In her innovative new book, Kalpana Ram reflects on the way spirit possession unsettles some of the foundational assumptions of modernity. What is a human subject under the varied conditions commonly associated with possession? What kind of subjectivity must already be in place to allow such a transformation to occur? How does it alter our understanding of memory and emotion if these assail us in the form of ghosts rather than as attributes of subjective experience? What does it mean to worship deities who are afflictive and capricious, yet bear an intimate relationship to justice? What is a "human" body if it can be taken over by a whole array of entities? What is agency if people can be "claimed" in this manner? What is gender if, while possessed, a woman is a woman no longer? Drawing on spirit possession among women and the rich traditions of subaltern religion in Tamil Nadu, South India, Ram concludes that the basis for constructing an alternative understanding of human agency need not rest on the usual requirements of a fully present consciousness or on the exercise of choice and planning. Instead of relegating possession, ghosts, and demons to the domain of the exotic, Ram uses spirit possession to illuminate ordinary experiences and relationships. In doing so, she uncovers fundamental instabilities that continue to haunt modern formulations of gender, human agency, and political emancipation. Fertile Disorder interrogates the modern assumptions about gender, agency, and subjectivity that underlie the social improvement projects circulating in Tamil Nadu, assumptions that directly shape people’s lives. The book pays particular attention to projects of family planning, development, reform, and emancipation. Combining ethnography with philosophical argument, Ram fashions alternatives to standard post-modernist and post-structuralist formulations. Grounded in decades of fieldwork, ambitious and wide ranging, her work is conceived as a journey that makes incursions into the unfamiliar, then returns us to the familiar. She argues that magic is not a monopoly of any one culture, historical period, or social formation but inhabits modernity—not only in the places, such as cinema and sound recording, where it is commonly looked for, but in "habit" and in aspects of everyday life that have been largely overlooked and shunned. Fertile Disorder will be of interest to a wide range of scholars in anthropology, religion, gender studies, subaltern studies, and post colonial theory.

Disease and Fertility covers the diseases that can cause population subfecundity. This book is organized into six parts encompassing 20 chapters that provide detailed information on each of these diseases for evaluation of quantitative impact on fecundity and population fertility. After briefly presenting an overview of the demography of subfecundity, this book goes on exploring the pathophysiology and effect on fecundity of various diseases, which are classified into three groups. The first group includes the nonsexually transmitted diseases, such as tuberculosis, malaria, filariasis, schistosomiasis, African sleeping sickness, and Chaga's disease. The second group is composed of the sexually transmitted diseases, including gonorrhea, nongonococcal cervicitis and urethritis and their complications, syphilis, and genital herpes, mycoplasma, and chlamydia. The third group is composed f phenomena that can cause pelvic inflammatory disease and other adverse reproductive sequelae, such as induced abortion, childbirth, the intrauterine device, and female circumcision. The final chapter considers the problems encountered in trying to link a particular disease to the fertility of a specific population. This book is of great value to population students, workers in medical community, and professionals in disciplines that involve the study of both health and population.

This book is a comprehensive guide to addressing, working with, and healing from emotional struggles related to fertility and eating disorders. Covering the emotional, psychological and physical impact of anorexia nervosa, bulimia and binge eating disorder, this book explores the lived experience of numerous women and men who have lived with eating disorders, fertility, and parenthood. It delves into research on medical complications that can affect fertility, attachment, the experience of shame, adjustment to the postpartum period, and offers clinical tools for therapists to use to support clients from a weight and body neutral perspective. Those who read this book will come away with a renewed sense of hope for recovery and healing from serious mental illnesses, and the notion that the value of having a family may be stronger than the eating disorder itself. The only book of its kind, The Clinical Guide to Fertility, Motherhood and Eating Disorders will be useful to practitioners, therapists, and scholars alike.

Bipolar disorder is a chronic and debilitating mental illness affecting a significant proportion of the world's population. It is associated with significant impairments in health-related quality of life and psychosocial functioning, and has significant illness-related morbidity and heightened mortality rates due to medical comorbidities and suicide. The management of this disorder requires a complex combination of pharmacological and psychosocial interventions which can be challenging for clinicians. Written by world experts in the field of bipolar disorder, The Treatment of Bipolar Disorder: Integrative Clinical Strategies and Future Directions provides readers with a concise and comprehensive guide to the integrative management of bipolar disorder. This resource contains 31 chapters on the various management choices available, from both established and novel treatment areas, such as psychoeducation, psychotherapeutic interventions, neuromodulatory approaches and novel therapeutic targets. The complexity and diversity of the management choices available makes this a continually evolving field and necessitates forward thinking. By both discussing the current management of bipolar disorder, and the future developments available, this resource provides all clinicians working with patients with bipolar disorder an up-to-date and reflective guide to its management and what the future holds.

This unique book is a comprehensive guide for healthcare providers who treat patients with complex medical conditions but lack the resources to address fertility and sexuality concerns and help patients navigate their fertility decision-making process. It presents up-to-date information concerning fertility preservation and restoration for patients with hereditary cancer syndromes, disorders of sex development, hematologic diseases, genetic disorders of gonadal dysfunction, immunologic diseases, gynecologic diseases, endocrine disorders, and autoimmune and inflammatory diseases. Utilizing a practical, user-friendly format, each chapter discusses the epidemiology, classification, risk factors and/or clinical manifestations, and diagnosis and treatment modalities specific to each condition, as well as the effect of it or its treatment on fertility and unique options that may exist. Complex medical conditions are inherently difficult to manage, and reproductive interventions are often not part of the conversation. As such, Fertility Preservation and Restoration for Patients with Complex Medical Conditions will be an excellent resource for primary care physicians, obstetrician/gynecologists, endocrinologists, oncologists, and other health professionals working with patients with fertility concerns. This book, together with Oncofertility: Fertility Preservation for Cancer Survivors; Oncofertility: Ethical, Legal, Social, and Medical Perspectives; Oncofertility Medical Practice: Clinical Issues and Implementation; Oncofertility Communication: Sharing Information and Building Relationships across Disciplines; and Pediatric and Adolescent Oncofertility: Best Practices and Emerging Technologies, provides scientific and medically relevant information on fertility preservation from all vantage points and is an indispensable series for those interested in fertility management in cancer or complex settings.

All schools of thought in economics, explicitly or otherwise, have referred to economic disorder as a self-evident fact. They have also unanimously considered it to be a temporary state. By contrast, this book contends that economic disorder is an interminable condition of human existence. From this perspective, the present study brings to light the misunderstanding of successive generations of economists on economic disorders. This book provides an alternative exposition of economic disorder and correctional measures that can be taken in order to correct these misconceptions. The analysis offered in this book is a scholarly work that provides a thorough explanation of the hidden dimensions and multiple aspects of economic disorders. Much of this book is devoted to uncovering the origins of such dimensions to further refine our understanding of the development of contemporary economies. To this end, this book also outlines how to tackle some of the most intriguing issues of our time. It seeks to provide a refreshing recount of the tenets of economic disorders. This book is a major contribution to the literature on economic disorder and crises and will be of great interest to readers of economic theory, philosophy of economics and the history of economic thought.

This Cleveland Clinic Guide gives couples facing fertility issues substantive information from a source trusted all over the world--a pioneer in such treatment as in vitro fertilization.