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.

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Enthusiastically received and widely acclaimed by reviewers in many journals, here are several:

 

This collection of critical essays on psychiatry is almost a who's who of the new anti-psychiatry movement.

Jan Wallcraft, Openmind, 100, Nov/Dec 1999.

 

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.

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Part One: Psychiatry in context

Histories of psychiatry Craig Newnes

Social inequalities and mental health Jennie Williams

Racism and mental health Nimisha Patel and Iyabo A. Fatimilehin

 

Part Two: What psychiatry does

Diagnosis Mary Boyle

Drugs David Crepaz-Keay

ECT: The facts psychiatry declines to mention Katy Arscott

Do families cause 'schizophrenia'? Revisiting a taboo subject Lucy Johnstone

Psychiatric hospitals and patients' councils Marese Hudson

 

Part Three: Alternatives and alliances

Hearing voices and the politics of oppression Ron Coleman

Collaborative conversations Peter Hulme

User involvement in mental health service development David Pilgrim and Lesley Hitchman

The service user/survivor movement Peter Campbell

Survivor controlled alternatives to psychiatric services Vivien Lindow

 

Part Four: Beyond psychiatry

The duty of community care: The Wokingham MIND crisis house Pam Jenkinson

Promoting community resources Janet Bostock, Valerie Noble and Rachel Winter

The role of education in the lives of people with mental health difficulties Tracey Austin

Green approaches to occupational and income needs in preventing chronic dependency Brian Davey

The future of mental health services Craig Newnes and Guy Holmes