Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS)

"Historically neither the health care system nor the government knew or wanted to know about SIDS. Bergman, who has worked with parents and with a small number of professionals, was president of the National SIDS Foundation (1972-77), got SIDS research into federal programs, and provided help for bereaved parents--counselling rather than jail. . . . This book is must reading for health care providers and for government health policymakers. It should be in all libraries. Rarely does a book offer so much insight into human need and into political medicine. Highly recommended." Choice "This is a very useful book that describes the valuable contribution that a dedicated public spirited pediatrician can make to promote the health of children in the United States." JAMA

Regression periods play a central role in the psychological development of the human baby. Studies of infants have identified 10 periods of regression, or a return to a high frequency of mother-infant contact, within the first 20 months of life. These periods of emotional insecurity in the child signal forthcoming periods of developmental advance and the emergence of an array of new skills as a consequence of parent-infant conflict over body contact and the renegotiation of old privileges. Although the basic idea in this book is an old one, the authors believe that regression periods deserve further study and have identified four questions of central importance today: Can the phenomenon of regression periods as found by Dutch researchers in 1992 be replicated in other countries and cultures? What environmental conditions have an effect on these regression periods and how? Are there physical conditions in infants that show a non-linear distribution over age similar to regression periods? Have brain changes been detected since the review of Fischer & Rose (1994) at other ages than the six reported by them, and, if yes, how do these relate to the ages at which regression periods are found? Forming the core of this book, the replication studies performed in Sweden, Spain, and England provide support that regression periods are a real phenomenon and should be dealt with accordingly whenever developmental processes in infancy are discussed.

This book is a brief but comprehensive survey of research, writings, and professional practices concerned with death and dying. It is interdisciplinary and eclectic--medical, psychological, religious, philosophical, artistic, demographics, bereavement, and widowhood are all considered--but with an emphasis on psychological aspects. A variety of viewpoints and research findings on topics subsumed under "thanatology" receive thorough consideration. Questions, activities, and projects at the end of each chapter enhance reflection and personalize the material. This fourth edition features material on: * moral issues and court cases concerned with abortion and euthanasia; * the widespread problem of AIDS and other deadly diseases; * the tragedies occasioned by epidemics, starvation, and war; and * the resumption of capital punishment in many states. The book's enhanced multicultural tone reflects the increased economic, social, and physical interdependency among the nations of the world. Topics receiving increased attention in the fourth edition are: terror management; attitudes and practices concerning death; cross-cultural concepts of afterlife; gallows humor, out-of-body experiences; spiritualism; mass suicide; pet and romantic death; euthanasia; right to die; postbereavement depression; firearm deaths in children; children's understanding of death; child, adolescent, adult, and physician-assisted suicide; religious customs and death; confronting death; legal issues in death, dying and bereavement; death education; death music; creativity and death; longevity; broken heart phenomenon; beliefs in life after death; new definitions of death; children's acceptance of a parent's death; terminal illness; and the politics of death and dying.