About the Book
The Taking Sides Collection on McGraw-Hill Create® includes current controversial issues in a debate-style format designed to stimulate student interest and develop critical thinking skills.
Table of Contents:
Unit 1: Psychological Conditions and Treatments
Issue: Is the Addiction Model Appropriate for Treating Compulsive Sexual Behaviors?
YES: Isaac Abel, from “Was I Actually ‘Addicted’ to Internet Pornography?” The Atlantic (2013)
NO: Marty Klein, from “Why ‘Sexual Addiction’ Is Not a Useful Diagnosis—And Why It Matters,” martyklein.com (2016)
Issue: Is Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) a Real Disorder?
YES: National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), from "Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)," National Institute of Mental Health (2014)
NO: Tim O'Shea, D.C., from "ADD: A Designer Disease," The Doctor Within (2014)
Issue: Should Asperger's Syndrome Be a Diagnosis Distinct from Autism Spectrum Disorder?
YES: Dania Jekel and Nomi Kaim, from “Asperger’s: Too Valuable to Lose,” Original Work (2017)
NO: Francesca Happé and Jon Sutton, from “A Creative, Interpersonal, Social Scientist,” The Psychologist (2014)
Issue: Is Alcoholics Anonymous (A.A) an Ineffective Treatment Based on Pseudoscience?
YES: Gabrielle Glaser, from “The Irrationality of Alcoholics Anonymous,” The Atlantic (2015)
NO: Sarah A. Benton, from “Critique of Gabrielle Glaser’s Atlantic Article ‘Irrationality of AA’,” Original Work (2015)
Issue: Is "Social Transitioning" a Beneficial Treatment for Transgender Children?
YES: Kristina Olson and Lily Durwood, from "Are Parents Rushing to Turn Their Boys Into Girls?" Slate (2016)
NO: Alice Dreger, from "The Big Problem with Outlawing Gender Conversion Therapies," Wired (2015)
Issue: Should Psychiatric Asylums Be Reestablished as a Treatment Option for Long-term, Inpatient Care?
YES: H. Richard Lamb and Linda E. Weinberger, from “Rediscovering the Concept of Asylum for Persons with Serious Mental Illness,” The Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law (2016)
NO: Julian C. Hughes, from “Objections and Merits: A Commentary on ‘Improving Long-term Psychiatric Care: Bring Back the Asylum’ by Sisti, Segal, and Emanuel,” Journal of Ethics in Mental Health (2015)
Unit 2: The Trend toward Biological Interventions
Issue: Do We Still Need Psychiatrists?
YES: Steven Moffic, from "Why We Still Need Psychiatrists!" Mad in America (2012)
NO: Steven Balt, from "Yes, We Still Need Psychiatrists, but for What?" The Carlat Psychiatry Report (2012)
Issue: Is Addiction a Brain Disease?
YES: National Institute on Drug Abuse, from "Drugs, Brain, and Behavior: The Science of Addiction," National Institute on Drug Abuse (2014)
NO: Sally Satel and Scott O. Lilienfeld, from “Addiction and the Brain-Disease Fallacy,” Frontiers in Psychiatry (2014)
Issue: Should Memory-Dampening Drugs Be Used to Prevent and Treat Trauma in Combat Soldiers?
YES: Elise Donovan, from "Propranolol Use in the Prevention and Treatment of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder in Military Veterans: Forgetting Therapy Revisited," Perspectives in Biology and Medicine (2010)
NO: The President's Council on Bioethics, from "Beyond Therapy: Biotechnology and the Pursuit of Happiness," President's Council on Bioethics (2003)
Issue: Should Brain Stimulation Therapies Be Used in Efforts to Rehabilitate Psychopathic Criminals?
YES: Sergio Canavero, from “Criminal Minds: Neuromodulation of the Psychopathic Brain,” Frontiers in Human Neuroscience (2014)
NO: Dietmar Hübner and Lucie White, from “Neurosurgery for Psychopaths? An Ethical Analysis,” AJOB Neuroscience (2016)
Issue: Is Marijuana a Viable Treatment Option for Psychiatric Disorders?
YES: Will Hall, from “Marijuana for Mental Health Conditions?” Everything Matters: Beyond Meds (2015)
NO: Bernard Woodward, from “Marijuana and the Psychiatric Patient,” Psychiatric Times (2017)
Unit 3: Social, Ethical, and Legal Issues
Issue: Does Research Confirm That Violent Video Games Are Harmful to Minors?
YES: Leland Y. Yee and Steven F. Gruel, from "Brief of Amicus Curiae in Case of Brown v. Entertainment Merchants Association," U.S. Supreme Court (2010)
NO: Patricia A. Millett, from "Brief of Amici Curiae in Brown v. Entertainment Merchants Association," U.S. Supreme Court (2010)
Issue: Must Mentally Ill Murderers Have a Rational Understanding of Why They Are Being Sentenced to Death?
YES: American Psychological Association, American Psychiatric Association, and National Alliance on Mental Illness, from "Brief for Amici Curiae American Psychological Association, American Psychiatric Association, and National Alliance on Mental Illness in Support of Petitioner," U.S. Supreme Court (2007)
NO: Greg Abbott et al., from "On Writ of Certiorari to the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit: Brief for the Respondent," U.S. Supreme Court (2007)
Issue: Are Trigger Warnings Destructive in College Classrooms?
YES: Richard E. Vatz, from “The Academically Destructive Nature of Trigger Warnings,” First Amendment Studies (2016)
NO: Eleanor A. Lockhart, from “Why Trigger Warnings are Beneficial, Perhaps Even Necessary,” First Amendment Studies (2016)
Issue: Is the Use of Aversive Treatment an Inhumane Intervention for Psychologically Disordered Individuals?
YES: Laurie Ahern and Eric Rosenthal, from "Torture Not Treatment: Electric Shock and Long-term Restraint in the United States on Children and Adults with Disabilities at the Judge Rotenberg Center," Mental Disability Rights International (2010)
NO: Matthew L. Israel, from "Aversives at JRC: A Better Alternative to the Use of Drugs, Restraint, Isolation, Warehousing, or Expulsion in the Treatm
ent of Severe Behavior Disorders," Judge Rotenberg Center (2010)
Issue: Is Forced Treatment of Seriously Mentally Ill Individuals Justifiable?
YES: Samuel J. Brakel and John M. Davis, from "Overriding Mental Health Treatment Refusals: How Much Process Is ‘Due’?" Saint Louis University Law Journal (2007)
NO: James B. Gottstein, from "How the Legal System Can Help Create a Recovery Culture in Mental Health Systems," Alternatives 2005: Leading the Transformation to Recovery (2005)
Issue: Should Solitary Confinement Be Considered Psychological Torture and Be Outlawed for Inmates with Mental Illness?
YES: Reena Kapoor, from “Taking the Solitary Confinement Debate Out of Isolation,” The Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law (2014)
NO: U.S. Department of Justice, from “Inmates with Serious Mental Illness (SMI),” U.S. Department of Justice Report and Recommendations Concerning the Use of Restrictive Housing (2016)
Issue: Is the Internet Damaging Teen Brains?
YES: Chandra Johnson, from “Growing Up Digital: How the Internet Affects Teen Identity,” Deseret News (2014)
NO: Lauren Sherman, from “Internet and the Teen Brain: What Do We Know, and What Should We Be Asking?” Psychology in Action (2014)
Issue: Does Pornography Reduce the Incidence of Rape?
YES: Anthony D'Amato, from "Porn Up, Rape Down," Northwestern University School of Law, Public Law and Legal Theory Research Paper Series (2012)
NO: Darwin, from "Does Porn Prevent Rape?" Catholic Exchange (2012)
Issue: Should Individuals Convicted of Lower-tier Sexually Related Crimes Be Listed on the Sex Offender Registry?
YES: John G. Malcolm, from “The Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act: A Sensible and Workable Law that Helps Keep Us Safe,” Engage (2012)
NO: Carla Schultz, from “The Stigmatization of Individuals Convicted of Sex Offenses: Labeling Theory and the Sex Offense Registry,” Themis: Research Journal of Justice Studies and Forensic Science (2014)
About the Author :
Professor Halgin received his Ph. D. from Fordham University, and completed a 3-year fellowship in the Department of Psychiatry at New York Hospital-Cornell Medical Center, prior to joining the faculty of the University of Massachusetts in 1977. He is a Board Certified Clinical Psychologist and has had over two decades of clinical, supervisory, and consulting experience. At the University of Massachusetts, his course in Abnormal Psychology is one of the most popular offerings on campus, attracting an enrollment of more than 500 students each semester. In recent years, he has also offered this course at Amherst College and Smith College. His teaching has been recognized at the university and national level. A University of Massachusetts Alumni Distinguished Professor, he was honored with the University's Distinguished Teaching Award and his teaching was recognized by the Society for the Teaching of Psychology of the American Psychological Association. In April 2003, his teaching was highlighted in the Chronicle of Higher Education. Professor Halgin is the author of more than fifty journal articles and book chapters in the fields of psychotherapy, clinical supervision, and professional issues in psychology.
