This is Madness: A Critical Look at Psychiatry and the Future of Mental Health Services - Softcover

The editors of This is Madness have achieved a rare blend for a book comprising different and disparate authors ... Where the book really hits the target is in its highly successful attempt to merge user views with the opinions and views of mental health professionals ... I will be recommending it to my students in 1999. Steve Baldwin, Changes, Vol. 17, No. 3, Autumn 1999. This is Madness is clearly written and avoids jargon; it will be accessible to a wide variety of readers within and without the mental health system. It will be especially useful to persons involved in efforts to reform community mental health systems and to those developing psychosocial supports and services as an alternative to biomedical, coercive treatment and "care". This is Madness would also make an excellent reader for students at all levels in courses concerned with community mental health, combining critique of the psychiatric system on many levels with concrete exploration of the kinds of meaningful alternatives which can hope to be empowering and supportive of recovery in more than name. Michal Mc Cubbin PhD, Saskatchewan Population Health and Evaluation Research Unit, University of Regina, Canada, in Ethical Human Sciences and Services, Vol. 3, No. 1, 2001.

This is Madness examines the past, present and possible future of the British mental health system. In this volume, users of services, professionals and academics come together to explore the roles and practices of the mental health service, its place within society and the experiences of those in the system. In eighteen chapters the authors discuss the history of psychiatry, the validity of diagnostic systems and the value of traditional medical and alternative approaches to emotional distress and crisis. Recent changes in mental health legislation and their likely impact on the future shape of mental health services are presented in a way accessible to lay readers, students and mental health practitioners alike. This book will be an invaluable resource for all those involved with, or training for a career in mental health services.