Fibromyalgia or the fibromyalgia syndrome (FMS) is a chronic pain disorder characterized by fatigue, muscle pain, tenderness, and sleep difficulties. This syndrome is referred as “soft-tissue rheumatism”. Fibromyalgia is a disorder that intrudes upon the daily life of people and is a worldwide phenomenon. Fibromyalgia might also include other symptoms such as concentration and memory problems, labile mood, depression, anxiety, sleep problems, painful menstrual cramps, and numbness. Because FMS has no relevant organic pathology, it is placed in the realm of medically unexplained physical symptoms. Recent studies are providing early evidence for the use of eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) therapy for chronic pain patients. Also, EMDR therapy is being used for other pain conditions, including fibromyalgia. Therefore, the EMDR Fibromyalgia Syndrome Protocol created includes the three-pronged protocol and an in-depth history of the client’s FMS and trauma. More research is needed to support this new protocol.

Perhaps the most crucial and significant question rehabilitation researchers have sought to answer over the past several decades is: How is it that some persons with disabilities appear to excel and succeed in life beyond all expectations, whereas others seemingly succumb or yield to the limits imposed by their disabilities and society? This chapter explores the multiple factors that contribute to this dichotomy. It focuses on disability from a salutogenic orientation (focusing on the traits of healthy and successful persons) as opposed to the traditional pathological approach (focusing on the reasons and treatment of those beleaguered with ongoing mental and physical health problems) (Antonovsky, 1987). The chapter briefly explores several of the more common disabling conditions in the United States, specifically substance use disorder (SUD), depression, anxiety, and suicide. It also explores the literature behind positive psychology and also the environmental and social barriers that obstruct wellness.

There are positive and negative aspects of life at every age throughout the life span, and aging is no exception. This chapter presents a more balanced view of older adults’ mental health and cognitive abilities, one that moves away from the stereotypes. It focuses on mental health and cognitive abilities as people age, with a presentation of the many positive characteristics of older adults’ psychological and emotional well-being as well as difficulties some may face, such as depression and dementia. The chapter also describes how personality changes over the life span and how the creative arts can positively impact the lives of older adults. Finally, it discusses factors that can positively and negatively affect older adults’ mental and cognitive abilities. The Practical Application presented at the end of the chapter focuses on unique challenges faced by individuals currently around 80 and above due to mental health stereotypes and stigmas.

Mental health is a multifaceted concept and difficult to define. Clinicians and researchers refer to DSM guidelines or state how a condition deviates from them. Critics of the guidelines may argue that the number of clinical characteristics that identify a mental illness, and the time parameters that are employed for having these characteristics, are arbitrary. But flawed though they may be, there is no consensus on guidelines that could even be criticized, much less adopted, for the components of mental health. Thus, this chapter attempts to correct this imbalance and reflects a combination of the two perspectives: mental health and mental illness. As is true of most of the literature, the author has organized chapter subheadings largely around mental illness terms and also attempted to focus as much overall attention on mental health content as on mental illness. In addition to examining a topic like depression, the chapter explores life reviews, and in addition to examining Alzheimer’s disease, it explores cognitive stimulation.

Aging and physical vulnerability go hand in hand, so it is not surprising that older adults pay particular attention to what they eat and drink. Dehydration, constipation, hypertension, overweight, and malnourishment are just some of the age-related challenges facing older adults. Nutrition screenings examine characteristics known to be associated with dietary and nutritional problems, in order to identify high-risk individuals. One such screening initiative resulted in the production of a manual that begins with a checklist, “Determine Your Nutritional Health”. The manual includes a variety of screening tools on nutrition and related topics, including body mass index, eating habits, functional status, cognitive status, and depression. Medicare recognizes that not only is obesity a disease, but it is an epidemic in America. By offering free weight-management counseling for older adults, this is a step in the right direction.

This chapter describes the types of mental illness that can develop over the life course. Childhood mental disorders often focus around issues of attention, anxiety, depression, eating disorders, and behavioral problems that cause distress for the child and others. The chapter discusses mental health problems of emerging adulthood. It examines trends in mental healthcare for children and adolescents. The chapter demonstrates an understanding of the difficulties of assessing the mental health problems of older adults, including distinguishing between dementia and depression. Mental health is a pressing issue for active duty members of the armed forces as well as for veterans. Reducing psychiatric hospitalizations is a positive step for clients and families and an important way to conserve resources. Social workers are the professionals most likely to work with clients and families in all stages of life and can bring considerable expertise to improving and expanding interventions across the life cycle.

This chapter examines what mental health is and ideas about why African Americans manifest lower rates of mental health problems than expected. It explores theories of African American mental health proposed by Wilcox, Ramseur, and Edwards. The chapter explains thriving and examines factors that impact mental health for African Americans including socioeconomic status, discrimination, and mistrust. It discusses John Henryism and the Strong Black Woman ideology as they relate to mental health for African Americans. The chapter also discusses mental health stigma along with how it relates to mental health treatment and perceptions of self. It examines the strengths that African Americans manifest, which can improve mental health. The chapter also discusses specific mental health issues in the African American community including factors such as depression, substance use, and psychotherapy. Finally, it explores the issues concerning the future of mental health among African Americans such as increasing the number of African American mental health professionals.

Years of research have revealed that certain techniques reliably lead to improved quality and quantity of sleep and increased satisfaction with sleep. Together these techniques can be called “cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia” (CBT-I). In the mid-1990s two important reports were published on these techniques. These reports were based on meta-analyses. In a meta-analysis, the research data from many studies of a given treatment are carefully combined to provide the overall story on the treatment’s usefulness. In these particular meta-analyses, the authors reviewed studies that had compared CBT-I techniques with no treatment or with a placebo treatment. Research shows that CBT-I is useful even if one have some mild to moderate symptoms of anxiety or depression, or some long-lasting medical problem like chronic pain or cancer. This book shows how to deal with and overcome insomnia if one has insomnia that has lasted longer than 4 weeks.

The case for major depression being an inflammatory condition has been advanced in the literature on neuroscience as well as in the literature on psychiatry. The correlational data suggested that depressed persons exhibit signs of systemic inflammation. One way to induce inflammation in the blood is to place a piece of the wall of a bacterium in the paw of an animal. There are other ways to induce systemic inflammation besides introducing fragments of a bacterial cell wall. Consistent with the view that behavioral depression involves inflammation, particular alleles for genes involved in the immune system have been identified as risk factors for depression. Mediterranean diets are associated with lower levels of inflammatory factors and lower levels of depression. Parasympathetic nervous system (PNS) releases factors that will inhibit the release of inflammatory factors from white blood cells and from the liver.

This chapter enables practitioners to understand the ways that individuals experience grief as it is influenced by psychological responses to loss in the face of previous attachments, by social norms and support networks, by cultural attitudes, and by biological responses to stress. When one experiences a traumatic event, such as sexual or physical assault, among the myriad of feelings, thoughts, and dynamics are a sense of loss and a sense of grief, often accompanied by suffering or pain, in the broadest sense. The normative, destabilizing force of loss also promotes self-reflection and growth, particularly when the mourner’s experience is validated and supported. William Worden developed his task-based grief theory and intervention framework as a response to some of the stage- and phase-based models of the late 1960s through the early 1990s. He adds the experience of emotional ventilation, something that recently has become known as the grief work hypothesis.