Mental Health and Well-Being

Neil Thompson PhD, DLitt, is an independent writer, educator and adviser with extensive experience in the human services. Formerly a university professor, he now helps individuals and organizations to maximize learning.

"This book strikes a note of clarity and wisdom in an era where medication is seen as the solution to ‘mental illness.’ Drawing on a sociologically informed philosophy illustrated by personal accounts, Neil Thompson demonstrates that we need to move away from a narrow medical model towards a more holistic model of mental health and well-being. I highly recommend this book to students, mental health practitioners, and those seeking to reframe their own distress outside of the confines of biomedicine."—Jane Ussher, PhD, professor of women’s health psychology at Western Sydney University and author of The Madness of Women: Myth and Experience"Neil Thompson’s work is renowned for its clarity and its success in blending theory and practice. This book is no exception. It is effective in raising and addressing important questions about medicalized approaches to mental health problems and offers helpful insights about a range of alternative understandings. All mental health professionals should carefully consider the issues it raises."—Cecilia L. W. Chan, PhD, RSW, JP, Si Yuan Professor and Chair in Health and Social Work and founder of the Centre on Behavioral Health at the University of Hong Kong

• Preface. Acknowledgments. About the Author. Introduction I. Constructing Mental Illness 1. From Demons to Drugs 2. Freud and His Followers 3. Asylums and Axe Murderers 4. Pills and Policing II. Deconstructing Mental Illness 5. The Interactionist Critique 6. The Anti-Psychiatry Critique 7. The Post-Structuralist Critique 8. The Flawed Science Critique III. Theorizing Mental Health and Well-being 9. Madness and Meaning 10. Selfhood and Society 11. Roles and Responsibility 12. Society and Spirituality IV. Promoting Mental Health and Well-being 13. Individual Responses 14. Group Responses 15. Community-based Responses 16. Societal Responses. Conclusion. Epilogue. Glossary. Guide to Further Learning. References. Index