The moonlight sliced into the alleyway as twenty-one-year-old Kirk Miller opened his eyes and stared at the night sky. His head throbbed as the world spun gently. The cold, hard cement felt oddly soothing, but even with all the alcohol and drugs flowing through his veins, Kirk's mind was still racing. It would be a year until he was told that those feelings were related to what professionals called a manic episode. Welcome to the world of bipolar disorder.

It is no secret that bipolar disorder is one of the most misunderstood and devastating mental disorders for the diagnosed and those who care for them. But what if there were a cure? In his compelling memoir, Miller details how he was diagnosed with the most severe form of bipolar disorder, was told he would never lead a normal life, and eventually refused to accept his fate. As he began a determined search for answers through research, educated guesses, and risks that nearly cost him his life, Miller shares how he stumbled onto a new method of treating his disorder that, remarkably, helped him achieve a full recovery.

"Chaos to Cured" shares the true story of one man's courageous journey to finding a cure for bipolar disorder with the hope that everyone will one day have a second chance in life.

The use of race in studies of insanity in the 1840s and 1850s gave rise to politically charged theories on the differential biology and pathologies of brains in whites and Blacks. In Mad with Freedom, Elodie Edwards-Grossi explores the largely unknown social history of these racialized theories on insanity in the segregated South. She unites an institutional history of psychiatric spaces in the South that housed Black patients with an intellectual history of early psychiatric theories that defined the Black body as a locus for specific pathologies. Edwards-Grossi also reveals the subtle, localized techniques of resistance later employed by Black patients to confront medical power. Her work shows the continuous politicization of science and theories on insanity in the context of Reconstruction and the Jim Crow South.

Eat for your mental health and learn the fascinating science behind nutrition with this "must-read" guide from an expert psychiatrist (Amy Myers, MD).

Did you know that blueberries can help you cope with the aftereffects of trauma? That salami can cause depression, or that boosting Vitamin D intake can help treat anxiety?

When it comes to diet, most people's concerns involve weight loss, fitness, cardiac health, and longevity. But what we eat affects more than our bodies; it also affects our brains. And recent studies have shown that diet can have a profound impact on mental health conditions, including:

• ADHD
• Depression
• Anxiety
• Sleep disorders
• OCD
• Dementia
• And beyond

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 focus throughout is on the development of practical problem-solving strategies for professionals, advocates, patients, and their families. A particularly valuable feature is the inclusion of an in- depth case study that demonstrates the application of effective conflict resolution techniques in the mental health setting.

Following an introductory overview of the persistent problems of people with mental illnesses, Chandler analyzes the recurring themes and issues that have surrounded the mental health field since its earliest conception. She goes on to examine such issues as the failure of the deinstitutionalization policies for the seriously and persistently mentally ill and the changing roles and responsibilities of state and local governments, families, mental health providers, and welfare agencies. The remaining chapters explore the nature of advocacy in the mental health field. Chandler describes the framework and belief structures of prominent advocacy organizations, discusses the advocacy wars among the organizations and agencies whose goal it is to help the mentally ill, and delineates a negotiation strategy for meeting the needs of the mentally ill. Topics such as the rise of the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill, the growth of patient rights groups, and strategies for altering the definitions of mental illness receive extended treatment. In the final chapter, Chandler outlines the knowledge necessary to understand the complex issues surrounding the mentally ill and the skills necessary to work successfully in this field.

This handbook offers a comprehensive overview of school mental health (SMH) initiatives in rural areas in the United States. It offers clinical and administrative guidelines for innovative and effective programs addressing critical problems among rural youth and in areas where funding and resources are scarce. Chapters cover program development, implementation, sustainability, and evaluation; consider issues of community and policy support; address barriers to access and delivery; and debunk misconceptions about the region and its cultures. Chapters also discuss rural SMH applications relating to special populations, including students with autism, depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder, conduct disorders, and ADHD. In addition, the book examines the potential of school-based programs as a counter to the stigma and distrust of mental health services common to the region. Handbook include: The value of rural SMH from an educator's standpoint. Preventing suicide among students in rural schools. Substance abuse in rural school settings. Bullying and cyberbully among rural youth. Intergenerational patterns of mental illness in rural settings and their relevance for SMH. The importance of involving communities in culturally competent rural interventions. The Handbook of Rural School Mental Health is a must-have resource for researchers, scientist-practitioners, and graduate students in child and school psychology, educational psychology, social work/counseling, educational policymakers, pediatrics/school nursing, teaching, and teacher education.

EVENING STANDARD'S 'BEST FICTION BOOKS TO LOOK FORWARD TO IN 2022' What do you do, when you find the perfect family... ...and it's not yours? 'Rare and delightful . . . A beautifully crafted novel about female relationships. I couldn't put this book down' Marie Claire The only thing Abi ever wanted was a proper family. So when she falls pregnant by an Australian exchange student in London, she cannot pack up her old life in Croydon fast enough, to start all over in Sydney and make her own family. It is not until she arrives, with three-week-old Jude in tow, that Abi realises Stu is not quite ready to be a father after all. And he is the only person she knows in this hot, dazzling, confusing city, where the job of making friends is turning out to be harder than she thought. That is, until she meets Phyllida, her wealthy, charming, imperious older neighbour, and they become almost like mother and daughter. If only Abi had not told Phil that teeny tiny small lie, the very first day they met...

It is crucial for the quality of care of people with mental retardation that care providers experience their work as meaningful. A complexity, however, is the fact that this care is divided amongst a range of professions. This book addresses issues of meaning (meaning of care and meaning of life) from all the different professional perspectives involved. Such a multidisciplinary approach is unique and has never before been followed. The book contains the results of a series of interviews in which parents of people with mental retardation were asked what they conceive to be meaningful care. The results are placed in relation to experiences and conceptions of professional caregivers. Moreover, the study analyzes the cultural, philosophical, and theological significance of the concept, meaningful care'. Finally, the book explores the relevance of this concept for practical professions such as medical care, social work, educational psychology, pedagogic counseling, and pastoral care. Scholarly depth is combined with experiential knowledge of professional practice. Hence, this book is an outstanding source of reflection for all those who work professionally with people with mental retardation.

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. This is the first book written specifically on state mental health policy. Its collection of essays together with the editors' introduction and conclusion will provide direction for future inquiry and policy development.

State mental health has become a rich source of policy, program, and practice experimentation. Heretofore these efforts have been insufficiently evaluated. The result is duplication of efforts and repetition of errors. This volume introduces its readers to state mental health policy as an emerging specialty. The introduction identifies pivotal issues explored in this collection and then presents an analytical framework and methodology. The initial section examines the historical backdrop and provides a detailed analysis of legal issues. The second section covers current policies and trends. The third, Mental Health Program Models, looks into the packaging of various direct and indirect practice modalities. It then delves into major program options for achieving the ends of primary, secondary, and tertiary prevention. Examples of state-of-the-art public programs are also presented. The final section considers the problems of financially and administratively supporting these policies and programs. A summary chapter reviews conclusions and presents a range of recommendations directed primarily toward administrative integration and fiscal responsiveness.

This book utilises conversation analysis (CA) and discursive psychology (DP) methodologies to examine the internal workings of multi-disciplinary teams which are concerned with the care, treatment and diagnosis of clients with complex mental health needs. Bringing together practitioners, service users and researchers who were part of the MDTsInAction research project, the authors offer a unique and systematic investigation into the ways members of multidisciplinary teams collaboratively manage their shared goals. A particular focus is on the language used in team meetings, and how examination of meeting talk can help us better understand the practice of inter-professional working. The authors also describe how a range of institutional barriers and concerns needed to be tackled in implementing the study in a healthcare setting. Over the course of this book they reveal a number of methodological developments which will be of interest to researchers and academics in CA/DP, and in healthcare communication generally. This book highlights how CA and DP can be used to identify and improve communicative practices in a healthcare setting; and also serves as an example of how to conduct an applied CA/DP project in a way that achieves impact.

This book examines depression as a widely diagnosed and treated common mental disorder in India and offers a significant ethnographic study of the application of a traditional Indian medical system (Ayurveda) to the very modern problem of depression. Based on over a year of fieldwork, it investigates the Ayurvedic response to the burden of depression in the Indian state of Kerala as one of the key processes of the local appropriation or glocalization of depression. More broadly, Lang considers: What happens with the category of depression when it leaves the West and travels to South Asia? How is depression appropriated in a South Asian society characterized by medical pluralism? She explores on the level of ideas, institutions and materialities how depression interacts with and changes local worlds, clinical practice and knowledge and subjectivities. As depression travels from 'the West' to South India, its ontology, Lang argues, multiplies and thus leads to what she calls 'depression multiple'.

The practices and technologies of evaluation and decision making used by professionals, police, lawyers and experts are questioned in this book for their participation in the perpetuation of historical forms of colonial violence through the enforcement of racial and eugenic policies and laws in Canada.

Designed to support training and CPD in compulsory mental health work, this book looks at assessment, detention, compulsion and coercion in a variety of mental health settings. It focuses on decision making in a variety of professional roles with people from a diversity of backgrounds including contributions from people with lived experience of mental health services. With emphasis on theory into practice, the book is essential reading for those looking to develop their reflexive and critical analytical skills. Relevant for all professionals making decisions under mental health legislation and those developing, teaching and supporting practitioners in the workplace, it includes: * critical reflection techniques; * 'editors' voice' features at the start and close of each chapter, summarising key themes.

Mental health systems are in a crucial transition period, thanks to the increasing prominence of health promotion therapy and a corresponding shift toward emphasizing wellness and empowerment, holistic and family-friendly design, and empirically supported treatment. Such changes demand adjustments to mental health education, and re-education, to maintain a common ground. The first book of its kind, Integrating Health Promotion and Mental Health presents a seamless framework for approaching contemporary mental health problems.

This book proposes theoretical models and practical strategies for tackling the widespread social exclusion faced by people diagnosed mentally ill. Based primarily on research in the US and UK but with reference to other international examples, it analyses evidence of discrimination and the effectiveness of different remedies: disability discrimination law, work to re-frame media and cultural images, grassroots inclusion programmes, challenges to the 'nimby' factor. It places the growing user/survivor and disability movements as central to achieving any radical change.