Treating the Aching Heart: A Guide to Depression, Stress, and Heart Disease
Author: Lawson R Wulsin
Why is depression bad for heart disease? And how does heart disease contribute to depression? And why is treatment for depressed people with heart disease so often inadequate? Through personal vignettes, accessible scientific explanations, and medical illustrations, Treating the Aching Heart traces the vicious cycle of depression and heart disease and points the way to better care based on cutting-edge science. The book presents a new view of depression as a broad-reaching illness with a distinct neurobiology that influences the most up-to-date model of heart disease. Treating the Aching Heart provides a window into the most studied mind-body problem, the interaction between the brain and the heart. Though many mysteries remain, in no other area is the relationship between a mental disorder and a physical disorder better understood than in the study of depression and heart disease. Anyone who has suffered from depression (about one in four U.S. adults) or some form of heart disease (also about one in four), or has a close family member with either problem, will find this book a useful guide to treatment.
Doody Review Services
Reviewer:Regina Lopez, MD(Rush University Medical Center)
Description:This book explores the complex dynamics between depression and heart disease, emphasizing the importance of a deeper understanding of this reciprocal relationship in order to improve treatment strategies and outcomes for both.
Purpose:The aim is to promote change in the way mental health clinicians and their medical collaborators communicate. These are worthy objectives given the fact that depression and heart disease influence one another and both diseases affect a large proportion of the population. The author stresses that a comprehensive treatment approach for both diseases and collaboration when both diseases are present should become a standard of care.
Audience:According to the author, the book is intended for patients who suffer from depression and/or heart disease, and their loved ones. The book would also be useful for clinicians who treat patients with one or both of these diseases. The author is a professor of psychiatry and family medicine who practices in both fields and does research on psychosomatic medicine.
Features:The book covers epidemiology, risk factors for both diseases, and the converging risks. It discusses the biology of depression and its psychological, social, and physical effects. The anatomical and physiological ties between the heart and the brain are covered, followed by the behavioral and biological links. A guide to treatment for depression and heart disease is also included. The book concludes with ways to improve the delivery of care to the population with both diagnoses. The book is easy to read and understand.The chapters contain clinical tips, which are tied together to form treatment strategies. The personal vignettes which make the book more personalized are clinically applicable. The appendixes, notes, and references provide details for additional readings/information. The shortcoming of this book is that it seems too simplistic for physicians who treat these diseases.
Assessment:This is a useful book because depression and heart disease are typically not discussed together nor viewed from the different standpoints. However, it may be more appropriate for patients. Because it is an easy read, physicians may be interested in reading it to get a general understanding of the link between two common diseases.
Interesting textbook: Mentoring 101 or Understanding Business
Energy Healing: A Pathway to Inner Growth
Author: Jim Gilkeson
In the last few years, the therapeutic practice of energy medicine, formerly on the frontiers of alternative healing, has begun to attract more widespread interest. Practiced by a growing number of therapists and bodyworkers, energy medicine attends to the energy field that surrounds and penetrates the human body. Energy Healing makes a two-fold contribution to the discipline: it presents an original theoretical and spiritual framework for energy work, and it offers practical lessons and concrete techniques that allow those exploring energy medicine to take action for themselves. Written in straightforward prose and informed by 15 years of practice, Energy Healing is a precise, eloquent sourcebook that will be of interest to everyone exploring the realm of energy practice.
What People Are Saying
Denise Low
Energy Healing is a workbook that not only provides healing exercises but also personal guidance throughout the process. Drawing upon his own lifelong quest for spiritual, mental, and physical health, Jim Gilkeson shares the wealth of his own experiences with wit and wisdom.
—Denise Low, Ph.D.,( author of Tulip Elegies: An Alchemy of Writing and Touching the Sky)
Ann Nunley
Energy Healing is a 'must-read' for those who practice energy healing and for those wishing to learn about and engage in such practices. It is written from a wise and balanced perspective, and points out both the extreme benefits that can be achieved through energy medicine and healing, and some of the crucial pitfalls that may be encountered. Written in a well-organized, interesting, and clear manner, it sets a tone for personal growth and responsible practice. I highly recommend this book.
—Ann Nunley, (1998-99 co-president of the International Society for the Study of Subtle Energies & Energy Medicine (ISSSEEM) and author of Inner Counselor and Landscapes of the Heart)
Jeff Levin
Reading this outstanding book is like taking a comprehensive course in the theory an practice of subtle-energy healing. Jim Gilkeson has created a highly informative and highly practical guide accessible to just about anyone.
—Jeff Levin, Ph.D., M.P.H., (past president, International Society for the Study of Subtle Energies & Energy Medicine (ISSSEEM))
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