Joel E. Dimsdale – författare

A "highly readable and compelling" account (Science) of brainwashing’s pervasive role in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries“Riveting. . . . Dimsdale . . . shows how the art of dark persuasion a generation ago led almost inevitably to today’s misinformation, cyberbullying and cultlike behavior on the Internet.”—Dina Temple-Raston, Washington Post  This gripping book traces the evolution of brainwashing from its beginnings in torture and religious conversion into the age of neuroscience and social media. When Pavlov introduced scientific approaches, his research was enthusiastically supported by Lenin and Stalin, setting the stage for major breakthroughs in tools for social, political, and religious control.    Tracing these developments through many of the past century’s major conflagrations, Dimsdale narrates how when World War II erupted, governments secretly raced to develop drugs for interrogation. Brainwashing returned to the spotlight during the Cold War in the hands of the North Koreans and Chinese. In response, a huge Manhattan Project of the Mind was established to study memory obliteration, indoctrination during sleep, and hallucinogens. Cults used the techniques as well. Nobel laureates, university academics, intelligence operatives, criminals, and clerics all populate this shattering and dark story—one that hasn’t yet ended.

The number of, and interest in, quality of life studies has grown dramatically in the last decade. On an ever increasing basis, patients, clinicians, researchers, and health policy regulators are considering quality of life in assessing treatment alternatives. Unfortunately, most discussions of quality of life are narrow in scope -- applying to only one disease group. This unique book represents the concerted effort of experts in academia, federal government health care regulators, and pharmaceutical industry representatives to define the promise and the problems associated with quality of life studies. The issues covered range from cross cutting ones to those that are specific to particular illnesses.Because quality of life takes into consideration such domains as mood, vocation, family, sexual functioning, social participation, and costs, this book will serve as an invaluable companion to readers with an interest in behavioral medicine research.

This book provides a fascinating and practical review of the epidemiology, diagnosis, and treatment of this category of disease. Somatic Presentations of Mental Disorders summarizes the proceedings of a unique international conference that convened experts from across disciplines to review perspectives on somatoform disorders.