1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910789396503321

Autore

Dobransky Kerry Michael <1976->

Titolo

Managing madness in the community : the challenge of contemporary mental health care / / Kerry Michael Dobransky

Pubbl/distr/stampa

New Brunswick, New Jersey : , : Rutgers University Press, , 2014

©2014

ISBN

0-8135-6310-0

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (190 p.)

Collana

Critical Issues in Health and Medicine

Disciplina

362.2/20973

Soggetti

Community mental health services - United States

Mentally ill - Care - United States

Social integration - United States

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Description based upon print version of record.

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Nota di contenuto

Front matter -- Contents -- List of Tables -- Preface and Acknowledgments -- Chapter 1. Introduction -- Chapter 2. Logic and Constraint -- Chapter 3. Diagnosis, Labeling, and Social Control -- Chapter 4. Empowerment Practice, Practical Empowerment -- Chapter 5. The Realities of Community Integration -- Chapter 6. The Right Person for the Job: Fragmentation in Staffing and Worker-Client Interaction -- Chapter 7. Conclusion -- Notes -- References -- Index -- About the Author

Sommario/riassunto

While mental illness and mental health care are increasingly recognized and accepted in today's society, awareness of the most severely mentally ill-as well as those who care for them-is still dominated by stereotypes.  Managing Madness in the Community dispels the myth.  Readers will see how treatment options often depend on the social status, race, and gender of both clients and carers; how ideas in the field of mental health care-conflicting priorities and approaches-actually affect what happens on the ground; and how, amid the competing demands of clients and families, government agencies, bureaucrats and advocates, the fragmented American mental health system really works-or doesn't. In the wake of movies like One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and Shutter Island, most people picture the



severely or chronically mentally ill being treated in cold, remote, and forbidding facilities.  But the reality is very different.  Today the majority of deeply troubled mental patients get treatment in nonprofit community organizations.  And it is to two such organizations in the Midwest that this study looks for answers.  Drawing upon a wealth of unique evidence-fifteen months of ethnographic observations, 91 interviews with clients and workers, and a range of documents-Managing Madness in the Community lays bare the sometimes disturbing nature and effects of our overly complex and disconnected mental health system. Kerry Michael Dobransky examines the practical strategies organizations and their clients use to manage the often-conflicting demands of a host of constituencies, laws, and regulations.  Bringing to light the challenges confronting patients and staff of the community-based institutions that bear the brunt of caring for the mentally ill, his book provides a useful broad framework that will help researchers and policymakers understand the key forces influencing the mental health services system today.