book is divided into six sections each of which is prefaced by an introduction in which the authors appraise the corresponding chapters and consider some of their methodological strengths and weaknesses. The first section considers, for example, the role of life events in predisposing to gastrointestinal disease and complications in pregnancy, and the protective effects of social support on morbidity and mortality. The second is concerned with more basic physiological processes and includes chapters describing the effects of "stress" on cardiovascular disease both in humans and in animals, as well as its impact on the functioning of the immune system. In section three, personality and behaviour profiles (such as modes of dealing with anger, pessimistic explanatory style, and the ubiquitous Type A syndrome) are evaluated in terms of their effects on later health. This is followed by chapters dealing with attempts to modify health-risk behaviours, including evidence that community and school-based educational programs may be effective in reducing risk in both children and adults. The penultimate section considers those with pre-existing disease such as surgical conditions and cancer, and the role of both their own psychological outlook and the efforts of their carers in moderating their outcome. Finally there are several chapters dealing with interventions designed to modify the behaviour of those with specific medical conditions such as hypertension, as well as lifestyle patterns (e.g. smoking) that predispose them to develop disease. Inevitably many of the sections appear to overlap 515
Behat,. Res. Ther. Vol. 34, No. 5/6, pp. 515-519, 1996 Copyright © 1996 Published by ElsevierScienceLtd Printed in Great Britain. All rights reserved 0005-7967/96 $15.00 + 0.00 S0005-7967(96)00011-3
BOOK REVIEWS M. C. ROBERT (Ed.): Handbook o f Pediatric Psychology, 2nd Edition. Guilford Press, New York (1995). 814 pp. The appearance of this enormously expanded second edition of the collection, originally put together some 10 years ago, is extremely welcome---and a remarkable index of the progress accomplished in the recent past. The new edition is astonishingly comprehensive and succeeds so well in combining theory and practice that neither clinician nor researcher can afford to neglect its contents. The book is divided into 6 parts--professional issues, cross-cutting aspects (a poor title), prevention, physical conditions, problems, special issues. In fact it contains chapters on all of the better developed aspects of pediatric-clinical psychology (e.g. asthma, diabetes, preparation for medical procedures, enuresis, ADHD, etc.) and some welcome new departures such as psychoimmunology. Many of the chapters are outstanding (e.g. Glaros & Epkins on "habit disorders", Linscheid & Fleming on eating disorders, Varni et al. on pain, and numerous others), and all are usefully informative. The handbook will serve as a valuable resource, a reference text and a prompt to research. My only reservation is that too many of the chapters are uncritical. It is not sufficient merely to report therapeutic and other claims; they vary greatly in quality and the reader should be given the benefit of the experts' critical evaluation of the data. Some of the claims are dubious and do nothing to further this long-delayed development of pediatric clinical psychology. In my opinion pediatric-clinical psychology has enormous potential and may ultimately prove to be one of psychology's major contributions to health care. S. RACHMAN
STEPHEN PALMER and WINDY DRYDEN: Counselling for Stress Problems. Sage, London (1995). x + 262 pp. £12.95 paperback; £25.00 hardback. This book is part of a series entitled Counselling in Practice published by Sage and edited by Windy Dryden. The series intends to offer practical advice to counsellors and psychotherapists dealing with clients with a variety of common problems. Palmer and Dryden present a conceptual model of stress which considers the interaction of different modalities of the stress response. They emphasize the need for a multimodal assessment as an important guide to tailor the therapy to the client's particular requirements and suggest that this model encourages treatment adherence and enhances therapeutic outcome. The most remarkable aspect of this book is that the authors clearly demonstrate how to employ a wide range of therapeutic interventions for stress related problems in a rational and flexible manner. Useful techniques such as disputing irrational beliefs, coping imagery, behavioural rehearsal and assertion training are well described and case examples illustrate their application in the therapeutic context. A last section covers occupational stress and gives information on how to run stress counselling groups and stress management workshops. It also includes hints on dealing with clients who do not complete self-help assignments and on relapse prevention. This is a very good book that can be used as a handbook of multimodal techniques and is well recommended both to students and to mental health professionals at all levels. LIGIA M. OTO
A. STEPTOE and J. WARDLE (Eds): Psychosocial Processes and Health--A Reader. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge (1994). 525 pp. £60.00. The interface between psychological processes and physical health has been the site of growing interest in the last few decades, with a plethora of reports from many different sources. There has been a need for some time for someone to draw together some of these threads, and the present volume is a valiant attempt to do this. The book is divided into six sections each of which is prefaced by an introduction in which the authors appraise the corresponding chapters and consider some of their methodological strengths and weaknesses. The first section considers, for example, the role of life events in predisposing to gastrointestinal disease and complications in pregnancy, and the protective effects of social support on morbidity and mortality. The second is concerned with more basic physiological processes and includes chapters describing the effects of "stress" on cardiovascular disease both in humans and in animals, as well as its impact on the functioning of the immune system. In section three, personality and behaviour profiles (such as modes of dealing with anger, pessimistic explanatory style, and the ubiquitous Type A syndrome) are evaluated in terms of their effects on later health. This is followed by chapters dealing with attempts to modify health-risk behaviours, including evidence that community and school-based educational programs may be effective in reducing risk in both children and adults. The penultimate section considers those with pre-existing disease such as surgical conditions and cancer, and the role of both their own psychological outlook and the efforts of their carers in moderating their outcome. Finally there are several chapters dealing with interventions designed to modify the behaviour of those with specific medical conditions such as hypertension, as well as lifestyle patterns (e.g. smoking) that predispose them to develop disease. Inevitably many of the sections appear to overlap 515