Description
Book SynopsisA Manifesto for Mental Health presents a radically new and distinctive outlook that critically examines the dominant ‘disease-model’ of mental health care. Incorporating the latest findings from both biological neuroscience and research into the social determinants of psychological problems, Peter Kinderman offers a contemporary, biopsychosocial, alternative. He warns that the way we care for people with mental health problems is creating a hidden human rights emergency and he proposes a new vision for the future of health organisations across the globe.
The book highlights persuasive evidence that our mental health and wellbeing depend largely on the society in which we live, on the things happen to us, and on how we learn to make sense of and respond to those events. Kinderman proposes a rejection of invalid diagnostic labels, practical help rather than medication, and a recognition that distress is usually an understandable human response to life's challenges. Offering a serious critique of establishment thinking,
A Manifesto for Mental Health provides a well-crafted demonstration of how, with scientific rigour and empathy, a revolution in mental health care is not only highly desirable, it is also entirely achievable.
Table of ContentsChapter 1: Introduction.- Chapter 2: Events and Consequences.- Chapter 3: We are not the Slaves of our Brains.- Chapter 4: Making Sense of Things.- Chapter 5: Labels are for Products, Not People.- Chapter 6: Appreciating the Functions of Diagnoses.- Chapter 7: A Phenomenological Approach.- Chapter 8: Formulation and the Scientific Method.- Chapter 9: The Drugs Don’t Work – The Difference between Curing and Helping.- Chapter 10 Residential Care; Hotels Not Hospitals.- Chapter 11: The Mental Health Act.- Chapter 12: Working Practices.- Chapter 13: The Social and Political Prerequisites for Genuine Psychological Health and Well-Being.- Chapter 14: A Manifesto.
