This book explores the development of mental health systems in the Pacific Island Countries (PICs) of Samoa and Tonga through an examination of several policy transfer events from the colonial to the contemporary. Beginning in the 1990s, mental health became an area of global policy concern as reflected in concerted international organisation and bilateral aid and development agendas, most notably those of the World Bank, World Health Organization, and the governments of Australia and New Zealand. This book highlights how Tonga and Samoa both reformed their respective mental health systems during these years, after relatively long periods of stagnation. Using recent scholarship concerning public policy transfer, this book explains these policy outcomes and expands it to include consideration of the historical institutional dimensions evidenced by contemporary mental health systems. This book considers three distinct levels of policy implicated in mental health system transfer processes from developed to developing nations: colonial authority and influence; decolonisation processes; and the global development agenda surrounding health systems. In the process, the author argues that there are in fact three levels of policy change that must be accounted for in examining contemporary policy change. These policy levels include formal policy transfers, which tend to be prescriptive, involving professional problem construction and the designation of appropriate state apparatus for curative or custodial care provision; quasi-formal transfers, which tend to be aspirational and involve policy instruments developed through collaborative, participatory processes; and informal transfers that tend to be normative and include practices by professional actors in delivering service merged with traditional cultural beliefs as to disease aetiology as well as reflecting a deep understanding of the cultural context within which the services will be delivered. This book argues that a renewed focus on the importance of public policy and government institutional capacity is necessary to ensure human rights and justice are secured.

In 1997, Vagus Nerve Stimulation (VNS) therapy (Cyberonics, Houston, Texas) was approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration for the treatment of epilepsy refractory to antiepileptic medications. In 2005, VNS received FDA approval for treatment-resistant depression refractory to antidepressants, and Cyberonics recently received FDA approval for the clinical study of VNS for rapid cycling bipolar depression. Many researchers continue to investigate the anxiolytic effects of VNS in human and non-human animal models. The author presents a study of VNS effects on anxiety and the capacity of atropine methyl nitrate to attenuate these effects. The results indicate that VNS decreases anxiety in the laboratory animals tested. These findings provide evidence to support the testing and subsequent use of VNS therapy for the treatment of clinical anxiety in humans. Because many therapies that are effective in the treatment of depression effectively treat anxiety, VNS therapy should be effective and approvable for clinical anxiety. This book can serve as a research tool, training mechanism, or surgical guide to the implantation of the vagus nerve stimulating electrode in the laboratory rat. Hopefully, this resource provides information that facilitates FDA approval of VNS for treatment-resistant anxiety, a chronic, devastating and often debilitating illness.

Although often depicted as aggressive and unpredictable in movies, people with schizophrenia are actually far more likely to be the victims of violence than perpetrators of it. This book sheds light on the realities of this often misunderstood mental illness. Schizophrenia is a mental disorder characterized by delusions, hallucinations, and disordered thoughts and behaviors. Although schizophrenia requires lifelong treatment, early intervention can help individuals effectively manage their symptoms. Even so, it can be a challenging condition to navigate for both the patient and their loved ones. What You Need to Know about Schizophrenia is part of Greenwood's Inside Diseases and Disorders series. This series profiles a variety of physical and psychological conditions, distilling and consolidating vast collections of scientific knowledge into concise, readable volumes. A list of "top 10" essential questions begins each book, providing quick-access answers to readers' most pressing concerns. The text follows a standardized, easy-to-navigate structure, with each chapter exploring a particular facet of the topic. In addition to covering such basics as causes, signs and symptoms, diagnosis, and treatment options, books in this series delve into issues that are less commonly addressed but still critically important, such as effects on loved ones and caregivers. Case illustrations highlight key themes discussed in the book and are accompanied by insightful analyses and recommendations. Approaches the subject in a holistic manner, covering such often-overlooked areas as societal perceptions and impact on family and friends An Essential Questions section provides quick answers to the questions readers are most likely to have and serves as a springboard to explore the content of the book in more detail Case Illustrations provide relatable, real-world examples of concepts discussed in the text An annotated Directory of Resources points readers toward useful books, organizations, and websites, acting as a gateway to further study and research

Content covers all units for the Level 3 Award in Dementia Awareness and a mix of mandatory and optional units for the Level 3 Certificate in Dementia Care and the Dementia pathway of the Diploma. Content is matched exactly to the new specification for the Dementia units. Written by best-selling author Yvonne Nolan, so learners can be confident they have the expert support they need to succeed. A concise resource with five chapters, so you don't have to buy more than you need. Chapters combine relevant knowledge and competence units to assist transition from Award to Certificate or Diploma. A positive resource that will not only give learners the knowledge they need to complete the course, but also the skills to implement best practice in their setting Engaging case studies and real-life examples bring learning alive, helping candidates to apply their learning.

What does life ask of us, and how are we to answer that summons? Are we here just to propagate the species anew? Do any of us really believe that we are here to make money and then die? Does life matter, in the end, and if so, how, and in what fashion? What guiding intelligence weaves the threads of our individual biographies? What hauntings of the invisible world invigorate, animate, and direct the multiple narratives of daily life? In Hauntings, James Hollis considers how we are all governed by the presence of invisible forms spirits, ghosts, ancestral and parental influences, inner voices, dreams, impulses, untold stories, complexes, synchronicities, and mysteries which move through us, and through history. He offers a way to understand them psychologically, examining the persistence of the past in influencing our present, conscious lives and noting that engagement with mystery is what life asks of each of us. From such engagements, a deeper, more thoughtful, more considered life may come.

Once a wealthy and sophisticated European dancer, Elizabeth 'Betty Bromley is now spiraling downward into the abyss that is Alzheimer's disease-a world that relentlessly tightens its grip on the woman's sanity. At one time rich and powerful, Lolita Rimblas is on the brink of losing everything. Fate brings the two women together, and while they fight to hold on to Mrs. Bromley's memories, Lolita struggles to forget her own. Both Mrs. Bromley and Lolita are caught in a vortex of emotional turmoil that fills each day with despair, embarrassment, laughter, and eventually, acceptance. Lolita never imagined herself to be chasing after a dog and cataloguing its feces, preparing a dinner party for a ghost, fending off flashlight attacks in the middle of the night, or defending herself from affronts to her morality and self-esteem. But as days and nights fuse together, the two women develop a bond wrought from need, pity, loyalty, and a love that even Alzheimer's can't break. As Lolita helps Mrs. herself having to choose between following her lifelong dream or listening to the dictates of her unrelenting conscience.

This book examines how the prison environment, architecture and culture can affect mental health as well as determine both the type and delivery of mental health services. It also discusses how non-medical practices, such as peer support and prison education programs, offer the possibility of transformative practice and support. By drawing on international contributions, it furthermore demonstrates how mental health in prisons is affected by wider socio-economic and cultural factors, and how in recent years neo-liberalism has abandoned, criminalised and contained large numbers of the world's most marginalised and vulnerable populations. Overall, this collection challenges the dominant narrative of individualism by focusing instead on the relationship between structural inequalities, suffering, survival and punishment. Chapter 2 of this book is available open access under a CC BY 4.0 license via link.springer.com.