Over recent years the policy of isolating and institutionalizing mentally handicapped people has gradually been dismantled and a major shift to community care has taken place. But integration within the general community and access to special services has greatly increased the number of people with a need to know about mental handicap. Each profession or discipline has its own terminology; nowadays one must be conversant with all of them. In this comprehensive dictionary Mary Lindsey has brought together terms and concepts from a wide variety of fields. Approximately 2,400 entries are included, ranging in length from concise explanations to encyclopaedic essays, but always expressed in clear, simple language. Where appropriate, suggestions for further reading are made and possible sources of further information given. An extensive system of cross-references leads the interested reader further and makes valuable connections between entries. The medical aspects of mental handicap, its causes, prognoses and treatments, are of course covered in detail. But although the cause of mental handicap may be medical, subsequent interventions may be sociological, psychological, educational, medical, paramedical or psychiatric. This is reflected in the choice of entries, making the Dictionary an invaluable source of reference for all those involved with mentally handicapped people in any capacity whatsoever.
