This paper considers the generally consistent description of the common elements involved in near-death experiences (NDEs). It is suggested that the framework for studying a new psychiatric syndrome provides a context within which NDEs can be articulated both for research and for the practice of mental health professionals.

In many traditional societies the childbirth environment is considered to be more powerful psychologically than physically. Sexual, simulative and religious imagery is employed to influence the parturient woman's feelings about the birth as a positive and active experience. The psychological assumptions involved appear to differ from western "natural" childbirth, and suggest a more holistic approach to birth experience. (Birth 12:l Spring, 1985)

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Research and treatment approaches to anorexia nervosa are primarily based on behaviourist psychology. This review summarizes some attempts to understand the causes and consequent treatments of the condition from the viewpoints of psychoanalytically informed, family, existential and feminist psychology. These perspectives, which focus on the individual experience of the anorexic, leave many questions unanswered, but provide fresh frameworks from which to investigate and treat the condition.

There is a rapidly developing but confusing body of research on anorexia nervosa. For the non‐specialist, trends in research are obscured by a diversity of definitions and variations in the proposed locus of pathology: the individual, the family or the socio‐cultural environment. While anorexia is a disorder which particularly needs research from a wide range of perspectives, it is vital that the different trends are frequently reviewed and, in the treatment process, integrated. This review summarizes the most significant developments in research on anorexia, and serves as an overview for clinicians wishing to consult the literature selectivity and in more depth.