The image of madness

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Bibliographic Information

The image of madness

editors, Jose Guimon, Werner Fischer, Norman Sartorius

Karger, 1999

Available at  / 3 libraries

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Includes bibliographical references and index

Description and Table of Contents

Description

Negative moral judgements seem to have been a constant fixture in the way societies and cultures have regarded groups displaying deviant behavior. This is particularly true of the mentally ill. Stereotypes are most ingrained for mental pathologies with heightened visibility in society, such as schizophrenia. Preconceived notions about danger, occult powers and mysterious malevolence which hover over the illness, contribute to the total debasement of the patient. Persons suffering from other forms of mental illness are stigmatized to a lesser degree. But the threat is real that labeling will extend to every endeavor linked to mental illness: care facilities, professionals, therapies in general and psychotropic medication in particular. Lay belief in the existence of important side-effects to this medication and public fears about the risk of addiction form the basis of very restricted, or even hostile, attitudes towards it and result in weak compliance. Inversely, psychotherapy now seems widely accepted and different forms of intervention have contributed to de-stigmatizing psychiatric illness and to stop the exclusion of patients. This book is of interest not only to psychiatrists, but also to mental health workers, psychologists, social scientists and social workers who wish to alter common precepts and prejudices regarding psychiatric disorders.

Table of Contents

  • Part 1 Social representations of mental illness: attitudes toward mental illness among the general public and professionals, social representations and change
  • mental illness as metaphor
  • social representations of mental illness among the public
  • the image of mental illness in Switzerland
  • public attitudes towards deviant situations in daily life - intervention proposed
  • the general public's cognitive and emotional perception of mental illness - an alternative to attitude-research
  • co-operating, fighting against, or letting go in the therapeutic context - social logic of parents with psychologically disturbed children
  • differentiating between the professions of psychologists and psychiatrists - a field study in Vizcaya. Part 2 Changing attitudes towards mental illness and destigmatization: one of the last obstacles to better mental health care - the stigma of mental illness
  • public education for community care - a new approach
  • combatting the alienation experienced by people with mental illness
  • group therapy and attitudinal changes to mental illness in medical students
  • stigmatization and destigmatization - the point of view of psychiatric patients and their families. Part 3 Attitudes towards psychiatric treatment and compliance: use and misuse of pharmacological substances - the question of noncompliance
  • the public's attitude towards drug treatment of schizophrenia
  • determining factors and the effects of attitudes towards psychotropic medication
  • attitudes towards psychotropic medication among medical students
  • measuring attitudes towards psychiatric medication among persons with serious mental illness
  • psychoeducational groups in schizophrenic patients
  • neuroleptics - the point of view of consumers and their families
  • the role of communication and physician-patient collaboration - enhancing adherence with psychiatric medication
  • rethinking the problem of noncompliance in chronic mental illness.

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