Critical Approaches to Mental Health – serie

The Criminal Justice System is becoming a de facto provider of mental health care, according to a series of recent prison inspections and reports on policing and mental illness which have highlighted the crisis in mental health services. However, the pressures on prisons and other areas of the CJS mean that the needs of those with mental health problems are often overlooked.This book examines the experiences of people with mental health problems across all stages of the CJS and across all the points of contact – police, Courts and prisons between the CJS and people with mental health problems. Providing a clearly written, comprehensive introduction to the main themes in this field, it also has a clear critical edge highlighting the failings in the areas of penal and social policy that have resulted in increasing numbers of people with mental health problems being criminalised.Highlighting a very important social issue, Mental Health and the Criminal Justice System provides a thorough introduction to this subject for social work students and practitioners.

The World Health Organisation recently confirmed that mental Illness was set to become the biggest threat to human well-being in the twenty first century. Mental illness accounts for more disability adjusted life years lost per year than any other health condition in the UK. No other health condition matches mental ill health in the combined extent of prevalence, persistence and breadth of impact.Modern Mental Health offers an alternative and thought-provoking perspective to the conventional and orthodox understanding of mental health and how to help those suffering with mental illness. The individual contributors to this book share a passion for needs-informed person-centred care for those people affected by mental ill- health and a deep scepticism about the way help and support is organised and provided to the 1 in 4 people in the population who at some time will suffer mental health problems. The chapters include a diverse and rich mixture of stark personal testimony, reflective narrative, case studies in user-informed care, alternative models of intervention and support, rigorous empirical research and a forensic analysis of mental health law-making. Although the overarching philosophy of this book is critical of contemporary psychiatric care, each chapter offers an individual perspective on an aspect of provision.This book will appeal to social workers in mental health contexts as well as students on post qualifying courses and the Masters Degree in Social Work. Doctors, psychologists, psychotherapists, counsellors and nurses will also find much of value.