Handbook of Complex Occupational Disability Claims - by Izabela Z Schultz & Robert J Gatchel (Hardcover)

About the Book

The world of disability claims is enormously costly and complex. This book integrates current theories and findings into a state-of-the-art tool for handling disability claims. It includes discussion of costly "new wave" claims such as depression and anxiety.

Book Synopsis

Chronic back and neck pain. Whiplash. Fibromyalgia. Carpal tunnel syndrome. Intractable headaches. Depression. Anxiety and posttraumatic stress. Concussion. More than ever, the term workplace disabilities is synonymous with greater clinical and case management complexity and escalating personal, social, occupational and economic cost. Complex illnesses and injuries that defy a traditional medical management model continue to baffle medical, mental health, rehabilitation, compensation, corporate, and legal professionals despite new advances in diagnosis, prevention, and rehabilitation. The Handbook of Complex Occupational Disability Claims: Early Risk Identification, Intervention and Prevention cuts through the confusion by integrating current theories and findings into a state-of-the-art tool for critical thinking, decision making, and effective practice.

A book that synthesizes so many diverse viewpoints has the potential to influence both policy and practice across disciplines and cut through politicization of these still poorly understood conditions with evidence. The Handbook is important reading for all clinicians, professionals, and members of rehabilitation and disability management teams, across healthcare, occupational and compensation settings.

From the Back Cover

The Handbook of Complex Occupational Disability Claims: Early Risk Identification, Intervention and Prevention

Edited by Izabela Z. Schultz, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada

Robet J. Gatchel, The University of Texas at Arlington, Arlington, TX, USA

Chronic back and neck pain. Whiplash. Fibromyalgia. Carpal tunnel syndrome. Intractable headaches. Depression. Anxiety and posttraumatic stress. Concussion. More than ever, the term workplace disabilities is synonymous with greater clinical and case management complexity and escalating personal, social, occupational and economic cost. Complex illnesses and injuries that defy a traditional medical management model continue to baffle medical, mental health, rehabilitation, compensation, corporate, and legal professionals despite new advances in diagnosis, prevention, and rehabilitation. The Handbook of Complex Occupational Disability Claims: Early Risk Identification, Intervention and Prevention cuts through the confusion by integrating current theories and findings into a state-of-the-art tool for critical thinking, decision making, and effective practice.

This clear-sighted, interdisciplinary and integrative volume goes beyond cataloguing symptoms or sorting legitimate from fraudulent cases--its emphasis is on early detection of risk and management to prevent injury from developing into long-term disability. Editors Schultz and Gatchel and their 49 expert contributors offer lucid evaluations of the scientific and clinical literature to repair the mind/body split that has traditionally defined this field:

• Conceptual and methodological issues in the prediction of disability.
• Biopsychosocial perspectives on the most prevalent disabling conditions, including: chronic pain syndromes, repetitive strain injuries, depression, anxiety, traumatic brain injury, and posttraumatic stressdisorder.
• Application of clinical findings to the rehabilitation, disability management, occupational and compensation arenas, and return-to-work practices.
• In-depth discussion of the relationship between impairment and work disability.
• Specific evidence-based early intervention approaches for workers and patients at risk.

A book that synthesizes so many diverse viewpoints has the potential to influence both policy and practice across disciplines and cut through politicization of these still poorly understood conditions with evidence. The Handbook is important reading for all clinicians, professionals, and members of rehabilitation and disability management teams, across healthcare, occupational and compensation settings.

Review Quotes

From the reviews:

"There is no doubt that skyrocketing disability claims are having a profound monetary and social impact on Western societies. Leading this explosion are the biopsychosocial disabilities that have proved elusive to standard modeling. Schultz and Gatchel have created a repository of new knowledge about these disabilities, with some practical suggestions on how to integrate this knowledge effectively into clinical, case-management, rehabilitation, corporate, compensation, and return-to-work practices. Albert Einstein is reported to have said that 'the significant problems we face cannot be solved by the same level of thinking that created them.' This book does an admirable job of presenting a new paradigm to better address this challenging problem."

Brian E.Grottkau, M.D., Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA

Excerpted from The New England Journal of Medicine, August 31, 2006

"The Handbook of Complex Occupational Disability Claims... is a timely text that synthesizes a copious amount of research and clinical data pertaining to a number of poorly defined medical conditions into an authoritative tool for use in practice across multiple disciplines. It should be considered mandatory reading for clinicians, rehabilitation specialists, case managers, and other professionals involved in occupational disability cases and claims management."

Bruce A. Barron, Division of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry, Rochester, NY

Excerpted from the Journal of Occupational Rehabilitation

"An excellent text that is truly worthwhile in its scope, coverage and depth of information. The impetus for this handbook stems from the contention that the United States and other developed Western nations are in the midst of an epidemic. This epidemic is composed of escalating occupational disability and skyrocketing economiccosts. ... It admirably summarizes the literature on risk factors and reviews the programs developed ... that intervene with the at-risk group. In terms of scope and level of comprehensiveness, no comparable text exists." (John A. Dooley, PsycCRITIQUES, Vol. 51 (8), 2006)