J. K. Wing - Böcker

In order to help people with a mental illness it is important to be able to understand and measure the severity of the experiences that they find distressing and disabling and which can affect their behaviour. SCAN is a form of interview, found acceptable to patients, which provides a detailed and accurate picture of 'mental state'. When analysed by computer it provides a diagnosis that is comparable wherever the system is used. The 9th edition of the Present State Examination (PSE-9) was published in 1974 and served to link the two main approaches to the description and classification of psychological problems. PSE-10/SCAN builds on the experience of extensive tests using PSE-9. It retains the main features of PSE-9 and links together the two international classification systems, ICD-10 and DSM-IV. This reference manual is a companion to the SCAN interview schedule and software. It describes the rationale and development of the system and provides a valuable introduction to its uses.

This book studies the relationship between institutionalism and schizophrenia in the lives of mental patients. The authors observed schizophrenic patients in three different mental hospitals over a period of eight years. Their conclusions are important for the better management of institutions and for the future of extra-mural mental health services. The lives of long-term schizophrenic patients are strictly limited by their institutionalised environments, which often produce negative effects. For example, patients are especially vulnerable to social understimulation, reacing with apathy and withdrawal. On the positive side, symptoms such as delusions and hallucinations may actually decrease during institutionalisation. The interesting approach to the positive and negative effects of institutionalisation on schizophrenics will give this book a wide readership in psychiatry, social psychology and the social sciences as well as among social workers, nurses and occupational therapists.

This book was published in 1974 as a guide to a method of partially standardising the assessment of a subject's mental state with the object of achieving greater comparability between different examiners. The basis of the technique is a glossary of definitions of symptoms which is firmly grounded in the European school of psychiatry, with its long tradition of clinical observation and emphasis on the importance of listening to the a patient's description of unusual experiences. The definitions clearly set out the experiences which constitute psychiatric symptoms. An interview technique - the Present State Examination - which allows the symptoms to be elicited and reliably recorded is descried. The system was developed over a period of a decade and was still evolving at the time of this book's publication. The importance of this book lies in the fact that it shows how much the subjective element of psychiatric diagnosis may be brought under control.

This book was originally published in 1983. Schizophrenic, paranoid, manic, depressive and autistic illnesses are amongst the most severe and disabling that affect mankind. Uncertainty still surrounds their origins but the term 'functional psychoses' which suggests an absence of knowledge about causation, had become out of date, as the title of this volume suggests. It gives an insightful and comprehensive account of the pathology, biochemistry, aetiology, diagnoses, epidemiology, treatment and prognosis of these conditions. The authors were internationally acknowledged experts in their fields and they all contributed to significant advances in knowledge.

In order to help people with a mental illness it is important to be able to understand and measure the severity of the experiences that they find distressing and disabling and which can affect their behaviour. SCAN is a form of interview, found acceptable to patients, which provides a detailed and accurate picture of 'mental state'. When analysed by computer it provides a diagnosis that is comparable wherever the system is used. The 9th edition of the Present State Examination (PSE-9) was published in 1974 and served to link the two main approaches to the description and classification of psychological problems. PSE-10/SCAN builds on the experience of extensive tests using PSE-9. It retains the main features of PSE-9 and links together the two international classification systems, ICD-10 and DSM-IV. This reference manual is a companion to the SCAN interview schedule and software. It describes the rationale and development of the system and provides a valuable introduction to its uses.

The exact definition of "madness" remains elusive. There are difficulties in distinguishing the criminal from the mad or, more euphemistically, the mentally ill. Controversy has centered on the frightening potential possessed by the state to deprive of his rights the individual officially classified as mad.In this book, Wing, a psychiatrist of international repute, argues for a limited medical definition of mental illness, although he explains how even a doctor's professional judgment may often be influenced by social pressures. He compares concepts of madness prevalent in different types of society, examining, for example, the Marxist attitude towards the deviant in a socialist state. In a chapter which draws much from his own experience, he shows precisely how the apparatus of state medicine is used to suppress political dissidence in Russia. He also critically reviews the petty tyrannies prevalent in the West and tackles the difficult analytical problem of schizophrenia, a subject on which he is one of the most respected medical authorities.Reasoning about Madness is an original and important work in which the author successfully resists the temptation to erect "grand theories that explain nothing because they attempt to explain everything." Instead, he concentrates on developing a definition of madness which strikes a balance between the benefits of medical care and the preservation of human liberties.

The exact definition of "madness" remains elusive. There are difficulties in distinguishing the criminal from the mad or, more euphemistically, the mentally ill. Controversy has centered on the frightening potential possessed by the state to deprive of his rights the individual officially classified as mad.In this book, Wing, a psychiatrist of international repute, argues for a limited medical definition of mental illness, although he explains how even a doctor's professional judgment may often be influenced by social pressures. He compares concepts of madness prevalent in different types of society, examining, for example, the Marxist attitude towards the deviant in a socialist state. In a chapter which draws much from his own experience, he shows precisely how the apparatus of state medicine is used to suppress political dissidence in Russia. He also critically reviews the petty tyrannies prevalent in the West and tackles the difficult analytical problem of schizophrenia, a subject on which he is one of the most respected medical authorities.Reasoning about Madness is an original and important work in which the author successfully resists the temptation to erect "grand theories that explain nothing because they attempt to explain everything." Instead, he concentrates on developing a definition of madness which strikes a balance between the benefits of medical care and the preservation of human liberties.