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A Manifesto for Mental Health

Why We Need a Revolution in Mental Health Care

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  • © 2019

Overview

  • Outlines a principled and evidenced proposal for change; a call for new thinking on mental health care and wellbeing
  • Provides an international perspective on key issues in the field of mental health
  • Supports a sharp reduction in reliance on medication to address emotional distress, and greater legal protection for our autonomy
  • Argues that identifying mental health issues as merely the symptom of diagnosable ‘illnesses’ lacks reliability, validity and utility

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Table of contents (14 chapters)

Keywords

About this book

A Manifesto for Mental Health presents a radically new and distinctive outlook that critically examines the dominant ‘disease-model’ of mental health care. Incorporating the latest findings from both biological neuroscience and research into the social determinants of psychological problems, Peter Kinderman offers a contemporary, biopsychosocial, alternative. He warns that the way we care for people with mental health problems is creating a hidden human rights emergency and he proposes a new vision for the future of health organisations across the globe. 


The book highlights persuasive evidence that our mental health and wellbeing depend largely on the society in which we live, on the things happen to us, and on how we learn to make sense of and respond to those events. Kinderman proposes a rejection of invalid diagnostic labels, practical help rather than medication, and a recognition that distress is usually an understandable humanresponse to life's challenges. Offering a serious critique of establishment thinking, A Manifesto for Mental Health provides a well-crafted demonstration of how, with scientific rigour and empathy, a revolution in mental health care is not only highly desirable, it is also entirely achievable. 

Authors and Affiliations

  • Department of Psychological Sciences, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, UK

    Peter Kinderman

About the author

Peter Kinderman is Professor of Clinical Psychology at the University of Liverpool, honorary Consultant Clinical Psychologist with Mersey Care NHS Trust and Clinical Advisor for Public Health England, UK. He was 2016-2017 President of the British Psychological Society (BPS) and twice chair of the BPS Division of Clinical Psychology. His research activity and clinical work concentrate on serious and enduring mental health problems, as well as on how psychological science can assist public policy in health and social care. His previous books include A Prescription for Psychiatry: Why We Need a Whole New Approach to Mental Health and Wellbeing (2014).



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