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The Oxford Textbook of Social Psychiatry serves as a comprehensive reference to the historical, theoretical, and practical aspects of social psychiatry, and its role in the management of psychiatric disorders. Written and edited by leading experts and rising stars in the field of social psychiatry, this textbook provides an authoritative and global look at social psychiatry, covering a wealth of topics and up-to-date research in 79 chapters. Divided into eight sections, this resource covers an overview of the history and development of social psychiatry, as well as the social world of families, culture, and identity, focusing on key issues such as globalisation, pandemics, trauma, spirituality, and gender. Clinical conditions and special vulnerable groups are also explored, with topics such as the mental health of prisoners, somatisation, and eating disorders. Case studies of specific geographical locations provide a critical overview of global mental health today and the challenges faced in different setting, such as low- and middle-income countries.

Mental, neurological, and substance use (MNS) disorders have a substantial impact on global health and well-being. Disorders such as depression, alcohol abuse, and schizophrenia constitute about 13 percent of the total burden of disease. Worldwide, MNS disorders are the leading cause of disability, and the 10th leading cause of death. Despite this high burden, there is a significant shortage of resources available to prevent, diagnose, and treat MNS disorders. Approximately four out of five people with serious MNS disorders living in low- and middle-income countries do not receive needed health services. This treatment gap is particularly high in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Challenges to MNS care in SSA countries include a lack of trained mental health professionals, few mental health facilities, and low prioritization for MNS disorders in budget allocations. African countries, on average, have one psychiatrist for every 2 million people, whereas European countries have one psychiatrist per 12,000 people. Expanding on previous efforts to address the development and improvement of sustainable mental health systems in SSA, the Institute of Medicine convened this 2015 workshop series, bringing together key stakeholders to examine country-specific opportunities to improve the health care infrastructure in order to better prevent, diagnose, and treat MNS disorders. Providing Sustainable Mental and Neurological Health Care in Ghana and Kenya summarizes the presentations and discussions from these workshops.

Millions of people in sub-Saharan Africa suffer from mental, neurological, and substance use (MNS) disorders, and most do not have the resources to obtain treatment. The Uganda National Academy of Sciences and the Institute of Medicine hosted a workshop to discuss the state of care for MNS disorders in sub-Saharan Africa.

Contemporary Topics in Women's Mental Health: Global Perspectives in a Changing Society considers both the mental health and psychiatric disorders of women in relation to global social change. The book addresses the current themes in psychiatric disorders among women: reproduction and mental health, service delivery and ethics, impact of violence, disasters and migration, women's mental health promotion and social policy, and concludes each section with a commentary discussing important themes emerging from each chapter. Psychiatrists, sociologists and students of women's studies will all benefit from this textbook. With a Foreword by Sir Michael Marmot, Professor of Epidemiology and Public Health, University College London; Chair, Commission on Social Determinants of Health

Representing the clinical state of the art in culturally competent assessment and treatment, and providing important information on the four main racial/ethnic minority groups (African Americans, Asian Americans, Latinos/Hispanics, and Native Americans and Alaska Natives), the Clinical Manual of Cultural Psychiatry synthesizes the collected wisdom from the editor's 10 years of teaching cultural psychiatry with the professional experience of seven other contributors in using and teaching about DSM-IV's Outline for Cultural Formulation.Following an initial chapter about how the influence of culture affects every level of the mental health system, and how clinicians can gain insight into the complex interplay between culture and mental illness to ultimately improve patient care, six subsequent chapters by 8 authors use numerous illustrations and clinical vignettes as they address • Issues for assessing and treating African Americans -- Presents a framework and context for understanding African Americans and their attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors about mental health and mental illness. Raises awareness of racism, underdiagnosis, and misdiagnosis as they affect assessment and treatment.• Issues for assessing and treating Asian Americans -- Details the need for an empathic, non-confrontational approach in evaluation and therapy to understand the Asian American patient's culture, health beliefs, and life philosophies and therefore improve the potential to engage them in treatment.• Issues for assessing and treating Latinos/Hispanics -- Discusses the need for direct personal relatedness, perceived clinician warmth, and active family engagement in treatment as key skills in promoting the therapeutic alliance and participation among patients from this diverse and yet culturally cohesive group.• Issues for assessing and treating Native Americans -- Provides social and historical information (e.g., context of past events such as massacres of entire villages, disease epidemics, and forced removal from ancestral lands; present factors such as social stressors and level of involvement in tribal life) for clinicians to build their understanding of this most underserved ethnic group in the US.• Issues in Ethnopsychopharmacology -- Reviews clinical reports of ethnic variation with several different classes of psychotropic medications and examines the relationship of pharmacogenetics, ethnicity, and environmental factors (including the use of traditional herbal preparations) to pharmacologic treatment of minorities.• Three Appendices -- Including'A Resident's Guide to Cultural Formulation,'with assessment tips written by American Psychiatric Association (APA) Minority Fellows; an'Annotated Bibliography of Cultural Psychiatry and Other Topics; and a'Glossary of Culture-Bound Syndromes.'Clinicians must now meet accreditation standards involving cultural competence, making this groundbreaking clinical manual, with its three appendixes and index, indispensable for mental health care educators, students, residents, and practitioners. The Clinical Manual of Cultural Psychiatry will also prove invaluable for encouraging much-needed research, as we seek to better understand our increasingly diverse -- and ever smaller -- world.

Brief and acute psychotic disorders with a short duration and a generally good prognosis have long intrigued psychiatrists. Although they are included in internationally accepted diagnostic systems, understanding of these disorders remains minimal. This book is the first comprehensive overview of the clinical features, biology, course and long-term outcome of brief and acute psychoses. The authors review the world literature on the topic and they also present data from their own longitudinal study - the most complete investigation of this group of disorders so far conducted. The book concludes with considerations of the nosological status of brief and acute psychoses and their impact on our understanding of the continuum of psychotic and affective disorders.

What is known about Aboriginal mental health and mental illness, and on what basis is this'knowing'assumed? This question, while appearing simple, leads to a tangled web of theory, method, and data rife with conceptual problems, shaky assumptions, and inappropriate generalizations. It is also the central question of James Waldram's Revenge of the Windigo. This erudite and highly articulate work is about the knowledge of Aboriginal mental health: who generates it; how it is generated and communicated; and what has been – and continues to be – its implications for Aboriginal peoples. To better understand how this knowledge emerged, James Waldram undertakes an exhaustive examination of three disciplines – anthropology, psychology, and psychiatry – and reveals how together they have constructed a gravely distorted portrait of'the Aboriginal.'Waldram continues this acute examination under two general themes. The first focuses on how culture as a concept has been theorized and operationalized in the study of Aboriginal mental health. The second seeks to elucidate the contribution that Aboriginal peoples have inadvertently made to theoretical and methodological developments in the three fields under discussion, primarily as subjects for research and sources of data. It is Waldram's assertion that, despite the enormous amount of research undertaken on Aboriginal peoples, researchers have mostly failed to comprehend the meaning of contemporary Aboriginality for mental health and illness, preferring instead the reflection of their own scientific lens as the only means to properly observe, measure, assess, and treat. Using interdisciplinary methods, the author critically assesses the enormous amount of information that has been generated on Aboriginal mental health, deconstructs it, and through this exercise, provides guidance for a new vein of research.

In this book, Kleinman proposes an international view of mental illness and mental care.Arthur Kleinman, M.D., examines how the prevalence and nature of disorders vary in different cultures, how clinicians make their diagnoses, and how they heal, and the educational and practical implications of a true understanding of the interplay between biology and culture.