Mental Health for All Nations - (Culture and Psychiatry) by Dinesh Bhugra (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

Basic principles for setting up mental health services in the context of mutual learning from across the globe.

As people globally are living longer, complex co-morbidities between physical and mental disorders are coming to the fore. Mental health, says Dinesh Bhugra, must therefore be the top priority for the citizens of all countries in policy, funding for research and service development including prevention of mental illnesses and mental health promotion. These must be integrated with primary and secondary healthcare delivery. The book presents the basic components of a good mental healthcare system, while stressing the need for international mutual learning.

Cultural perceptions and explanations of mental disorders differ around the world, and the concept of a single global mental health campaign makes no sense. The author examines policies and models for meeting mental health needs in all contexts across the world and illustrates examples of good practice. Care providers, he writes, also need to form partnerships and links with nongovernmental agencies, communities, faith leaders, folk healers, informal carers, and families, as such links can be used to develop mutual learning, which will improve acceptance of mental healthcare.

Review Quotes

ENDORSEMENTS

"A noted specialist in war studies completely redirects canonical international relations away from war-cause preoccupations to war as generative and self-reinforcing. War here is a human-built mountain, always present and always on the verge of an injurious lava spew. Brilliant."
--Christine Sylvester, Emerita, University of Connecticut

"Sophisticated and insightful, this is the culmination of Jabri's influential scholarship: a critical theory of war that examines how violence not only destroys lives and livelihoods, but also leaves behind a legacy that profoundly shapes societies and their politics."
--Roland Bleiker, Professor of International Relations, University of Queensland

"In this expansive contribution to international relations, Vivienne Jabri models an innovative, theoretically adept, and creatively informed approach to the field. This book provides significant insight for anyone concerned about the dead end that the discipline--and world politics--have long been trapped in. You need look no further for a bold path forward."
--Oliver P. Richmond, Professor, Department of Politics, University of Manchester, UK, author of The Grand Design: The Evolution of the International Peace Architecture

About the Author

Dinesh Bhugra is Professor Emeritus of Mental Health and Cultural Diversity at the Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London. He is a former President of the Royal College of Psychiatrists (2008-2011), the World Psychiatric Association (2014-2017), and the British Medical Association (2018-2019).