Laura D. Hirshbein's Books

American Melancholy

Constructions of Depression in the Twentieth Century

By: Laura D. Hirshbein

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American Melancholy

Constructions of Depression in the Twentieth Century

By: Laura D. Hirshbein

As American Melancholy reveals, if you read about depression anywhere today--medical journal, popular magazine, National Institute of Mental Health pamphlet, or pharmaceutical company drug promotional literature--you will find three main pieces of information either explicitly stated or strongly implied: depression is a disease (like any other physical disease); it is extraordinarily prevalent in the world; and it occurs about twice as frequently in women as in men. Yet, depression was not classified as a disease until the 1980 publication of the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual-III (DSM-III). How is it that such an illness, thought to affect between 14 and 17 million Americans, was not specifically defined until the late twentieth century? American Melancholy traces the growth of depression as an object of medical study and as a consumer commodity and illustrates how and why depression came to be such a huge medical, social, and cultural phenomenon. It is the first book to address gender issues in the construction of depression, explores key questions of how its diagnosis was developed, how it has been used, and how we should question its application in American society.

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Page Count

194

Publisher

Rutgers University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0813545846

ISBN 13

9780813545844

Smoking Privileges

Psychiatry, the Mentally Ill, and the Tobacco Industry in America

By: Laura D. Hirshbein

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Smoking Privileges

Psychiatry, the Mentally Ill, and the Tobacco Industry in America

By: Laura D. Hirshbein

Current public health literature suggests that the mentally ill may represent as much as half of the smokers in America. In Smoking Privileges, Laura D. Hirshbein highlights the complex problem of mentally ill smokers, placing it in the context of changes in psychiatry, in the tobacco and pharmaceutical industries, and in the experience of mental illness over the last century.Hirshbein, a medical historian and clinical psychiatrist, first shows how cigarettes functioned in the old system of psychiatric care, revealing that mental health providers long ago noted the important role of cigarettes within treatment settings and the strong attachment of many mentally ill individuals to their cigarettes. Hirshbein also relates how, as the sale of cigarettes dwindled, the tobacco industry quietly researched alternative markets, including those who smoked for psychological reasons, ultimately discovering connections between mental states and smoking, and the addictive properties of nicotine. However, Smoking Privileges warns that to see smoking among the mentally ill only in terms of addiction misses how this behavior fits into the broader context of their lives. Cigarettes not only helped structure their relationships with other people, but also have been important objects of attachment. Indeed, even after psychiatric hospitals belatedly instituted smoking bans in the late twentieth century, smoking remained an integral part of life for many seriously ill patients, with implications not only for public health but for the ongoing treatment of psychiatric disorders. Making matters worse, well-meaning tobacco-control policies have had the unintended consequence of further stigmatizing the mentally ill.A groundbreaking look at a little-known public health problem, Smoking Privileges illuminates the intersection of smoking and mental illness, and offers a new perspective on public policy regarding cigarettes.

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Page Count

192

Publisher

Rutgers University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0813575508

ISBN 13

9780813575506

Transplanting Care

Shifting Commitments in Health and Care in the United States

By: Laura L. Heinemann

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Transplanting Care

Shifting Commitments in Health and Care in the United States

By: Laura L. Heinemann

The sudden call, the race to the hospital, the high-stakes operation—the drama of transplant surgery is well known. But what happens before and after the surgery? In Transplanting Care, Laura L. Heinemann examines the daily lives of midwestern organ transplant patients and those who care for them, from pretransplant preparations through to the long posttransplant recovery. Heinemann points out that as efforts to control healthcare costs gain urgency—and as new surgical techniques, drug therapies, and home medical equipment advance—most of the transplant process now takes place at home, among kin. Indeed, the transplant system effectively depends on unpaid care labor, typically provided by spouses, parents, siblings, and others. Drawing on scores of interviews with patients, relatives, and healthcare professionals, Heinemann follows a variety of patients and loved ones as they undertake this uncertain and strenuous “transplant journey.” She also shows how these home-based caregiving efforts take place within the larger economic and political context of a paucity of resources for patients and caregivers, who ultimately must surmount numerous obstacles. The author concludes that the many snags encountered by transplant patients and loved ones make a clear case for more comprehensive health and social policy that treats care as a necessarily shared public responsibility. An illuminating look at the long transplant journey, Transplanting Care also offers broader insight into how we handle infirmity in America—and how we might do a better job of doing so.

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Page Count

201

Publisher

Rutgers University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0813574447

ISBN 13

9780813574448

American Melancholy

Constructions of Depression in the Twentieth Century

By: Laura D. Hirshbein

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American Melancholy

Constructions of Depression in the Twentieth Century

By: Laura D. Hirshbein

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Page Count

194

Publisher

Rutgers University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0813545846

ISBN 13

9780813545844

Smoking Privileges

Psychiatry, the Mentally Ill, and the Tobacco Industry in America

By: Laura D. Hirshbein

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Smoking Privileges

Psychiatry, the Mentally Ill, and the Tobacco Industry in America

By: Laura D. Hirshbein

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Page Count

229

Publisher

Rutgers University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0813563984

ISBN 13

9780813563985

Book's by Laura D. Hirshbein

American Melancholy

American Melancholy

Smoking Privileges

Smoking Privileges

Transplanting Care

Transplanting Care

American Melancholy

American Melancholy

Smoking Privileges

Smoking Privileges

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