Mental Health Policy

This international handbook is the first to analyze mental health policies systematically across a variety of both developed and developing countries. Mental health and public policy experts survey current policies, the public policy process, and critical issues in twenty countries that are representative of different problems. The work considers the treatment of the mentally ill and mentally retarded, mentally disordered offenses, questions of substance abuse, deinstitutionalization, funding, and consumer rights. This major reference, with its comprehensive and comparative survey, is designed for scholars, students, and professionals who deal with mental health and public policy issues.

Mental illness causes a substantial health burden in all regions of the world, and is a major contributor to world poverty. Developing a National Mental Health Policy is designed to support those involved in developing locally appropriate mental health policies, emphasising the crucial role of primary care, NGOs, the social sector, schools and workplaces, and the criminal justice system as well as the specialist mental health services. The book addresses the principles of human rights, mental health legislation, mental health information systems, human resources, accountability and financing as well as key cultural issues. It gives a comprehensive and up to date account of the task of tailoring mental health services to the needs of countries in the post-institutional era.

This volume introduces students to the emerging field of state mental health policy, its history, current policies, organizational models, and required programming knowledge. Focusing on current issues and trends, it also provides administrative and policy practitioners with a previously unavailable source of new program designs and initiatives. Five chapters on program development identify key principles of programming and describe model programs in primary prevention, clinical treatment, and psychiatric rehabilitation. Contributors include leading scholars and practitioners, several having served as state commissioners of mental health.

"Introduces the major issues in health policy in Australia, setting them in the broader public policy context."

This volume takes a fresh look at the problems of designing effective and humane service care delivery systems for the seriously mentally ill. The author addresses a number of major themes, including the differing definitions of mental illness and the differing treatment technologies that have logically developed from them, the varying theories regarding the structure and design of the service delivery system, and the policy dilemmas that lead to inconsistent and inequitable treatment. Demonstrating that there are wide areas of agreement among the disputing professionals, Chandler offers guidelines for finding these zones of agreement and achieving a consensus for realistically improving the system of care.

The authors of Consuming Health explore the diverse meanings and applications of the term consumer in the field of health care and the implications for policy making, health care delivery and experiences of health care.

The thrust of this book is to educate policymakers, academics, political scientists, and others as to the beneficial use of psychological principles within a multidisciplinary framework to aid in the development of more productive policy. Contributors to this volume offer an integrative, collaborative, synergistic approach to effecting positive change. The book's goal is threefold: to offer a varied collection of solutions and models of applications of psychological principles; to collect a diverse group of experts (academics, theorists, and practitioners) whose expertise spans some of the top managed care firms, institutions of higher learning, national consultants, schools, and health care facilities; and to integrate this collection of "pragmatic theorists" into one volume with a general, but common focus - improving society.