The authors of this controversial volume have collected case studies and observational accounts of caregivers for over 15 years. Iatrogenic harm is a serious and widespread problem that many have been reluctant to speak out about for fear of being blacklisted by their colleagues. In writing this book the authors hope to establish guidelines that will help caregivers to recognize and deal with potentially harmful behavior thereby improving the standards of care for all patients.

Iatrogenic harm is a term that originated in medical practice to denote the damage induced in a patient as a by-product of a therapeutic intervention, such as undesirable side effects, overmedication, infections caused by invasive procedures, etc. With this new book, the authors extend the term to refer to the damage caused, often inadvertently, to a patient or client by any caregiver, whether physician, psychiatrist, therapist, teacher, school guidance counselor, social worker, or judge, in the course of a professional intervention.
The focus of this volume is on mental health, and more specifically, on children and families. The authors, pioneers in community mental health, break new ground by bringing into the open a topic recognized - if recognized at all - only in secret. They discuss causative factors, warning signs and typical features of damaging behavior by caregivers who are ostensibly trying to help patients. The possibility of reducing or preventing this significant cause of pathology is addressed, as are obstacles that threaten the mission of any community mental health service program. Readers will be drawn to the rich case studies and expertise of the authors that is so evident in this commanding, authoritative, and disturbing text.

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