A Manifesto for Mental Health

Why We Need a Revolution in Mental Health Care
By Peter Kinderman
28th October 2019
£19.99 | $27.99 | 23,99 €
Softcover | 978-3-030-24385-2

New book exposes the inadequacies of global mental health care and explains how our current systems should be overhauled
 

Insulin coma therapies and debilitating lobotomies as treatments for mental illness are, thankfully, long gone. Yet our modern day mental health system is still quick to rely on prescription medication and pathologising diagnostic labels. In his new book, clinical psychologist Peter Kinderman offers a serious critique of establishment thinking, outlining the inadequacies of traditional mental health care and setting out the ways in which it should be reformed.  

In his book, Kinderman draws on the latest findings from biological neuroscience and the social determinants of psychological problems. He then presents a contemporary, biopsychosocial, alternative. He warns that the way we care for people with mental health problems is creating a hidden human rights emergency, and he proposes a new vision for the future of health organisations across the globe.

Kinderman rejects invalid diagnostic labels, which he argues can be more damaging than protective, and calls for practical help rather than medication. He likewise encourages recognition that distress is usually an understandable response to life’s challenges. 

“Our mental health cannot simply be reduced to genetic vulnerability, and distress merely passed off as the symptom of an illness – it depends heavily on the society in which we live, on the major life events we face, and the ways in which we interpret and face them. It’s about collectively creating a more hu-mane society and establishing healthier communities,” explains Kinderman. 

A Manifesto for Mental Health offers a comprehensive, forward-thinking, evaluation of the current state of mental health care and makes refreshing practical suggestions on how to create mental health services that are less dependent on medication and pathological diagnoses. It shows how, with scientific rigour and compassion, a revolution in mental health care is not only highly desirable, but also entirely achievable. 

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Peter Kinderman is Professor of Clinical Psychology at the University of Liverpool, honorary Consultant Clinical Psychologist with Mersey Care NHS Trust and Clinical Advisor for Public Health England, UK. His research activity and clinical work concentrate on serious and enduring mental health problems, as well as on how psychological science can assist public policy in health and social care. His previous books include A Prescription for Psychiatry: Why We Need a Whole New Approach to Mental Health and Wellbeing (2014).
 

For more information or to get in touch with the author please contact:
Rebecca Krahenbuhl – Communications Manager, Palgrave Macmillan
rebecca.krahenbuhl@palgrave.com, +44 020 7014 6634