Physician-historian Jeremy A. Greene examines the mechanisms by which drugs and chronic disease categories define one another within medical research, clinical practice, and pharmaceutical marketing, and he explores how this interaction has profoundly altered the experience, politics, ethics, and economy of health in late-twentieth-century America.

The book is grounded upon the author's extensive professional involvement with physical diseases that are a powerful expression of the patients' emotional themes and life-stories. They are meaning-full diseases. They occur commonly, and are the most compelling argument for an urgent acknowledgment of the role of meanings in the healing process. Following the pattern of his first book, Somatic Illness and the Patient's Other Story, the author shows in case after case that listening and responding to the "story" of patients suffering from persistent physical diseases frequently leads to major reversal of the disease processes. This present book takes a crucial second step. There must be an understandable basis for meaning-full diseases. Resistance to them relates in part to the inability of current Western scientific and biomedical theories to explain them. The author sets out to construct conceptual frameworks, within which clinicians and patients can see that a close relationship between life experience and the appearance of physical disease really does make sense.

“If you want to build better health and a better future, this book makes an excellent tool kit.”—David A. Kessler, MD, author of The End of Overeating and former commissioner of the FDA It sometimes seems as if everyone around us is being diagnosed with a chronic illness—and that we might soon join them. In Disease-Proof, leading specialist in preventive medicine Dr. David Katz draws upon the latest scientific evidence and decades of clinical experience to explain how we can slash our risk of every major chronic disease—heart disease, cancer, stroke, diabetes, dementia, and obesity—by an astounding 80%. Dr. Katz arms us with skillpower: a proven, user-friendly set of tools that helps us make simple behavioral changes that have a tremendous effect on our health and well-being. Inspiring, groundbreaking, and prescriptive, Disease-Proof proves making lasting lifestyle changes is easier than we think.

In response to a request by the Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA), the Institute of Medicine proposed a study to examine definitions of serious or complex medical conditions and related issues. A seven-member committee was appointed to address these issues. Throughout the course of this study, the committee has been aware of the fact that the topic addressed by this report concerns one of the most critical issues confronting HCFA, health care plans and providers, and patients today. The Medicare+Choice regulations focus on the most vulnerable populations in need of medical care and other services-those with serious or complex medical conditions. Caring for these highly vulnerable populations poses a number of challenges. The committee believes, however, that the current state of clinical and research literature does not adequately address all of the challenges and issues relevant to the identification and care of these patients.

A comprehensive reference and healing tool to address the emotional and psychological causes of illness • Uncovers the conflicted conscious or unconscious feelings, thoughts, and emotions at the root of nearly 900 ailments and diseases • Details a unique Integration and Acceptance Technique for accessing information through the heart and thereby starting the healing process for emotions and feelings • Provides positive affirmations to effect change for each ailment and disease What if your body used a secret language to talk to you? What if an ailment or illness was your body’s way to shout for help, to make you understand that you need to change your thoughts, emotions, feelings, and behaviors? Your body wants you to become aware of the stress that you carry, conscious or not, so you can release unmanaged past and present emotions and the physical complaints that accompany them. Compiling years of research and the results of thousands of cases he encountered in his private practice and during workshops over the past 30 years, Jacques Martel explains how to read and understand the body’s language of disease and imbalance. In this encyclopedia, he shows how body language reveals specific thoughts, feelings, and emotions that are at the source of nearly 900 different ailments and diseases. The author also details his Integration and Acceptance Technique, which enables healing information to bypass the brain and connect directly with the heart. This technique disables the source of the conflict, conscious or not, that could be at the root of an illness, behavior, or condition and improves the chances of true healing. This comprehensive manual offers a tool to help each of us become, to some extent, our own doctor or therapist, get to know ourselves better, and recover health and well-being physically, emotionally, mentally, and spiritually. For practitioners and therapists, this remarkable reference tool provides invaluable insights and prompts for healing.

How do communities protect and improve the health of their populations? Health care is part of the answer but so are environmental protections, social and educational services, adequate nutrition, and a host of other activities. With concern over funding constraints, making sure such activities are efficient and effective is becoming a high priority. Improving Health in the Community explains how population-based performance monitoring programs can help communities point their efforts in the right direction. Within a broad definition of community health, the committee addresses factors surrounding the implementation of performance monitoring and explores the "why" and "how to" of establishing mechanisms to monitor the performance of those who can influence community health. The book offers a policy framework, applies a multidimensional model of the determinants of health, and provides sets of prototype performance indicators for specific health issues. Improving Health in the Community presents an attainable vision of a process that can achieve community-wide health benefits.

Chronic Disease in the Twentieth Century challenges the conventional wisdom that the concept of chronic disease emerged because medicine's ability to cure infectious disease led to changing patterns of disease. Instead, it suggests, the concept was constructed and has evolved to serve a variety of political and social purposes. How and why the concept developed differently in the United States, an United Kingdom, and France are central concerns of this work. While an international consensus now exists, the different paths taken by these three countries continue to exert profound influence. This book seeks to explain why, among the innumerable problems faced by societies, some problems in some places become viewed as critical public issues that shape health policy. -- from back cover.

The bestselling guide to the medical management of common genetic syndromes —now fully revised and expanded A review in the American Journal of Medical Genetics heralded the first edition of Management of Genetic Syndromes as an "unparalleled collection of knowledge." Since publication of the first edition, improvements in the molecular diagnostic testing of genetic conditions have greatly facilitated the identification of affected individuals. This thorough revision of the critically acclaimed bestseller offers original insights into the medical management of sixty common genetic syndromes seen in children and adults, and incorporates new research findings and the latest advances in diagnosis and treatment of these disorders. Expanded to cover five new syndromes, this comprehensive new edition also features updates of chapters from the previous editions. Each chapter is written by an expert with extensive direct professional experience with that disorder and incorporates thoroughly updated material on new genetic findings, consensus diagnostic criteria, and management strategies. Edited by two of the field's most highly esteemed experts, this landmark volume provides: A precise reference of the physical manifestations of common genetic syndromes, clearly written for professionals and families Extensive updates, particularly in sections on diagnostic criteria and diagnostic testing, pathogenesis, and management A tried-and-tested, user-friendly format, with each chapter including information on incidence, etiology and pathogenesis, diagnostic criteria and testing, and differential diagnosis Up-to-date and well-written summaries of the manifestations followed by comprehensive management guidelines, with specific advice on evaluation and treatment for each system affected, including references to original studies and reviews A list of family support organizations and resources for professionals and families Management of Genetic Syndromes, Third Edition is a premier source to guide family physicians, pediatricians, internists, medical geneticists, and genetic counselors in the clinical evaluation and treatment of syndromes. It is also the reference of choice for ancillary health professionals, educators, and families of affected individuals looking to understand appropriate guidelines for the management of these disorders. From a review of the first edition: "An unparalleled collection of knowledge . . . unique, offering a gold mine of information." —American Journal of Medical Genetics

Nutrition science is a highly fractionated, contentious field with rapidly changing viewpoints on both minor and major issues impacting on public health. With an evolutionary perspective as its basis, this exciting book provides a framework by which the discipline can finally be coherently explored. By looking at what we know of human evolution and disease in relation to the diets that humans enjoy now and prehistorically, the book allows the reader to begin to truly understand the link between diet and disease in the Western world and move towards a greater knowledge of what can be defined as the optimal human diet. Written by a leading expert Covers all major diseases, including cancer, heart disease, obesity, stroke and dementia Details the benefits and risks associated with the Palaeolithic diet Draws conclusions on key topics including sustainable nutrition and the question of healthy eating This important book provides an exciting and useful insight into this fascinating subject area and will be of great interest to nutritionists, dietitians and other members of the health professions. Evolutionary biologists and anthropologists will also find much of interest within the book. All university and research establishments where nutritional sciences, medicine, food science and biological sciences are studied and taught should have copies of this title.

This 1998 book contains historical essays about how diseases change their meaning.