The focus of this book is the paradoxical effect on mental health of social crises. When social crises occur, there is an upsurge in psychological suffering due to an intensification of such social insanities as violence, inequality, selfishness, stupidity, and insecurity. Paradoxically, there are positive consequences for mental health due to the proliferation of acts of kindness, cooperation, and community, and the persistence of the ability to cope and hope. Two interconnected categories of social crises are covered in the book. These are: contagions (for example, the COVID-19 pandemic, numerous outbreaks of plague and smallpox since medieval times, and the 1918 influenza pandemic); conflicts (including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and aspects of world war such as the Holocaust, the use of nuclear bombs in the 2nd Word War, and the climate emergency). What is also explored in the book is whether there is an amplification of everyday difficulties whereby having a ‘mental health problem’ has become normalised. The idea of ‘mental-healthism’ is introduced to explain the cultural shift towards this apparent normalisation of ordinary psychological suffering. The book will be of interest to students, practitioners, and researchers from sociology, psychology, nursing, social work, and psychiatry, among others.

This book is an introduction to the uncertainties and incongruities about madness. It is aimed at all of those who are curious about this subject whether out of general inquisitiveness or because it is part of a formal course of study. Using case studies of real people in order to explain, humanise, and bring to life the subject, Peter Morrall critically analyses how madness has been and is understood, or perhaps misunderstood. By contrasting past and present people who have been perceived as mad and/or perceive themselves as mad, Morrall presents core ideas about madness and critiques their would-be robustness in explaining the specific madness of the person in question, as well as their general relevance to madness overall. Unlike many of its contemporaries, the book does not adhere to a perspective, but rather remains skeptical about the ideas of all who profess to understand madness, whether these emanate from sociology, psychology, psychotherapy, anthropology, 'anti' psychiatry, or the biological sciences of contemporary 'scientific-psychiatry'. This book will inform and stimulate the thinking of the reader, and challenge those with preconceived ideas about madness.

This lively, introductory text provides students and health practitioners with the foundations of a sociological understanding of health issues. Written for anyone who is interested in health and disease in contemporary global society, this book engages the reader to act upon their occupational and moral responsibilities. It explains the key sociological theories and debates with humour and imagination in a way that will encourage an inquisitive and reflective approach on the part of any student who engages with the text. With individual chapters covering sociology, health, science, power, medicalisation, madness happiness, sex, violence and death, Sociology and Health is organized so that the student moves through sociological approaches and themes which constantly recur in the experience of healthcare. Students will find this a readable and controversial text which covers the ground they need to know in a thought-provoking way. Lecturers will find it a helpful text for generating discussion in tutorials and seminars. There are summaries at the end of each chapter, suggestions for further reading and ideas for the reader.

This book critiques the connection between Western society and madness, scrutinizing if and how societal insanity affects the cause, construction, and consequence of madness. Looking beyond the affected individual to their social, political, economic, ecological, and cultural context, this book examines whether society itself, and its institutions, divisions, practices, and values, is mad. That society's insanity is relevant to the sanity and insanity of its citizens has been argued by Fromm in The Sane Society, but also by a host of sociologists, social thinkers, epidemiologists and biologists. This book builds on classic texts such as Foucault's History of Madness, Scull's Marxist-oriented works and more recent publications which have arisen from a range of socio-political and patient-orientated movements. Chapters in this book draw on biology, psychology, sociological and anthropological thinking that argues that where madness is concerned, society matters. Providing an extended case study of how the sociological imagination should operate in a contemporary setting, this book draws on genetics, neuroscience, cognitive science, radical psychology, and evolutionary psychology/psychiatry. It is an important read for students and scholars of sociology, anthropology, social policy, criminology, health, and mental health.

This lively, introductory text provides students and health practitioners with the foundations of a sociological understanding of health issues. Written for anyone who is interested in health and disease in contemporary global society, this book engages the reader to act upon their occupational and moral responsibilities. It explains the key sociological theories and debates with humour and imagination in a way that will encourage an inquisitive and reflective approach on the part of any student who engages with the text. With individual chapters covering sociology, health, science, power, medicalisation, madness happiness, sex, violence and death, Sociology and Health is organized so that the student moves through sociological approaches and themes which constantly recur in the experience of healthcare. Students will find this a readable and controversial text which covers the ground they need to know in a thought-provoking way. Lecturers will find it a helpful text for generating discussion in tutorials and seminars. There are summaries at the end of each chapter, suggestions for further reading and ideas for the reader.

Series Information:
Routledge Essentials for Nurses

This introductory text provides nurses with the foundations of a sociological understanding of health issues which they should find of great help in thinking about their work and the role of their profession. It explains the key sociological theories and debates with humour and imagination in a way which will encourage an inquisitive and reflective approach on the part of any student who engages with the text.

This book is an introduction to the uncertainties and incongruities about madness. It is aimed at all of those who are curious about this subject whether out of general inquisitiveness or because it is part of a formal course of study. Using case studies of real people in order to explain, humanise, and bring to life the subject, Peter Morrall critically analyses how madness has been and is understood, or perhaps misunderstood. By contrasting past and present people who have been perceived as mad and/or perceive themselves as mad, Morrall presents core ideas about madness and critiques their would-be robustness in explaining the specific madness of the person in question, as well as their general relevance to madness overall. Unlike many of its contemporaries, the book does not adhere to a perspective, but rather remains skeptical about the ideas of all who profess to understand madness, whether these emanate from sociology, psychology, psychotherapy, anthropology, 'anti' psychiatry, or the biological sciences of contemporary 'scientific-psychiatry'. This book will inform and stimulate the thinking of the reader, and challenge those with preconceived ideas about madness.