Community Mental Health: Challenges for the 21st Centuryedited by Jessica Rosenberg and Samuel Rosenberg; London, Royal College of Psychiatrists, 2006, 304 pages, $90 (original) (raw)
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The meaning of community in community mental health
Journal of Community Psychology, 1986
Lake Forest College This article critically reviews the development of community mental health in both theory and practice and explores new directions and dilemmas for future policy and programs. First, we trace the dialectical development of the ideology of community mental health and the rediscovery of community. Second, we outline the two key transitions: (a) from professionals to natural helpers and (b) from catchment areas to natural networks. Third, we offer alternative conceptions of community from the sociological literature and suggest ways that these can benefit new program planning. We conclude with a series of policy questions that legitimate the expansion of community mental health beyond the parochial confines of the local community. Community mental health has emerged in the past two decades as an important perspective in both theory and practice in the provision of mental health services. The current approaches and programs in community mental health are already being reassessed. The purpose of this article is to aid this reassessment by focusing on the meaning of the concept of community as it has developed in theory and as it has been used to guide this practice. Specifically, we address four issues: (a) the search for a mental health ideology that led to the rediscovery of community; (b) the transition to community mental health that involved a movement from catchment areas to natural networks and from professionals to natural helpers; (c) the consideration of alternative conceptions of community, primarily from the sociological literature; and (d) the implications of the above for new policies and programs that include an assessment of the costs of community. We hope that this article will contribute both to a realistic evaluation and to consideration of alternative community intervention strategies. The Search for an Ideology The Initial Critique Changes in professional practices and theories often follow a dialectic of the following sort: Established programs come under attack for their most obvious and visible failures; questions are then raised about their supporting ideology or legitimating theory; new programs are tried experimentally; and new ideologies emerge to legitimate them. The continuing cycle of change in mental health practice and theory has followed a similar dialectic. Community mental health may be seen as both a reaction and an innovation. The chronology of events marking its development is difficult to disentangle because both The authors contributed equally to this paper. We are grateful to Dan A. Lewis and James G. Kelly for comments on earlier drafts. Portions of this paper were presented at the American Psychological Association convention, Washington, DC, August 1982. Reprint requests should be sent to Albert Hunter,
Mental Health in Community Life
2019
Mental health is considered a public health problem due to the following particularities of the mental diseases: high incidence and prevalence; long term duration, with consequences over family, social and professional life; cause severe disability; high cost imposed on individual, family and community; associated stigma and discrimination. The main determinants of mental health are: socio-economic, demographic and psychological factors. Public health can bring a major contribution to the improvement of mental health by its main functions, such as: needs evaluation, priority setting, policy development, health promotion and disease prevention, mental health services research and development. According to WHO recommendations, mental health services should be organized based on principles of accessibility, coordinated care, continuity of care, effectiveness, equity and respect for human rights. As well, mental health care should be provided through general health services and communit...
Community based mental health services, in the eye of community mental health professionals.pdf
Community based mental health services, in the eye of community mental health professionals • Sustaining the social functioning and increasing the time Objectives: This study aims to provide views of psychiatrists, nurses, social workers and psychologists who work in community mental health centers (CMHCs) that provide services to individuals, as well as learn how to define their professional roles and responsibilities in these CMHCs. Methods: This study is designed as a qualitative research to facilitate a comprehensive understanding of the views of research professionals. Data were collected through in-depth interviews with 11 voluntary participants from eight CMHCs in Ankara. Collected data were subjected to a qualitative analysis. Results: The opinions of the professional staff are detailed under four headings: stigmatization, perspective of services, problems and suggestions. Conclusion: CMHC professionals generally are evaluating community-based services in a positive manner. Recommendations include implementing regulations for development of CMHCs that are regionally based with an individual focus and integration.
JAMA, 1964
Challenging the globalisation of biomedical psychiatry © Pavilion Publishing (Brighton) Ltd neural sub-regions. Areas studied include the frontal and temporal cortex, the hippocampus, the thalamus, and the cerebellum. Despite these advances, treatment of symptoms and psychosocial and cognitive impairments remains only partially successful for many patients.'
Community Development Journal, 2012
We are pleased to introduce the first ever Special Issue of the Community Development Journal (CDJ) dedicated to mental health. In fact, while there have been many articles focusing on health and community development (CD) over the years, including the 1983 CDJ's second Special Issue, which was dedicated to primary health care, these have largely ignored mental health issues. There have been very few articles focusing directly on mental health during the nearly 46 years of the journal's history since 1966, although some have considered it in passing. So few in fact that we will be able to highlight some of the most significant ones a bit later. So why has CD largely ignored mental health until recently, and similarly why is it that mainstream mental health theory, policy and practice have overlooked CD? Even more important perhaps, why is this is now changing, and will it hopefully, perhaps even as a result of this Special Issue, change further? While some of the articles in this collection do, to greater and lesser degrees, address such questions, most rightly focus centrally on building a case for the contemporary and future relevance of CD to mental health and vice versa. In this introduction, we therefore seek to explain such reticence, as silences are as interesting and significant in their way as noise. Community care: a brief history of a troubled concept The omission is at first sight surprising. Since the 1950s, when in Western societies the shift to de-institutionalization became the dominant approach 'the community' has almost endlessly been invoked, initially in a positive way, but latterly in a more critical fashion. This shift to the community can only be understood as part of a broader social democratic turn in
Community mental health care worldwide: current status and further developments
This paper aims to give an overview of the key issues facing those who are in a position to influence the planning and provision of mental health systems, and who need to address questions of which staff, services and sectors to invest in, and for which patients. The paper considers in turn: a) definitions of community mental health care; b) a conceptual framework to use when evaluating the need for hospital and community mental health care; c) the potential for wider platforms, outside the health service, for mental health improvement, including schools and the workplace; d) data on how far community mental health services have been developed across different regions of the world; e) the need to develop in more detail models of community mental health services for low-and middle-income countries which are directly based upon evidence for those countries; f) how to incorporate mental health practice within integrated models to identify and treat people with comorbid long-term conditions; g) possible adverse effects of deinstitutionalization. We then present a series of ten recommendations for the future strengthening of health systems to support and treat people with mental illness.