Liberatory Psychiatry: Philosophy, Politics and Mental Health

Description

Psychiatry can help free persons from social, physical and psychological oppression, and it can assist persons to lead free self-directed lives. And, because social realities impact on mental well-being, psychiatry has a critical role to play in social struggles that further liberation. These are the basic foundations of liberatory psychiatry. In recent years, dramatic transformations in social and political structures worldwide have increased the problems of domination, alienation, consumerism, class, gender, religion, race and ethnicity. Confronting the psychological impact of these changes, and exploring new ideas to help develop the liberatory potential of psychiatry, this book should be read by mental health practitioners from the widest range of disciplines and those interested in social theory and political science.

Carl I. Cohen is a Professor of Psychiatry at SUNY Health Science Center in Brooklyn. He is also Director of the Division of Geriatric Psychiatry and Alzheimer's Disease Assistance Center. Sami Timimi is a Consultant Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist in the National Health Service in Lincolnshire, UK and a Visiting Professor of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at Lincoln University.

'... melange of ideas and sources ... fresh and stimulating ... The gap between patients' neurotransmitters and their human stories brings a diverse group of authors together here to show the limits of science - not to bash it - and the importance of meaningful narratives of human experience. ... The important theme of this stimulating work is both obvious and unappreciated. Over the eons and throughout the world, the human brain has evolved as an entity, relatively unified, while our narratives have remained, or become, amazingly diverse.' PsycCritiques 'Many of the issues which the papers raise ... are of vital concern to psychiatry ... Such issues are also important for those in the helping professions generally.' Journal of Psychosomatic Research 'This book is not about consensus and answers; it is about throwing down the gauntlet and kickstarting debate. It is the collective voice of mental health professionals, faced with dilemmas and responsibilities, who challenge their own practice, with sensitivity, sincerity and above all humanism. This reviewer thoroughly recommends it.' Psychological Medicine