Building a New Community Psychology of Mental Health

Carl Walker is Principle Lecturer in Psychology and course leader for the MA Community Psychology at the University of Brighton, UK.Angie Hart is Professor of Child, Family and Community Health at the University of Brighton, UK.Paul Hanna is Chartered Psychologist and Lecturer in Sustainable Tourism at the University of Surrey, UK.

“Carl Walker, Angie Hart, and Paul Hanna provide an insightful and at times humorous (Martian visitor) critique of the mental health system in the United Kingdom for people with ‘mental distress’ and ‘misery.’ The authors’ utilization of case studies adds a human face to problems and issues confronting individuals with severe and chronic mental illness. While research based, the authors’ deliberate and engaging writing style would appeal to diverse groups that might include policy makers, practitioners, academics, and students.” (David B. Jones, PsycCRITIQUES, Vol. 62 (51), December, 2017)​

• Chapter 1. The Flawed Assumptions of Psychology and Psychiatry: A Martian Analysis.- Chapter 2. Social Approaches to Distress: From Enclosures to Fluid Spaces.- Chapter 3. ‘Bike Minded’ - Normal Human Encounters (on Bikes).- Chapter 5. ‘Helping Them Hold Up Their World’: Parents of Children with Complex Needs and the Beneficent Organisation.- Chapter 6. I’m Singing in the Rain.- Chapter 7: ‘A Place to Be’: A Cut and Shut of the Brighton Unemployed Families Centre Project.- Chapter 8. The Joy of Sex.- Chapter 9. Some Possible Directions for the Future.