Increasingly, counsellors and psychotherapists are working with people who have been diagnosed with a mental disorder and are required to understand and navigate the mental health system. Counselling training rarely covers the fields of psychiatry and mental health diagnoses in detail and there are few reliable resources on which they…

Human distress has historically been understood and responded to almost exclusively either as a biological disorder or a psychological deficit. This has led to the development of powerful structures, ‘mental health systems’, that have dominated thinking and practice around mental health and been controlled by the psychiatric profession.…

What gets in the way of our understanding other people? So asks psychologist Brian Levitt in this challenging and deeply reflective book. Levitt writes with honesty and humility about the profession in which he has worked for 25 years and the people he has worked with. He questions the assumptions that…

In October 2016 Jo Watson hosted the very first ‘A Disorder for Everyone!’ event in Birmingham, with psychologist Dr Lucy Johnstone, to explore (and explode) the culture of psychiatric diagnosis in mental health. To provide a space to continue the debate after the event, Jo also set up the…

This provocative collection of essays presents a powerful critique of contemporary discourse that portrays work – paid employment – as a moral imperative, essential for our health and well-being. The contributors describe the mental health impact of modern-day workplaces, with their precarity and constant managerial scrutiny. They throw light on…

The argument that propels this emphatic book is that mental health nursing cannot continue to pin the blame for its own actions and failings on the psychiatric hierarchy. As the editors point out, mental health nursing is a degree-level qualification; it has achieved its ambition to be ‘a profession…

Download Brenda A LeFrançois foreword here If you are unwaged or on an insecure wage you can buy this book for £11.50. Enter the code 'srgspecial' at the checkout or phone us on +44 (0)1600 891509 to place your order. Postage will be free in the UK, £2.50 within the EU…