Encyclopedia of Biomaterials and Biomedical Engineering

In my search for a good background source of literature on sleep disorders I got my hands on the entire subject collection at my university. This particular book is a large authoritatively looking volume (as most other books listed below). I scanned through the chapters, index and contents, and read selected sections that attracted my attention. Unfortunately this book fails to deliver. The primary reason is that there's not a word about some of the most common causes of insomnia such, for example, as: - renal disease - diabetes mellitus - neurotoxicity (including those of metals and organo-compounds) - metabolic diseases involving the melatonin cycle - dietary causes (i.e. Mg/I deficiency, Na overload) etc etc It's a grave omission. I cannot know if it is intentional or from ignorance, but without exploring a number of the key non-psychosomatic etiologies, this book is materially incomplete, misleading and potentially very harmful. The focus of this "clinical" book is on collecting clinically irrelevant and diagnostically unhelpful facts with a clear psychosomatic agenda. My main worry is that there is little about *diagnosis* and a heavy bias on justifying pharmacological interventions without even trying to understand potential causes of the illness. If you are a student or a health professional you have a responsibility of due care. You may pass your exams if you memorise this textbook. But you are unlikely to help your patients if you do not educate yourself. Read widely across different disciplines, research peer reviewed primary sources, even google, but most importantly throw this book away. It is biased towards prescribing drugs without actually uncovering what underlying causes might be. If you accept this psychosomatic regurgitated group-think, this big-pharma pushed dogma you are likely to make many people who reach out to you for help only much sicker. The complete list of garbage this review applies to: Sleep and Sleep Disorders:: A Neuropsychopharmacological Approach - Malcolm Lader Sleep: A Comprehensive Handbook - Teofilo L. Lee-Chiong Understanding Sleep and Dreaming - William H. Moorcroft Insomnia: A Clinician's Guide to Assessment and Treatment - Charles M. Morin Clinical Handbook of Insomnia (Current Clinical Neurology - Hrayr P. Attarian 100 Q&A About Sleep and Sleep Disorders, Second Edition (100 Questions & Answers about . . . - Sudhansu Chokroverty Clinician's Guide to Sleep Disorders (Neurological Disease and Therapy - Nathaniel F. Watson A Clinical Guide to Pediatric Sleep: Diagnosis and Management of Sleep Problems - Jodi A. Mindell Clinician's Guide to Pediatric Sleep Disorders - Mark Richardson Sleep and Movement Disorders - Sudhansu Chokroverty Clinical Sleep Disorders - Paul R. Carney A Clinical Guide to Sleep Disorders in Children and Adolescents - Gregory Stores Insomnia and Other Adult Sleep Problems (The Facts - Gregory Stores Sleep Disorders: Diagnosis and Therapeutics - S. R. Pandi-Peruma