Can the way in which we relate to others seriously affect our health? Can understanding those attachments help health care providers treat us better? In Love, Fear, and Health, psychiatrists Robert Maunder and Jonathan Hunter draw on evidence from neuroscience, stress physiology, social psychology, and evolutionary biology to explain how understanding attachment - the ways in which people seek security in their close relationships - can transform patient outcomes.

Using attachment theory, Maunder and Hunter provide a practical, clinically focused introduction to the influence of attachment styles on an individual's risk of disease and the effectiveness of their interactions with health care providers. Drawing on more than fifty years of combined experience as health care providers, teachers, and researchers, they explain in clear language how health care workers in all disciplines can use this knowledge to meet their patients' needs better and to improve their health.

"Love, Fear, and Health is brilliant. Every health care professional concerned with the psychological well-being of his or her patients should read it. More generally, I recommend this well-written and humane book to anyone concerned to understand why some people are happy and healthy, and others are not." -- David Naylor, Professor of Medicine and President Emeritus, University of Toronto "What an excellent book! Fascinating, scientifically sound, clinically innovative, and gracefully written. While relying on attachment theory research for important applications to the health care field, it opens up topics for further research. It reads quickly and effortlessly because of its lucid prose, engaging author self-disclosures, and efficiently presented, highly instructive case examples. I thoroughly enjoyed it - as an attachment researcher, a sometimes patient negotiating today's health care maze, and a fan of good stories about complex real beings." -- Phillip R. Shaver, Distinguished Professor Emeritus, Department of Psychology, University of California, Davis "Popular medical science at its very best, Maunder and Hunter's impressive book defies superlatives: readable, accessible, amusing, and profound. The authors show how the evidence-based science of attachment is the key that unlocks the puzzle of chronic illness and illness-promoting behaviours, and how, through understanding the lure and dangers of the ubiquitous 'weak force' of insecure attachment, both can be ameliorated. Hyperbole aside, this is one of those rare books destined to be essential reading for doctors and health workers, at all levels, worldwide, and for years to come." -- Jeremy Holmes, Visiting Professor, Department of Clinical Psychology, University of Exeter

About the Author
Robert Maunder, MD is a professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Toronto and holds the Chair in Health and Behaviour at Sinai Health. His research focuses on how close relationships influence health, and on the compassionate support of resilience in healthcare workers. Clinically, he provides psychiatric care for people with chronic physical illnesses. Jonathan Hunter, MD is a professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Toronto and holds the Pencer Family Chair in Applied General Psychiatry at Sinai Health. His research and clinical practice focus on the psychiatric and psychotherapeutic care of cancer patients and other people with serious medical and surgical illnesses.

Reviews

"This book is written to appeal to a wide clinical audience, including physicians, nurses and other care providers. The understanding this book promotes could go far in improving the care all clinicians offer to their patients."

-- Barry Gilbert * U of T Medicine Magazine, Winter 2015 *

"Overall, this book is an engaging one that healthcare workers of all kinds will find interesting, informative and helpful. The rest of us, who sometimes are patients, will also find this book worthwhile, and in reading it may even recognize issues in ourselves and in those we know. "

-- Keith Oatley * The Literary Review of Canada, April, 2016 *

'Free from jargon, the text is easy to read, and each section provides several examples and a useful summary.... The book could help healthcare workers to better meet their patients' needs and ultimately improve their health.'

-- Angela Davis * Nursing Standard February 2016 *

'This book is an excellent contribution to the literature on human attachment as it relates to health issues. Highly recommended.'

-- M.C. Matteis * Choice Magazine vol 53:10:2016 *



Book Information
ISBN 9781442615601
Author Robert Maunder, MD
Format Paperback
Page Count 344
Imprint University of Toronto Press
Publisher University of Toronto Press
Weight(grams) 440g
Dimensions(mm) 226mm * 150mm * 23mm