In 1963, President John F. Kennedy delivered an historic speech on mental illness and retardation. He described sweeping new programs to replace "the shabby treatment of the many millions of the mentally disabled in custodial institutions" with treatment in community mental health centers. This movement, later referred to as "deinstitutionalization," continues to impact mental health care. Though he never publicly acknowledged it, the program was a tribute to Kennedy's sister Rosemary, who was born mildly retarded and developed a schizophrenia-like illness. Terrified she'd become pregnant, Joseph Kennedy arranged for his daughter to receive a lobotomy, which was a disaster and left her severely retarded. Fifty years after Kennedy's speech, E. Fuller Torrey's book provides an inside perspective on the birth of the federal mental health program. On staff at the National Institute of Mental Health when the program was being developed and implemented, Torrey draws on his own first-hand account of the creation and launch of the program, extensive research, one-on-one interviews with people involved, and recently unearthed audiotapes of interviews with major figures involved in the legislation. As such, this book provides historical material previously unavailable to the public. Torrey examines the Kennedys' involvement in the policy, the role of major players, the responsibility of the state versus the federal government in caring for the mentally ill, the political maneuverings required to pass the legislation, and how closing institutions resulted not in better care - as was the aim - but in underfunded programs, neglect, and higher rates of community violence. Many now wonder why public mental illness services are so ineffective. At least one-third of the homeless are seriously mentally ill, jails and prisons are grossly overcrowded, largely because the seriously mentally ill constitute 20 percent of prisoners, and public facilities are overrun by untreated individuals. As Torrey argues, it is imperative to understand how we got here in order to move forward towards providing better care for the most vulnerable.

Psychosis can be associated with a variety of mental health problems, including schizophrenia, severe depression, bipolar disorder, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorders. While traditional treatments for psychosis have emphasized medication-based strategies, evidence now suggests that individuals affected by psychosis can greatly benefit from psychotherapy. Treating Psychosis is an evidence-based treatment guide for mental health professionals working with individuals affected by psychosis. Using a cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) approach that incorporates acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT), compassion-focused therapy (CFT) and mindfulness approaches, this book is invaluable in helping clinicians develop effective treatment for clients affected by psychosis. The guide provides session-by-session clinical interventions for use in individual or group treatment on an inpatient, outpatient, or community basis. The book features 40 reproducible clinical practice forms and a companion website with additional downloadable clinical forms and tools, guided exercises, case examples, and resources. The therapeutic approaches presented are rooted in theory and research, and informed by extensive clinical experience working with client populations affected by psychosis. The approaches outlined in this book offer clinicians and clients the opportunity to partner in developing therapeutic strategies for problematic symptoms to enable those affected by psychosis to work toward valued goals and ultimately live more meaningful lives. This guide emphasizes a compassionate, de-stigmatizing approach that integrates empowering and strengths-oriented methods that place the client’s values and goals at the center of any therapeutic intervention.

A powerful account of how cultural anxieties about race shaped American notions of mental illness The civil rights era is largely remembered as a time of sit-ins, boycotts, and riots. But a very different civil rights history evolved at the Ionia State Hospital for the Criminally Insane in Ionia, Michigan. In The Protest Psychosis, psychiatrist and cultural critic Jonathan Metzl tells the shocking story of how schizophrenia became the diagnostic term overwhelmingly applied to African American protesters at Ionia—for political reasons as well as clinical ones. Expertly sifting through a vast array of cultural documents, Metzl shows how associations between schizophrenia and blackness emerged during the tumultuous decades of the 1960s and 1970s—and he provides a cautionary tale of how anxieties about race continue to impact doctor-patient interactions in our seemingly postracial America. This book was published with two different covers. Customers will be shipped the book with one of the two covers.

Updated with bonus material, including a new foreword and afterword with new research, this New York Times bestseller is essential reading for a time when mental health is constantly in the news. In this astonishing and startling book, award-winning science and history writer Robert Whitaker investigates a medical mystery: Why has the number of disabled mentally ill in the United States tripled over the past two decades? Interwoven with Whitaker’s groundbreaking analysis of the merits of psychiatric medications are the personal stories of children and adults swept up in this epidemic. As Anatomy of an Epidemic reveals, other societies have begun to alter their use of psychiatric medications and are now reporting much improved outcomes . . . so why can’t such change happen here in the United States? Why have the results from these long-term studies—all of which point to the same startling conclusion—been kept from the public? Our nation has been hit by an epidemic of disabling mental illness, and yet, as Anatomy of an Epidemic reveals, the medical blueprints for curbing that epidemic have already been drawn up. Praise for Anatomy of an Epidemic “The timing of Robert Whitaker’s Anatomy of an Epidemic, a comprehensive and highly readable history of psychiatry in the United States, couldn’t be better.”—Salon “Anatomy of an Epidemic offers some answers, charting controversial ground with mystery-novel pacing.”—TIME “Lucid, pointed and important, Anatomy of an Epidemic should be required reading for anyone considering extended use of psychiatric medicine. Whitaker is at the height of his powers.” —Greg Critser, author of Generation Rx

This practical guide outlines the latest advances in understanding and treating psychotic symptoms and disorders, articulating step-by-step the clinical skills and knowledge required to effectively treat this patient population. A Clinical Introduction to Psychosis takes an evidence-based approach that encourages a wider perspective on clinical practice, with chapters covering stigma and bias, cultural factors, the importance of social functioning, physical health, sleep, and more. A broad array of treatment modalities are discussed, including cognitive behavioral therapy, cognitive remediation, psychosocial interventions, trauma-informed therapies, and recovery-oriented practice. The book also provides a concise overview of the latest advances regarding cognitive profiles in people with psychotic disorders, the developmental progression of cognitive abilities, and the clinical relevance of cognitive dysfunction. The book additionally familiarizes readers with issues and controversies surrounding diagnostic classification, transdiagnostic expression, and dimensional assessment of symptoms in psychosis. - Provides treatment and assessment methods for psychotic symptoms and disorders - Looks at how psychosis develops and the impact of stigma on clinicians and clients - Studies the links between trauma, PTSD, and psychosis, as well as sleep and psychosis - Covers digital technologies for treating and assessing psychosis - Outlines strategies for treating visual and auditory hallucinations - Examines how to incorporate consumer and clinician perspectives in clinical practice

E. Fuller Torrey's book provides an insider's perspective on the birth of the federal mental health program.

"In this in-depth critique of the mental healthcare system, a leading advocate for the mentally ill argues that the system fails to adequately treat the most seriously ill. He proposes major reforms to bring help to schizophrenics, the severely bipolar, and others"--

An updated edition of the classic history of schizophrenia in America, which gives voice to generations of patients who suffered through "cures" that only deepened their suffering and impaired their hope of recovery Schizophrenics in the United States currently fare worse than patients in the world's poorest countries. In Mad in America, medical journalist Robert Whitaker argues that modern treatments for the severely mentally ill are just old medicine in new bottles, and that we as a society are deeply deluded about their efficacy. The widespread use of lobotomies in the 1920s and 1930s gave way in the 1950s to electroshock and a wave of new drugs. In what is perhaps Whitaker's most damning revelation, Mad in America examines how drug companies in the 1980s and 1990s skewed their studies to prove that new antipsychotic drugs were more effective than the old, while keeping patients in the dark about dangerous side effects. A haunting, deeply compassionate book -- updated with a new introduction and prologue bringing in the latest medical treatments and trends -- Mad in America raises important questions about our obligations to the mad, the meaning of "insanity," and what we value most about the human mind.