The fifth edition of Mental Health and Social Policy takes a multidisciplinary approach to mental health and social policy. It covers mental health issues and includes important new epidemiological studies, controlled clinical trials, and other investigations that inform the new thrust for evidence-based mental health services. This revision covers cutting-edge new information on disparities in mental health care coverage, pharmaceutical companies and the marketing of drugs, PTSD in the wake of the Iraq war and 9/11, the Surgeon General Report on Mental Health, the Bush New Freedom Commission, and the criminalization of mental illness.
New to This Edition:
* Increased coverage of children and children’s services, including hot topics such as autism, the use of psychiatric drugs in children, and concerns about the relationship between drug use and suicide.
* Coverage of the pharmaceutical industry and the enormous growth of new drugs and increased drug costs, as well as the policy issues surrounding the marketing and regulation of drugs.
* Racial and ethnic disparities in mental heath care, as well as some possible remedies, are now covered.
* Coverage of the criminalization of mental illness, including mental health courts and jail diversion programs.
* New coverage of post-traumatic stress syndrome.
* Discussion about the ways in which Medicaid and additional non-national mental health programs are driving the emerging mental health system.
* Expanded coverage of violence and mental illness.
* Discussion of the upcoming new edition of DSM-V and the controversy about the criteria used for psychiatric diagnosis (has it become too inclusive and not credible enough?)
