Society and Psychosis

Cambridge University Press, 3/20/2008
EAN 9780521689595, ISBN10: 0521689597

Paperback, 266 pages, 24.7 x 17.4 x 1.3 cm
Language: English

Psychiatry is in the process of rediscovering its roots. It seemed as if the long history of interest in the impact of society on the rates and course of serious mental illness had been forgotten, overtaken by the advances of neuroscience and genetics. However, as our knowledge of physiological and genetic processes improves it becomes increasingly clear that social conditions and experiences over the life course are crucial to achieving a full understanding. Old controversies are giving way to genuinely integrated models in which social, psychological and biological factors interact over time, culminating in the onset of psychosis. This book reviews these issues from an international perspective, laying the foundations for a new understanding of the psychotic disorders, with profound implications for health policy and clinical practice. It should be read by all members of the mental health team and those responsible for service organization and management.

1. Introduction Craig Morgan, Kwame McKenzie and Paul Fearon
2. Climate change in psychiatry
periodic fluctuations or terminal trend? Julian Leff
Part I. Theoretical and Conceptual Foundations
3. Social science, psychiatry and psychosis Craig Morgan
4. Conceptualising the social world Dana March, Craig Morgan, Michaeline Bresnahan and Ezra Susser
5. Genes and the social environment Jennifer H. Barnett and Peter B. Jones
Part II. Social Factors and the Onset of Psychosis
6. Society, place and space Jane Boydell and Kwame McKenzie
7. Childhood adversity and psychosis Helen Fisher and Tom Craig
8. Family environment and psychosis Pekka Tienari and Karl-Erik Wahlberg
9. Adult adversity
do early environment and genetic risk create lasting vulnerabilities for adult social adversity in psychosis? Inez Myin-Germeys and Jim van Os
10. Migration, ethnicity and psychosis Kwame McKenzie, Paul Fearon and Gerard Hutchinson
Part III. Social Factors and the Outcome of Psychosis
11. Social factors as a basis for treatment Richard Warner
12. Public attitudes, stigma and discrimination against people with mental illness Graham Thornicroft, Aliya Kassam and Michael King
13. Outcomes elsewhere
course of psychosis in 'other cultures' Kim Hopper
Part IV. Models and Conclusions
14. Theories of cognition, emotion and the social world
missing links in psychosis Paul Bebbington, David Fowler, Philippa Garety, Daniel Freeman and Elizabeth Kuipers
15. Society and psychosis
future directions and implications Craig Morgan, Kwame McKenzie and Paul Fearon.

'I felt it a privilege to share in the thinking of great minds in this field. The book both stands on its own as a rich compendium of the latest knowledge in the field and offers an invitation to think in new ways.' Patricia E. Murphy, Rush University Medical Center

'The volume … provides a much-needed counterbalance to the current biochemical zeitgeist in psychopathology research. … Each of the chapters provides a well-written overview of some of the many social factors associated with receiving psychotic diagnoses. … a refreshing alternative to traditional views of psychosis.' PsycCritiques

'… an excellent attempt to summarize the current understanding of the social aspects of schizophrenia with regard to its aetiology, course and outcome.' Psychological Medicine