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Handbook of the Sociology of Mental Health

  • Textbook
  • © 1999

Overview

Editors:
  1. Carol S. Aneshensel

    1. Department of Community Health Sciences, School of Public Health, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, USA

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  2. Jo C. Phelan

    1. Division of Sociomedical Sciences, School of Public Health, Columbia University, New York, USA

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    You can also search for this editor in PubMed   Google Scholar

  • This wide-ranging handbook brings together experts in the sociology of mental health to present in-depth discussions on the interface between society and the inward experiences of its members
  • The chapters analyze social group differences in mental disorder and corresponding differences in exposure to the social conditions that cause these disorders
  • Differences along gender, racial and ethnic, social class, and cohort dimensions are also explored
  • Includes supplementary material: sn.pub/extras

Part of the book series: Handbooks of Sociology and Social Research (HSSR)

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Table of contents (28 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-xix
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  2. Introduction

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 1-1
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  3. Introdiction

    1. The Sociology of Mental Health

      • Carol S. Aneshensel, Jo E. Phelan
      Pages 3-17

    2. Mental Illness in a Multicultural Context

      • Pauline Agbayani-Siewert, David T. Takeuchi, Rosavinia W. Pangan
      Pages 19-36

    3. Mental Illness as Psychiatric Disorder

      • Martha Livingston Bruce
      Pages 37-55

    4. The Sociological Study of Mental Illness

      • Allan V. Horwitz
      Pages 57-78

  4. Observing Mental Health in the Community

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 79-79
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    2. Issues in Mental Health Assessment

      • Galen E. Switzer, Mary Amanda Dew, Evelyn J. Bromet
      Pages 81-104

    3. Analyzing Associations between Mental Health and Social Circumstances

      • John Mirowsky
      Pages 105-123

  5. The Social Distribution of Mental Illness

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 125-125
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    2. Overview of Descriptive Epidemiology of Mental Disorders

      • Ronald C. Kessler, Shanyang Zhao
      Pages 127-150

    3. Socioeconomic Status and Mental Health

      • Yan Yu, David R. Williams
      Pages 151-166

    4. Race, Ethnicity, and Culture in the Sociology of Mental Health

      • Tony N. Brown, Sherrill L. Sellers, Kendrick T. Brown, James S. Jackson
      Pages 167-182

    5. Mental Disorder in Late Life

      • Neal Krause
      Pages 183-208

    6. Splitting the Difference

      • Sarah Rosenfield
      Pages 209-224

    7. Family Status and Mental Health

      • Debra Umberson, Kaisti Williams
      Pages 225-253

    8. Work and Mental Health

      • Mark Tausig
      Pages 255-274

  6. Social Antecedents of Mental Illness

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 275-275
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    2. Social Stress

      • Blair Wheaton
      Pages 277-300

    3. Social Integration and Support

      • R. Jay Turner, J. Blake Turner
      Pages 301-319
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Keywords

About this book

Within American society, mental disorder is commonly understood as an attribute of the individual. This intuitive understanding reflects the experiential reality that it is individuals who are beset by feelings of fear and despair, confused by intrusive or jumbled thoughts, addicted to drugs, and so forth. In this regard, everyday thinking is consistent with contem­ porary psychiatry, which also individualizes pathology, increasingly in biological terms. The contributors to this handbook collectively articulate an alternative vision, one in which the individual experience of psychopathology is inextricably embedded within its social context. This theme—the interface between society and the inward experience of its constituents—is developed here in a more encompassing manner than has been previously undertaken. Although this perspective may seem self-evident, especially in a handbook on the sociology of mental health, the widespread adoption of a medical model of aberrant states, especially by sociologists, has, we submit, obscured the relevance of social organi­ zation and processes.

Editors and Affiliations

  • Department of Community Health Sciences, School of Public Health, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, USA

    Carol S. Aneshensel

  • Division of Sociomedical Sciences, School of Public Health, Columbia University, New York, USA

    Jo C. Phelan

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