Maymester and Intersession Hours from Wednesday, May 14 - Sunday, June 1
Monday - Friday: 9am to 5pm
Saturday & Sunday: CLOSED
The library will be closing at noon on Friday, May 23 and will remain closed through Monday, May 26 in observance of Memorial Day.
Since May is Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, be sure to check out the library's Asian American Studies Research Guide. The guide is designed to introduce researchers to the resources available on Asian American Studies including books, articles, and primary sources and is intended to provide a starting point for research.
You can also view additional books, databases and websites by clicking on the relevant tabs at the left side in the navigation menu.
May is National Mental Health Awareness Month. The University Library and Student Counseling Center have come together to provide recommended readings focused on mental health and ways to manage psychological wellness. A few of the readings are shown below but for a full list, please visit the Mental Health Awareness Month tab at the left.
The University Library abides by the American Library Association’s Code of Ethics and is therefore committed to intellectual freedom and the freedom to access information. If you have any questions or concerns, please speak with one of our staff.
Please note that the suggested readings have been identified to raise awareness on various mental health issues as well as identify coping skills to manage psychological well-being. If you are interested in exploring other ways to access mental health services, please contact Texas A&M University – San Antonio’s Student Counseling Center at (210) 784-1331 or stucounseling@tamusa.edu. Students can also download and use the Telus app for additional support.
*Not all content is endorsed by A&M-SA.
Art and the therapeutic uses of art provide older adults with valuable ways in which to express and share their feelings, needs and fears, and with a resource for coping with life's major changes. This practical book is filled with step-by-step exercises for art therapists and other professionals to use in work with older adults, either individually or in groups. The author provides brief, imaginative warm-ups, which encourage participants to become more at ease expressing themselves creatively. She offers ideas for engaging and innovative creative projects across a range of media, including art, music, movement, poetry and creative writing, all of which can be adapted, personalised or combined to meet the particular needs of individual participants. Points to consider when working with this client group are explored, and case study examples, with participants' artwork, are included throughout. Appropriate for use with all relatively able older adults, including those with depression, anxiety or in the early stages of dementia, this will be an invaluable tool for art therapists as well as counsellors, psychotherapists, social workers and carers.
Professionals, academics, and policy makers in the field of child and adolescent development tend to use theoretical frameworks stemming from traditional classified disciplines of psychology, sociology, political science, economics, education, and social work. This book creates an opportunity for experts to use interdisciplinary approaches and perspectives, and provides evidence-based knowledge to deal with the stresses of children and adolescents living in poverty, difficult socioeconomic conditions, and varied cultures.It also conveys the message that shared understandings can promote well-meaning and well-reasoned intervention success in similar contexts across nations in which children and adolescents are growing up in complex and risky environments.The contributors, from multiple disciplines, weave their knowledge around the development of children in contemporary society. They highlight the necessary conversations that schools, families, communities, individuals, and nation-states need to have and, most importantly, the responsibility for everyone to develop an understanding of the mental-health needs of the new generation.
An exceptional showcase of interdisciplinary research, Critical Inquiries for Social Justice in Mental Health presents various critical theories, methodologies, and methods for transforming mental health research and fostering socially-just mental health practices.
Estimates indicate that as many as 1 in 4 Americans will experience a mental health problem or will misuse alcohol or drugs in their lifetimes. These disorders are among the most highly stigmatized health conditions in the United States, and they remain barriers to full participation in society in areas as basic as education, housing, and employment. Improving the lives of people with mental health and substance abuse disorders has been a priority in the United States for more than 50 years. The Community Mental Health Act of 1963 is considered a major turning point in America's efforts to improve behavioral healthcare. It ushered in an era of optimism and hope and laid the groundwork for the consumer movement and new models of recovery. The consumer movement gave voice to people with mental and substance use disorders and brought their perspectives and experience into national discussions about mental health. However over the same 50-year period, positive change in American public attitudes and beliefs about mental and substance use disorders has lagged behind these advances. Stigma is a complex social phenomenon based on a relationship between an attribute and a stereotype that assigns undesirable labels, qualities, and behaviors to a person with that attribute. Labeled individuals are then socially devalued, which leads to inequality and discrimination. This report contributes to national efforts to understand and change attitudes, beliefs and behaviors that can lead to stigma and discrimination. Changing stigma in a lasting way will require coordinated efforts, which are based on the best possible evidence, supported at the national level with multiyear funding, and planned and implemented by an effective coalition of representative stakeholders. Ending Discrimination Against People with Mental and Substance Use Disorders: The Evidence for Stigma Change explores stigma and discrimination faced by individuals with mental or substance use disorders and recommends effective strategies for reducing stigma and encouraging people to seek treatment and other supportive services. It offers a set of conclusions and recommendations about successful stigma change strategies and the research needed to inform and evaluate these efforts in the United States.
Too often American veterans return from combat and spiral into depression, anger and loneliness they can neither share nor tackle on their own. Military Mental Health Care: A Guide for Service Members, Veterans, Families, and Community seeks to aid our troubled, returning forces by dissecting the numerous mental health problems they face upon arriving stateside. Don Philpott and Cheryl Lawhorne-Scott, co-authors with Janelle Hill of the highly successful Wounded Warrior Handbook, detail not only each issue's symptoms, but also discuss what treatments are available, and the best ways for veterans to access those treatments while readjusting to civilian life. In addition, they connect and explain many alarming trends, such as joblessness, poverty and addiction, appearing in our nation's veteran population on a broader scale. PTSD and struggles with anxiety affect far more than veterans themselves, as sobering phenomena like homelessness, suicide, domestic violence and divorce too often become realities for those returning from war. Military Mental Health Care is both a resource for struggling veterans and a useful tool for their loved ones, or anyone looking for ways to support the veterans in their lives.
It is only in the past 20 years that the concept of 'recovery' from mental health has been more widely considered and researched. Before then, it was generally considered that 'stability' was the best that anyone suffering from a mental disorder could hope for. But now it is recognised that, throughout their mental illness, many patients develop new beliefs, feelings, values, attitudes, and ways of dealing with their disorder. The notion of recovery from mentalillness is thus rapidly being accepted and is inserting more hope into mainstream psychiatry and other parts of the mental health care system around the world. Yet, in spite of conceptual and other challenges that this notion raises, including a variety of interpretations, there is scarcely any systematicphilosophical discussion of it.This book is unique in addressing philosophical issues - including conceptual challenges and opportunities - raised by the notion of recovery of people with mental illness. Such recovery - particularly in relation to serious mental illness such as schizophrenia - is often not about cure and can mean different things to different people. For example, it can mean symptom alleviation, ability to work, or the striving toward mental well-being (with or without symptoms). The book addresses thesedifferent meanings and their philosophical grounds, bringing to the fore perspectives of people with mental illness and their families as well as perspectives of philosophers, mental health care providers and researchers, among others.The important new work will contribute to further research, reflective practice and policy making in relation to the recovery of people with mental illness.It is essential reading for philosophers of health, psychiatrists, and other mental care providers, as well as policy makers.
Societal awareness of transgender and gender-nonconforming (TGNC) individuals is greater now than at any point in history, owing to the education of policy makers by advocacy organizations, the education of clinicians by research and scientific organizations, and the education of the general public by movies, television, and other media. However, most professional training programs for mental health professionals provide little to no education regarding gender diversity. Transgender Mental Health squarely addresses this deficit. This guide forgoes clinical jargon in favor of accessible, straightforward language designed to educate clinicians on how to address the basic needs of the TGNC community, thus increasing access to mental health care for TGNC individuals, which has been sorely lacking to this point. Rich in cases drawn from real clinical experience, the guide is organized into four sections. * The first section includes a discussion of the gender spectrum and offers a history of the TGNC experience. This section also covers advocacy, particularly letter writing for gender marker changes and gender-affirming surgeries.* The second section is dedicated to mental health factors in TGNC care and examines sex and sexuality, support systems, and transitioning and detransitioning.* The third of the guide's sections addresses general physical health with TGNC individuals, including masculinizing and feminizing hormones, with an eye toward preparing practitioners to address the social, psychological, and physical needs of their patients.* The final section discusses all major gender-affirming surgical procedures, as well as nonsurgical interventions. Each chapter includes summarizing key points and review questions at the end that not only test the reader's comprehension of the material but also provide additional information on the complicated political, social, and cultural barriers that many TGNC individuals experience as they attempt to secure adequate care. Relevant for a range of mental health professionals, including psychiatrists, psychiatric nurse practitioners, psychologists, social workers, family therapists, and school counselors, Transgender Mental Health is a simple yet thorough primer on the complex topic of gender diversity.
The experiences of African American women and Latinas are rich and complex. These women simultaneously bring healing, wholeness, and restoration to themselves and their communities. While they live with risk economically, psychologically, socially, and politically, they have also attained noteworthy ways of coping and thriving. Thus, the growing literature on their experiences highlights narratives of survival, struggle, and soaring. This inspiring book introduces the psychologies of womanists and mujeristas -- African American women and Latinas, respectively, who have a broad and inclusive approach to feminism and liberation. Womanist and mujerista values and worldviews emphasise resiliency, strength, activism, self-expression, creativity, spirituality/connection, self-definition, and liberation of all oppressed people. As opposed to much general psychology literature that pathologises or marginalises the experiences of African American women and Latinas, this book centralises their psyches and unpacks the underexplored areas of their historical and contemporary ways of knowing and approaches to living. The value of cultural and gender identity is viewed not from a deficit perspective, but instead as an asset and contributor to meaning, identity, and strengths. The authors of this volume are all womanists and mujeristas who are leading psychologists and scholars. They integrate findings from multiple disciplines to explore psychology, spirituality, creativity, activism, counselling, healing, research, and leadership from a womanist and mujerista perspective.
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