Mental Health Uncertainty and Inevitability, Softcover reprint of the original 1st ed. 2017 Rejuvenating the Relationship between Social Science and Psychiatry

This book offers original knowledge, debate, and understanding from frontline fieldwork data and the relations between mental health difficulties, mental healthcare provision, and social theory.

Dominant discourse of the last half century has followed a medical perspective. This has marginalised contributions from social science. Furthermore purely medical approaches to mental healthcare have profound shortcomings. Thus, this book draws upon innovative research findings to rejuvenate the relationship between psychiatry and social science. It frames this by reference to certain inevitable and uncertain elements of mental health which characterise this field.

Over nine chapters the volume is a unique contribution to several intersecting areas of intellectual enterprise, research, and learning ? as well as a source of insight into how mental health practice and policy might be modified and improved. As a result, it appeals to a wide range of audiences including social scientists, mental health practitioners, mental health researchers, social theorists, mental health service users, and policy-makers.

Chapter 1: Returning to the Fray: Revisiting what Social Science Can Offer Psychiatry … and vice versa.- Chapter 2: A Symbolic Interactionist Approach to Mental Health Assertive Outreach.- Chapter 3: The Role of Everyday Interaction Rituals within Therapeutic Communities.- Chapter 4: The Dementia Experience: Sociological Observations on the Construction of Cognition in Care Homes Kezia Scales.- Chapter 5: “The will’s there and the skill’s there”: Prison Mental Healthcare.- Chapter 6: Institutional and Emotion Work in Forensic Psychiatry: Detachment and Desensitisation.- Chapter 7: Community Mental Health Teams: Interacting Groups of Citizen-Agent?.- Chapter 8: Handling Role Boundaries: A Basic Social Process underpinning decision making in mental health teams.- Chapter 9: Mental Health Uncertainty & Inevitability.

Bridges research from social theory and mental health and biopsychiatry

Brings together a variety of cutting edge perspectives and contributors

Offers insights into how mental health policy and practice can and should be improved in the future