Group for the Advancement of Psychiatry – serie

Psychiatrists are in a unique position to understand the personalities, needs, and motivations of cult leaders and followers. This report assumes that unique vantage point in its review of the cult phenomenon. What are the psychiatric attributes of cult leaders and followers? Why do individuals join cults? Can cults play a constructive role in an individual's life? And how can psychiatrists help family and friends deal with cult members? Supported by numerous references, this report presents statistics and colorful descriptions of American cults and their effect on those who embrace them.

Psychotherapy Is Worth It: A Comprehensive Review of its Cost-Effectiveness is a multi-authored study on the environmental, cultural, and biological factors associated with mental illness, its treatment or lack thereof, and its true cost to society.

This simple, evidence-based guide challenges psychiatrists to initiate changes in their clinical work; in the operation of their agencies, programs, and teams; and in their partnerships with local criminal justice and behavioral health providers to positively impact people with behavioral health conditions in the criminal justice system.

Drawing on real-life cases as well as research data, Family Murder: Pathologies of Love and Hate distills the current psychiatric knowledge of different forms of murder within the family. Although crimes of this sort have made headlines for decades -- and although violence and homicide within the family are public health issues -- little guidance exists in the research literature for mental health professionals who treat these families or for the child protection workers and lawyers who interact with them.This book offers a unique framework for examining the various types of family murder -- delving into the commonalities, the differences, and society's misconceptions and providing readers with a comprehensive guide to begin to understand these tragedies.Ten forensic psychiatrists, who among them have interviewed hundreds of perpetrators and thousands of individuals affected by family violence, examine crimes such as intimate partner homicide, feticide, child murder by parents, siblicide, and intimate partner homicide in elderly populations as they discuss - Epidemiology and public health implications- Various motivations for each subtype of family murder- Psychiatric assessment issues (e.g., risk assessments, sanity evaluations)- Means of prevention- Aftermath of these homicides, including sentencing of and working with the perpetrator.No other single source gathers this amount of detailed research and psychiatric experience about every type of murder in the family. With a case-based learning approach supplemented by expert analysis, Family Murder: Pathologies of Love and Hate is an indispensable resource for mental health.

Health indicators in the United States are among the worst in the developed world, even though its health care system is, by a wide margin, the most expensive in the world. It is a disparity that stems from a fragmentation of services and financial arrangements that often prioritize commercial interests over public health.Seeking Value: Balancing Cost and Quality in Psychiatric Care, a comprehensive volume by the Group for the Advancement of Psychiatry's Mental Health Services Committee, examines the myriad factors that have led to the current state of health care in the United States -- starting with an analysis of the meaning and history of value measurement -- but it does not stop there. It offers a holistic vision for health care reform, one in which psychiatric professionals play a pivotal role.A section on system interventions tackles traditional models of financing health care and the role of market forces as it considers broad public health strategies, from elimination of administrative waste to integration of care, that can reduce costs and improve population health, with a special emphasis on the interaction between mental and physical health. Recognizing that these larger-scale interventions require time to bear fruit, the book also explores the ways the psychiatric profession and individual psychiatrists can contribute to a more skill-diverse, collaborative, activist, value-conscious, and visionary specialty.Several chapters also identify public policy issues and cultural constructs that go beyond the typical role of clinicians and health care administrators, but that have the potential to impact population health in significant ways, illustrating how different choices could result in remarkable improvements in social well-being. The incorporation of healthy practices in the workplace, efforts to mitigate the impact of climate change, and the elimination of counterproductive incarceration practices all feature in this discussion.Exhaustive in approach, the book aims to spur thought, conversation, and action to improve value in the services the psychiatric profession provides and the systems in which it operates. Its clear and compelling message will equip readers to develop an advocacy agenda that will resonate with nonmedical stakeholders and the practical strategies needed to see it realized.