Key Concepts in Mental Health, Second Edition (SAGE Key Concepts series)

Mental health is an area that new students and trainee practitioners often find bewildering. This book cuts through the stigma associated with this topic. It delivers bite-sized chunks of information that cover the central concepts and debates which shape contemporary views about mental health and illness. As this book shows, these key concepts not only influence our understanding of mental health, but also govern the provision of services for people with mental health problems.

Drawing together perspectives from sociology, psychiatry, psychology, and ethics, the vital topics in mental health are examined in three parts:

• Mental Health and Mental Health Problems explores theories and understandings of mental health and illness
• Mental Health Services looks at the structure and organization of mental health service delivery, past and present
• Mental Health and Society studies the social context

This new edition adds 10 new concepts as well as updating the previous entries. New topics include childhood adversity, recovery, spirituality, well-being, social & cultural capital, quality of mental health services, evidence-based practice, and work & mental health. This book will be invaluable for trainee health professionals, including clinical psychologists, social workers, nurses, counselors, and psychotherapists.

David Pilgrim is Honorary Professor of Health and Social Policy, University of Liverpool, UK and Visiting Professor of Clinical Psychology, University of Southampton. After training and working as a clinical psychologist he completed a PhD examining psychotherapy in the organisational setting of the British NHS. He then went on to complete a Master’s in sociology. He has worked at the boundary between clinical psychology and medical sociology for the past 20 years and has produced over 60 articles in peer-reviewed journals, based upon his research into mental health policy and practice. His years working in the British NHS provided him with extensive everyday experience of the theoretical and policy aspects of mental health expressed in practical settings. One of his books, A Sociology of Mental Health and Illness (3rd edition, Open University Press, 2005), co-authored with Anne Rogers, won the British Medical Association’s medical book of the year award for 2006. Currently he is writing a book on child sexual abuse and public policy.