Synopsis "Guide to Mental Illness 1: Outline History, Stigma and The Law"
This is a comprehensive guide to mental illness in two volumes, covering a wide range of symptoms and diagnoses. An astonishing 50 MILLION people endure mental Illness during their lifetime, over half never receiving treatment. This huge burden of suffering is unnecessary, given modern medication and psychotherapy. Understanding symptoms & effects, causes and triggers is key to recovery, also dispelling myths such as sufferers being 'weak' in character. This is like saying you must endure the pain, without analgesics, if you break a leg! This volume contains a history of mental illness and treatments, from historic to modern times, including mental health law and care in the community. For decades, anyone serious mental disorder would be locked away, subjected to treatments now considered inhumane. This is why the Government set up the Mental Health Act, regulating the treatment of serious mental illness, protecting the vulnerable and the public. You will come to understand how changing views of society across the ages reflects how mental illness was treated and the origin of stigmas that last to this day. Volume two covers diagnosis, treatment, case studies with vignettes of professionals. Marianne Richards is a qualified, experienced Counsellor and Mental Health Worker, who left the profession after blowing the whistle on mismanagement, being reviled and bullied as a result. She received professional acclaim for these layman's guides to mental illness, written in plain English.
