Search results for ‘Subject term:"mental health problems"’ Sort:
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From the mental patient to the person
- Authors:
- BARHAM Peter, HAYWARD Robert
- Publisher:
- Tavistock/Routledge
- Publication year:
- 1991
- Pagination:
- 170p.,bibliog.
- Place of publication:
- London
Explores the lives of a group of people with a history of schizophrenic illness living in the community, largely from their own point of view. Looks at participants' experience of psychiatric services in the community; at isolation; and at learning to live with mental illness. Stresses the need for open dialogue between people with mental illness and society.
Remarkable lives: Stuart Baker-Brown in conversation with Jerome Carson
- Authors:
- BAKER-BROWN Stuart, CARSON Jerome
- Journal article citation:
- Mental Health and Social Inclusion, 17(3), 2013, pp.122-126.
- Publisher:
- Emerald
Purpose – This paper aims to offer a profile of Stuart Baker-Brown. Design/methodology/approach – Stuart provides a short biography and is then interviewed by Jerome. Areas covered in the interview include his trek to Everest Base Camp, involvement with the Time to Change anti-stigma campaign and his work on the Recovery Archive. Findings – Stuart stresses the importance of giving hope to people with mental health problems. Individuals also need to believe that they can recover. He feels that the new Recovery Archive will help provide a more encouraging alternative perspective on living a life beyond the effects of mental illness. Originality/value – Stuart is one of comparatively few people trying to present psychosis in a more positive perspective. He has made a significant contribution to helping change public perceptions towards mental illness through his media work. (Publisher abstract)
Discourses of consumption or consumed by discourse? A consideration of what "consumer" means to the service user
- Author:
- SPEED E.
- Journal article citation:
- Journal of Mental Health, 16(3), June 2007, pp.307-318.
- Publisher:
- Taylor and Francis
- Place of publication:
- London
This article considers discourses of consumption, in a mental health context, from data collected in the Republic of Ireland. Drawing on typifications of western welfare regimes, it will consider processes of commodification and consumption. The purpose of this paper is to explore the political connotations of the consumer discourse and to focus attention on the implications of utilizing discourse(s) of consumption for service users. Data were generated through interviews with ten mental health service users who were members of mental health social movement organizations. This was analysed using a discourse-analytic technique. The analysis considers consumer discourse(s) and delimits the utility of this way of talking about being a service user. The impacts and inferences of using a consumer discourse are identified. Under some conditions it can be a positive event for the healthcare consumer, but the discourse tends to favour the healthcare professional and/or the state, in that it implicitly reasserts the primacy of the medical model. The consumer discourse is a complex construct that speaks to and for both the state and the service user. However, use of this discourse carries political and therapeutic connotations for the service user. The political connotations relate to the consumer discourse as a feature of a state sanctioned re-positioning of healthcare provision within a more explicitly market based context. The therapeutic connotations relate to a lack of genuine alternative explanatory systems to that of the medical model and an often implicit championing of medical discourses as evidenced in the consumer discourse.
First-person accounts of delusions
- Authors:
- STANTON Biba, DAVID Anthony
- Journal article citation:
- Psychiatric Bulletin, 24(9), September 2000, pp.333-336.
- Publisher:
- Royal College of Psychiatrists
In order to investigate cognitive aspects of the experience of delusions, including onset and recovery, autobiographical accounts of schizophrenia were reviewed. The sample was self-selected and biased towards women and highly-educated patients. Most attributed their recovery to a combination of medication, psychotherapy, social support and personal coping strategies; some felt that their illness had enhanced their self-awareness or spirituality.
Relocating madness: from the mental patient to the person
- Authors:
- BARHAM Peter, HAYWARD Robert
- Publisher:
- Free Association
- Publication year:
- 1995
- Pagination:
- 189p.,bibliog.
- Place of publication:
- London
Reports on how people with mental health problems perceive the community care reforms, focusing in particular on a group of people with schizophrenia. Their experiences of housing, poverty, stigma, medication, psychiatric services in the community, and the meaning of madness are examined. The relocation of madness is explored as a process that involves the creation and negotiation of new frames of understanding, and new styles of relationship, between former mental patients and 'normal' society.
Personal consequences of the diagnosis of schizophrenia: a preliminary report from the inquiry into the schizophrenia label
- Authors:
- THOMAS Philip, et al
- Journal article citation:
- Mental Health and Social Inclusion, 17(3), 2013, pp.135-139.
- Publisher:
- Emerald
Purpose – The purpose of this survey was to describe the impact of the diagnosis of schizophrenia on the lives of people who receive the diagnosis. Design/methodology/approach – The authors designed a questionnaire to investigate attitudes to and experiences of the diagnosis of schizophrenia. After a pilot study, they made the questionnaire available online and, through a network of service user and other organisations, solicited responses. Findings – Of the 470 responses, 27.4 per cent were from service users. Content analysis of their responses revealed three main categories: concern with the consequences of the diagnosis and its negative impact on their lives, the life contexts of individuals before receiving the diagnosis, and concerns with medication and treatment. This paper deals with the first two. Research limitations/implications – It is impossible to generalise the results of this survey because respondents self-selected, and thus might be expected to have strong feelings against (or for) the diagnosis of schizophrenia. Practical implications – The diagnosis of schizophrenia in this sample had devastating negative implications. It was experienced as harmful and stigmatising. Very few people understood their experiences as a biomedical disorder. Social implications – A gulf exists between the experiences of people diagnosed with schizophrenia and the concerns of academics and others currently involved in debates about the merits of different systems of diagnosis. Originality/value – This survey is valuable because it draws attention to experiences of diagnosis that are easily lost in the storm of academic controversies about diagnosis in psychiatry. (Publisher abstract)
The day the voices stopped: a memoir of madness and hope
- Authors:
- STEELE Ken, BERMAN Claire
- Publisher:
- Basic Books
- Publication year:
- 2001
- Pagination:
- 257p.
- Place of publication:
- New York
Steele died at 51, just after completing this highly personal but clear-headed account of his life as a schizophrenic. His parents' denial of his illness, which struck suddenly when he was 14, hampered them and him in seeking help and in understanding the dangers his condition might entail, and thus his experience of his illness was punctuated by several suicide attempts and violent attacks. There were also a few bright spots - the occasional knowledgeable, sympathetic doctor or positive and educational hospital programme, amid the despair and hopelessness that usually surrounded him. During the 32 years that interior voices overwhelmed his thoughts and actions, Steele moved back and forth across the country and in and out of hospitals and worked at odd jobs, including an unfortunate stint of prostitution. His account of the day the voices stopped will surely remain with everyone who reads it, and the whole book should inform and affect other victims of severe mental illness and their families.
Exploring the risk management strategies of informal carers of mental health service users
- Author:
- RYAN Tony
- Journal article citation:
- Journal of Mental Health, 11(1), February 2002, pp.17-25.
- Publisher:
- Taylor and Francis
- Place of publication:
- London
Presents the findings of an exploratory study examining the risk management strategies of informal carers of mental health service users. Thirteen carers from two cities were interviewed in depth using a semi-structured interview schedule. Participants had been informal carers between four and 20 years and supported users with formal diagnoses of schizophrenia, manic depression and depression. A grounded theory approach was followed to collect and examine data and to test the resulting models of risk management. Three models of risk management are discussed and relate to a wide range of risks posed and faced by the carers' users. The results of this study are compared with those of an earlier study into the risk management strategies of 22 service users with similarities and differences highlighted.
Raising our voices: an account of the hearing voices movement
- Author:
- JAMES Adam
- Publisher:
- Handsell
- Publication year:
- 2001
- Pagination:
- 178p.,bibliog.
- Place of publication:
- Gloucester
This book details the history of the Hearing Voices Network from Julian Jaynes' work on the bicarmal mind to the development of the Network. It includes chapters on: Moses - prophet or schizophrenic; the freedom to hear voices and the beginnings of the hearing voices movement; self help; who or what are the voices; psychotic and proud; cognitive psychology and hearing voices; grooming maverick psychiatrists; advocacy; and the genetics of schizophrenia.
The colour that lends support
- Author:
- COBB Alison
- Journal article citation:
- Diverse Minds Magazine, 10, October 2001, pp.4-6.
- Publisher:
- MIND
Reports on Mind's analysis of its yellow card scheme which highlights the need for people to get better information, to have more say in their treatment, and gain greater support for managing withdrawal.