Martin investigates how psychological and emotional factors influence health through their effects on behaviour and the immune system by exploring how the brain and immune system interact.

'A masterpiece of popularization' Times Literary Supplement 'A fascinating account, based on objective scientific research, of the ways in which mental states affect the individual's liability to disease... Martin is a highly civilised scientist, who seasons his text with witty parentheses. He also provides many examples from literature, ranging widely from Shakespeare, Goethe and Hardy to Tolstoy, Dostoevsky and Kafka... Interesting, informative and a pleasure to read.' ANTHONY STORR, Sunday Times 'Excellent' JON TURNEY, Financial Times 'This most accessible account of a difficult subject blows away some prejudices and pleasingly justifies others... Martin is a biologist whose style is considerate of the layman...and it is a tribute to his own benignly infectious enthusiasm for his subject that his closing thoughts are encouraging... Remarkable.' ALAN JUDD, Daily Telegraph 'Compelling... Balanced and impressively up to date... The tone of voice, the open-minded but critical intelligence should uplift the quality of the debate... Martin's lucid account of possible mechanisms of the connections between mental states and personality traits and illnesses is a notable triumph of his book... Excellent.' RAYMOND TALLIS, Times Literary Supplement

Based on the latest scientific research in psychology and immunology, this groundbreaking book offers compelling new evidence of vital links between the brain and the immune system.

The inside story of how Big Pharma’s relentless pursuit of ever-higher profits corrupts medical knowledge—misleading doctors, misdirecting American health care, and harming our health. The United States spends an excess $1.5 trillion annually on health care compared to other wealthy countries—yet the amount of time that Americans live in good health ranks a lowly 68th in the world. At the heart of the problem is Big Pharma, which funds most clinical trials and therefore controls the research agenda, withholds the real data from those trials as corporate secrets, and shapes most of the information relied upon by health care professionals. In this no-holds-barred exposé, Dr. John Abramson—one of the foremost experts on the drug industry’s deceptive tactics—combines patient stories with what he learned during many years of serving as an expert in national drug litigation to reveal the tangled web of financial interests at the heart of the dysfunction in our health-care system. For example, one of pharma’s best-kept secrets is that the peer reviewers charged with ensuring the accuracy and completeness of the clinical trial reports published in medical journals do not even have access to complete data and must rely on manufacturer-influenced summaries. Likewise for the experts who write the clinical practice guidelines that define our standards of care. The result of years of research and privileged access to the inner workings of the U.S. medical-industrial complex, Sickening shines a light on the dark underbelly of American health care—and presents a path toward genuine reform.

In this major new book on Virginia Woolf, Caramagno contends psychobiography has much to gain from a closer engagement with science. Literary studies of Woolf's life have been written almost exclusively from a psychoanalytic perspective. They portray Woolf as a victim of the Freudian "family romance," reducing her art to a neurotic evasion of a traumatic childhood. But current knowledge about manic-depressive illness—its genetic transmission, its biochemistry, and its effect on brain function—reveals a new relationship between Woolf's art and her illness. Caramagno demonstrates how Woolf used her illness intelligently and creatively in her theories of fiction, of mental functioning, and of self structure. Her novels dramatize her struggle to imagine and master psychic fragmentation. They helped her restore form and value to her own sense of self and lead her readers to an enriched appreciation of the complexity of human consciousness.

Arguing that humans are, in a fundamental sense, social beings, this book articulates that this can be grasped from understanding the complex social processes of evolution. It shows that through looking at the complex emergence of human society and culture, we can get a better understanding of how 'the whole creature' operates.

A healthy diet is only 'healthy' if it works for you and YOU are unique. Eating the wrong diet for you can lead to physical and mental problems, affect your appearance, alter your behaviour and limit your life. Changing your diet can truly change your life. Offering no gimmicks and no promises of a quick fix, Change Your Diet and Change Your Life guides you gently through understanding the ways in which food intolerance can make you ill. Detailed information on individual foods and food chemicals ensures this book is a comprehensive handbook of food intolerance and food allergy. Research evidence is presented covering a range of conditions including asthma, behaviour problems, dermatitis, fatigue, migraine, tinnitus, urticaria, and weight problems. The role of food chemicals (including amines, benzoates, caffeine, lectins, MSG, salicylate, and sulphites) is explained, and the difficulties that can be caused by individual foods is also outlined. This book is unique in presenting an easy to follow seven step plan that will help you identify if food intolerance is at the root of your health problems.