Tiffany Field

Nathan A. Fox

Social Perception in Infants

An essay on the importance of touch to children's growth and development and to the physical and mental well-being of people of all ages. The first sensory input in life comes from the sense of touch while a baby is still in the womb, and touch continues to be the primary means of learning about the world throughout infancy, well into childhood. Touch is critical for children's growth, development, and health, as well as for adults' physical and mental well-being. Yet American society, claims Tiffany Field, is dangerously touch-deprived. Field, a leading authority on touch and touch therapy, begins this accessible book with an overview of the sociology and anthropology of touching and the basic psychophysical properties of touch. She then reports recent research results on the value of touch therapies, such as massage therapy, for various conditions, including asthma, cancer, autism, and eating disorders. She emphasizes the need for a change in societal attitudes toward touching, particularly among those who work with children.

Touch

Written by the Director of the world-renowned Touch Research Institutes, this book examines the practical applications of important massage therapy research findings. Each chapter of this comprehensive resource provides a clear and authoritative review of what is reliably known about the effects of touch for a variety of clinical conditions such as depression, pain management, movement problems, and functioning of the immune system. Coverage also includes the benefits of massage to specific populations such as pregnant women, neonates, infants, and adolescents. This book is suitable for massage therapists (including Shiatsu practitioners), aromatherapists, chiropractors, osteopaths, physical therapists, and nurses. Provides a thorough yet concise review of recent research related to the importance of touch. Offers practical guidance to healthcare professionals whose work involves physical contact with patients.

Massage Therapy Research

Jaipaul L. Roopnarine

Marilyn M. Segal

In 1982 The Society for Research in Child Development funded a study group entitled, Friendships in normal and handicapped children. This volume is an outgrowth of that study group. Developmental and clinical psycologists who had been studying friendships in normal children, hadicapped children or both met for a two-day symposium at the Mailman Center for Child Development, University of Miami. The purpose of the meeting was to share current data, to discuss implications of current reseach, and to formulate ideas for future studies on friendhship formation among young children. Many of these issues are summarized in a commentary by Judith Rubenstin in Chapter 7, and by Nicholas Anataslow in Chapter 12. -- Preface.

Friendships in Normal and Handicapped Children

"Additional information is provided on how complementary and alternative therapies can be used in conjunction with traditional therapies. Although focused primarily on adults; the book offers data and guidance on pediatric populations as well. Clear information on the training and credentials of complementary and alternative therapy practitioners is provided as well as contact information for professional associations, so psychotherapists can have confidence in making referrals to and working with these other practitioners. The information is easily accessible to graduate students and medical students as well as novice and seasoned clinicians and researchers."--BOOK JACKET.

Complementary and Alternative Therapies Research

Tiffany M. Field, PhD, is director of the Touch Research Institutes at the University of Miami School of Medicine. She is recipient of the American Psychological Association Distinguished Young Scientist Award and has had a Research Scientist Award from the NIH for her research career. She is the author of Infancy, The Amazing Infant, Touch, Advances in Touch, Touch Therapy, Massage Therapy Research, and Complementary and Alternative Therapies, the editor of a series of volumes on High-Risk Infants, and on Stress & Coping, and the author of over 450 journal papers. In the book Heartbreak she has reviewed recent research including her own studies on the heartbreak phenomenon as well as the symptom of social-emotional pain, intrusive thoughts, dreams and insomnia, crying, loneliness, depression, anxiety, and anger and the various therapies for heartbreak, as well as chapters on recovery, forgiveness and finding love again. The appendices to her book include several writing exercises for recovering and quotes from recommended books. Her introduction reads as follows: "It's been 9 months since I was dumped, and I am still wracked with and reeling from pain. I tried psychotherapy, I tried reading all the I was dumped', Heartbreak' and Love Addiction' books, I tried writing lost love poems, I tried reading Nora Roberts and Danielle Steele novels and I tried seeing Sex and the City' and He's Just Not That Into You' type movies. All of these must have helped a bit because I kept doing them almost obsessively and compulsively. I also have been working-out 3 hours a day which probably helps the most, and I took a beachside holiday with my daughter which was real therapy. But, I am still plagued by intrusive thoughts every moment of the day every day of the week, and by waking up many times in the night thinking this was just a nightmare and not for real, and wandering around looking for him, and having frequent, unpredictable bouts of heartache and embarrassingly uncontrollable crying spells, and not being able to listen to music or watch T.V. and not even being able to eat eggs which was our favorite meal, and having to turn off my cell phone because I keep expecting his 10 times- a day phone calls. So, I decided I would try something that has worked for me in past "being dumped" episodes which was researching the subject and then writing about it. The scientific research is very limited, even though heartbreak dates back to pre-historic times. They say that even rats experience heartache-I am not sure about dinosaurs as the data are limited from those times. It is also surprising that the research is scarce given that heartbreak has been one of the most popular themes for novelists and poets in historic times. It probably relates to the fact that researchers need funding for their research, and the funding agencies don't usually have these universal experiences that can kill you like love and heartbreak high on their priority lists. A renowned Wisconsin Senator was quoted once as saying Why would we need research on love when everyone knows what love is'. Data are recently accruing on the symptoms and longer term effects of heartbreak or the broken heart syndrome'. What little scientific literature there is on underlying biochemical, physiological and neurophysiological mechanisms of heartbreak shows that different parts of the brain light up on fMRIs during heartbreak, and some therapeutic activities can reduce the symptoms. Those data are important because they suggest potential physical damage from persistent, unrelenting heartache and the need for freeing yourself and moving on. So, this book is an attempt to let you know those data. It is not a therapeutic book like Eat, Pray and Love' and it is not a humorous book like He's Just Not That Into You'. But it hopefully is informative about the broken heart syndrome' and ways to work on a cure for that syndrome to hopefully never experience it again soon. Heartbrea

Heartbreak

Provides an essay on the importance of touch to children's growth and development and to the physical and mental well-being of people of all ages.

Tiffany Field

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