Social Perspectives in Mental Health: Developing Social Models to Understand and Work with Mental Distress

by Jerry Tew, Sarah Carr, Peter Beresford, Martin Webber

Overview

'This excellent book fills an important gap and will be of interest to the full range of professionals involved in work with people with mental health problems as well as service users and carers…For those managers or education providers looking to base their provision on the 10 Essential Shared Capabilities, this book will be a must.'

- Social Work Education

'The book is aimed at a range of practitioners. It would be a useful beginner's book for anyone encountering the mental health services for the first time and as a reference book for experienced practitioners. It can be dipped into for specialist advice in areas such as provision of mental health services for women, and for groups such as black and other ethnic service users or for lesbian and gay service users. There are some good diagrams which help to explain the cycle of abuse, and the holistic model of mental health'.

- British Journal of Occupational Therapy

'Social Perspectives will be a useful addition to the library of both practitioners and students; not just for the well researched individual contributions, but for the extensive reference lists which will provide invaluable assistance to readers wishing to research further. The volume brings together various social perspectives in a coherent manner, emphasizing a move away from simply treating symptoms…Together, these chapters provide an agenda which has to be central to any social change.'

- Professional Social Work

Social Perspectives in Mental Health offers new practice frameworks that help to make sense of people's mental distress and recovery in relation to their social experience. This interdisciplinary volume promotes a holistic approach to mental health practice, with an emphasis on recovery and empowerment, and on building on the experiences of service users. The contributors explore the impact of social factors, such as power, abuse, ethnicity, gender and sexual orientation, on the causes and experiences of mental health problems. It is also considered how concepts such as risk and recovery can be understood from a social perspective.

Drawing on expertise from a wide range of academic, policy and practice settings as well as lived experience, this book is essential reading for practitioners, students and educators in the fields of mental health and social work.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781843102205
Publisher:	Kingsley, Jessica Publishers
Publication date:	12/15/2004
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	240
Product dimensions:	6.57(w) x 9.25(h) x 0.55(d)

About the Author

Jerry Tew is a Senior Lecturer in Social Work at the University of Central England and has substantial practitioner experience as an approved social worker. He is a member of the executive of the Social Perspectives Network and is the coordinator of its research subgroup. Jerry is also the social work advisor for the interdisciplinary Mental Health in Higher Education Project and the author of Social Theory, Power and Practice.

Table of Contents

Foreword, Judy Foster, Social Perspectives Network. Introduction, Jerry Tew, University of Central England. 1. Core Themes of Social Perspectives, Jerry Tew. 2. Social Approaches to Madness and Distress: User Perspectives and User Knowledges, Peter Beresford, Brunel University and Chair of Shaping our Lives. 3. Beyond Biomedical Models: A perspective from critical psychiatry, Duncan Double, Consultant psychiatrist, Hellesdon Hospital, Norwich. 4. Power Relations, Social Order and Mental Distress, Jerry Tew. 5. Social Capital and Mental Health, Martin Webber, Institute of Psychiatry, King's College, London. 6.The Social/Trauma Model - Mapping the Mental Health Consequences of Childhood Sexual Abuse and Similar Experiences, Sally Plumb, Mental Health Training Group, West Midlands. 7. Finding a Way Forward: A Black Perspective on Social Approaches to Mental Health, Peter Ferns, Independent Consultant. 8. Women's Mental Health: Taking Inequality into Account, Jennie Williams, Independent Consultant. 9. ‘The Sickness Label Infected Everything we Said': Lesbian and Gay Perspectives on Mental Distress, Sarah Carr, Social Care Institute for Excellence. 10. Approaches to Risk in Mental Health: A Multidisciplinary Discourse, Shulamit Ramon, Anglia Polytechnic University. 11. Recovery from Mental Breakdown, Jan Wallcraft, Sainsbury Centre for Mental Health and fellow for Sainsbury Centre for Mental Health Experts by Experience, National Institute for Mental Health in England. 12. Social Perspectives: Towards a Framework for Practice, Jerry Tew. Contributors. Subject Index. Author Index.

Editorial Reviews

A brilliantly succinct and readable summary that brings together models and evidence from sociology, psychology, social psychiatry, service user networks and the disability and minority rights movements into a coherent whole. I guarantee you's be hooked.

Clinical Psychology Forum 186