Medical Sociology books

'Splendid and necessary' - Henry Marsh, author of Do No Harm, New Statesman...

5 stars

The River of Consciousness is a remarkable culmination of a lifetime's research into the way the brain works by the celebrated late neurologist Oliver Sacks.

Addressing the enormous potential of interventions from medical and public health professionals to alter these patterns of human behavior over time, Introduction to Biosocial Medicine brings necessary depth and perspective to medical training and education.

The health humanities are widely understood as a way to cultivate perspective, compassion, empathy, professional identity, and self-reflection among health professional students. This innovative book links humanities themes, social science domains, and clinical practice to invite self-discovery and recognition of universal human experiences....

This book overturns the idea that psychiatric drugs work by correcting chemical imbalance and analyzes the professional, commercial and political vested interests that have shaped this view. It provides a comprehensive critique of research on drugs including antidepressants, antipsychotics and mood stabilizers.

Tumor examines the cultural attitudes that shape the ways we research a tumor scientifically, treat it medically, and talk about it socially.

What is illness? Is it a physiological dysfunction, a social label, or a way of experiencing the world? How do the physical, social, and emotional worlds of a person change when they become ill? Can there be well-being within illness?...

Jet lag is a physical ailment, a temporal condition, a political effect, and, ultimately, a cultural moment?in sum, a universal, yet under-examined, object of study that serves as an allegory of our human limitations in the face of the advances of technology in the modern world.

The second edition of Mildred Blaxter's successful and highly respected book offers a comprehensive and engaging introduction to the key debates surrounding the concept of health today.

And now it has been given the history it deserves' James McConnachie, Sunday TimesFor thousands of years the human heart remained the deepest of mysteries;

This reader gives an overview of healthcare chaplaincy research by offering 21 articles from peer-reviewed journals in a student-friendly format. An introductory section for each article includes a discussion guide to help readers understand chaplaincy research as a discipline and the greater contribution of that article to the field.

In this book, the authors provide a much-needed general theory of interdisciplinarity and relate it to health/wellbeing research and professional practice. In so doing they make it possible for practitioners of the different disciplines to communicate without contradiction or compromise, resolving the tensions that beset much interdisciplinary work....

The eye chart?essential diagnostic tool, template, sign, toy?is a monument to un-reading and a guide to the absurdities of modern life.

Written for academic researchers, students, and health professionals, this is the first volume to review and synthesize the current literature on health and illness in close relationships. The author provides an integrated theoretical framework for understanding the complexities of health trajectories and relationship processes.

Drawing on the work of authors such as Oliver Sacks, Anatole Broyard, Norman Cousins, and Audre Lorde, as well as the people he met during the years he spent among different illness groups, the author recounts a collection of illness stories.

Preceded by Narrative-based primary care / John Launer. c2002.

The Routledge Handbook of Medical Anthropology provides a contemporary overview of the key themes in medical anthropology. In this exciting departure from conventional handbooks, compendia and encyclopedias, the three editors have written the core chapters of the volume, and in so doing, invite the reader to reflect on the ethnographic richness and theoretical contributions of research on the...

* This book is a highly original, path-breaking analysis of the huge increase in the number of cases of diagnosed autism in the US, the UK and other societies. It brings a distinctive sociological perspective to bear on the autism epidemic .

The role that the social and behavioural sciences play in the daily practice of dentistry is now an essential part of all dentistry training, but it can often seem distant from the reality of daily clinical practice.

Tells the story of how the traumatic victim became culturally and politically respectable, and how trauma itself became an unassailable moral category. Revealing how trauma has come to authenticate the suffering of victims, this title provides critical perspective on some of the moral and political issues at stake in the contemporary world.