Joshua Sparrow - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

Papers by Joshua Sparrow

Understanding S tress is increasingly present in all of our lives, yet as this term is used with ... more Understanding S tress is increasingly present in all of our lives, yet as this term is used with greater frequency, its meaning has become less clear. What is stress? Often the term is used to refer to an external pressure exerted on systems of human homeostasis. 1 But it also can refer to the immediate result-a physiological reaction mediated by the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis; neurohormonal mediators, such as corticotropin releasing factor; glucocorticoid release; and autonomic nervous system (ANS) response altering neurotransmitter levels, accompanied by adjustments in cardiovascular, immune system, and brain function, along with predictable behavioral manifestations-a "state of stress." 2 Humans share stress-responsive brain structures like the amygdala with other primates. But because of the evolution of brain structures, such as the hippocampus and prefrontal cortex, humans possess the unique ability to retrigger stress reactions in the absence of renewed external stress. 1,2 All we need to do to unleash a physiological stress response is to think about a particular stress. "Stress" has also come to refer not only to external pressures and immediate reactions to them, but to a prolonged internal state that may have long-term deleterious effects on health and mental health.

Wiley eBooks, Jul 21, 2010

Routledge eBooks, Oct 18, 2022

Current problems in pediatric and adolescent health care, 2011

n I remember, as I completed my pediatric training in the 1970s in Michigan, the early “glimmers”... more n I remember, as I completed my pediatric training in the 1970s in Michigan, the early “glimmers” of professionals (mostly PhDs and other child therapists) who were beginning to organize around the issues related to mental health in infants. I was briefly on the Board of Directors for the Michigan Association for Infant Mental Health (MAIMH) in the 1980s before leaving for a faculty position at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. I returned to Ann Arbor several times for the annual meeting of the MAIMH in the 1990s and presented a workshop at one of the meetings. Hiram Fitzgerald, PhD, is a longstanding local, national, and international leader of this “movement” and the editorial board members of Current Problems in Pediatric and Adolescent Health Care are delighted that he agreed to organize this issue. Dr. Peter Gorski has devoted much of his career to the well-being of infants and their families. He has contributed an insightful article that complements the articles by Dr. Fitzgerald’s “team.” In addition to the latest in infant mental health research, this issue’s readers will find “echoes” of ideas from some of the best minds working in infant mental health during the 20th century, including Donald Winnicott, who first used the term “Ordinary Devoted Mother” (intended as a compliment to mothers) in a series of lectures in 1949; John Bowlby, who began his groundreaking work on attachment in 1956; Burton L. hite, who captured the public’s imagination (at east mine) in 1975 with his very readable book The First Three Years of Life”; and finally, my entors, Marshall Klaus and John Kennell, who ransformed women’s experience of labor and elivery in the hospital and early care of the

La Psychiatrie de l'enfant, 2001

Recent inquiry into the course of psychiatric disorders has begun to undermine the once widesprea... more Recent inquiry into the course of psychiatric disorders has begun to undermine the once widespread belief in the uniform outcome of certain psychoses, and raises the possibility that distinct phases of recovery may be identified. This paper describes a single recovery phase, referred to as 'woodshedding,' during which subtle develop¬ mental changes are suspected to occur despite apparent stagnation. Phases are occasionally employed in the post-psychotic literature to organize time-bound phenomena, although neither the inadequacies and implications of this organization, nor the means by which one phase becomes the next have been addressed. As part of an intensive study of the interactions between the individual and the environment in affecting the course of disorder, a series of bimonthly interviews was carried out with twenty individuals hospitalized for psychotic decompensation. Instruments employed in the interviews assessed work, family, social relations, and global functional levels. The woodshedding phase, it was found, is characterized by stability, manifested in the continuity of surroundings, roles, and social contacts, and by co-existing developmental change. Thus, the absence of major job promotions, educational advances, heightened intimacy levels, or altered living situations is accompanied, during this phase, by the development of work mastery, social competence, self-esteem, and a limited increase in autonomy within the family. The phase appears to draw to an end when cumulative, incremental increases in functions such as self-esteem undergo qualitative transformations, giving rise to aspirations incompatible with the phase's stability requirements. The identification of phases in the course of recovery holds forth the possibility of a new dependent variable, of phase-specific therapy, and a new imperative to explore the means by which one phase becomes another, i.e., the nature of change.

Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry

Oxford Scholarship Online

The Harlem Children’s Zone® (HCZ) and the Brazelton Touchpoints Center engaged in ‘collaborative ... more The Harlem Children’s Zone® (HCZ) and the Brazelton Touchpoints Center engaged in ‘collaborative consultation’ to co-create early childhood and parent support programming. This collaboration is the story of a community coming together to reclaim and reconstruct environments for raising children and to connect adult caregivers to support each other in that process. A relational, developmental, strengths-based, and culturally grounded approach was employed to build mutual respect, trust, and understanding over time in authentic relationships required for shared learning, and for programme development and improvement. The inherent and culturally rooted strengths and resources of parents, and other family and community members mutually reinforced each other as contexts and conditions were created in which these caregivers could come together to activate their community’s collective problem-solving capacity, to share their dreams for their children, and to provide emotional support and c...

Le bébé d’hier, d’aujourd’hui, de demain et de toujours, 1997

e-SPEN, the European e-Journal of Clinical Nutrition and Metabolism, 2010

Background & aims: Outcomes of anorexia nervosa in patients meeting criteria for hospitalization ... more Background & aims: Outcomes of anorexia nervosa in patients meeting criteria for hospitalization were compared to those treated as outpatients. Methods: A questionnaire on the quality of recovery was completed by 143 patients. Groups were defined according to indication for hospitalization during the first 6 months of care (inpatient treatment: n ¼ 46, ambulatory treatment: n ¼ 97). Results: At intake, inpatients were characterized by lower BMI, and by higher prevalence of restrictive forms of the disease and prior suicide attempts. After 5 year follow-up, outcomes were similar in inpatients and outpatients respectively for BMI (18.4 vs. 19.2 kg/m 2), frequency of BMI normalization (45.7 vs. 49%), self reports of feeling ''completely cured'' (21% in both), educational attainment and professional functioning. Amenorrhea was more frequent in inpatients (21.7% vs. 8.2%). Inpatients also more frequently continued under medical supervision at the time of this study. Conclusions: Despite a more severe initial presentation, patients requiring hospitalization at entry exhibited outcomes comparable to outpatients, although requiring longer care.