Acting Out: Maladaptive Behavior in Confinement

Reviewer: Nicholas Greco IV, MS, BCETS, CATSM(Abbott Laboratories)
Description: This is an updated work based upon a previous book called Coping. The authors examine the world of prisons and the emotionally disturbed inmates whose lives are multifaceted and contain numerous behavioral problems. The authors discuss detection of individual problem patterns and the how interventions can be appropriately designed.
Purpose: The purpose is to provide the reader with a much needed, timely, and comprehensive discussion of the mental health problems of inmates in our correctional systems and the appropriate interventions one can enact. These are highly worthy objectives and clearly meet the specific needs of forensic psychology.
Audience: The book is clearly intended for forensic psychologists, psychiatrists, and possibly policymakers involved in correctional systems. The authors are highly credible and have an extensive amount of experience in this area.
Features: A strong feature of this book is the overall layout. Readers are given a solid introduction to studying maladaptive behavior in confinement which sets the foundation for further discussion of the patterns of prison misbehavior and patterns of pathology. The individual patterns of inmates contained in eight chapters include such topics as enhancing esteem, pursuing autonomy, seeking refuge, and maintaining sanity. The final three chapters discuss what we as clinicians must do and includes solid information based upon the authors' research of prison inmates.
Assessment: This book meets the needs of a sometimes overlooked yet important subfield of psychology. Clinicians will be pleased with this book and will find it to be an invaluable resource.

Toch (criminal justice, U. of Albany of the State U. of New York) and Adams (public and environmental affairs, Indiana U.-Purdue U.- Indianapolis) provide a humane discussion of the psychology of imprisonment, the challenges of creating humane confinement; and solutions to a set of conditions that typically only exacerbate problems among inmates. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

4 Stars! from Doody