Understanding Troubled Minds : A Guide to Mental Illness and Its Treatment

by Bloch, Sidney; Singh, Bruce S.

• ISBN13: 9780814798584
• ISBN10: 0814798586
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1999-09-01
• Publisher: New York Univ Pr

Summary

Most of us take our mental health for granted. But when confronted by mental illness in our family, our friends, or ourselves, even the most competent among us is likely to become bewildered.Understanding Troubled Mindsprovides a calm and authoritative guide to the full range of specific mental illnesses and available treatments. It deals with particular patterns of illness in women, children, and the elderly. It stresses the value of partnership among psychiatrists, patients, and their families. And it places this knowledge within the framework of modern psychiatry-from the history of the profession to just what it is that psychiatrists and fellow health-workers do, and how they can help.A sense of hope and optimism prevails within these pages. The authors, both eminent psychiatrists with long practical experience, stress that great strides are being made in the treatment of mental illness. But they also warn against the lure of the instant cure. Acknowledging the complexity of human nature, they weave the stories of real people and the insights of many writers throughout their text.Balanced, up-to-date, thoroughly readable, and humanistic, this book will both increase our practical knowledge and deepen our understanding of mental illness.

Author Biography

Sidney Bloch is Associate Professor and Reader in Psychiatry at the University of Melbourne and Senior Psychiatrist at St. Vincent's Hospital. He is the author of numerous books dealing with psychotherapy, ethics, and the family. Bruce S. Singh is Cato Professor and Head of the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Melbourne and Clinical Director of Psychiatry of the Western Health Care Network, Melbourne.

Table of Contents

Preface	xi
Acknowledgements	xvi
The Story of Psychiatry	1	(10)
Making Sense of a Life	11	(13)
What Causes Mental Illness?	24	(14)
Defining Mental Illnesses	38	(8)
The Psychiatrist at Work	46	(18)
Coping with Stress	64	(13)
The Spectrum of Anxiety	77	(16)
The Highs and Lows of Mood	93	(20)
Mind Talking Through Body	113	(13)
Eating, Sex and Sleep	126	(18)
Disturbance of Personality	144	(14)
The Psychoses	158	(15)
Alcohol and Drug Abuse	173	(14)
Mental Illness and the Brain	187	(11)
Children and Adolescents	198	(20)
Women and Mental Health	218	(13)
The Elderly and Mental Health	231	(13)
Psychiatry and the Law	244	(9)
Suicide and Deliberate Self-harm	253	(13)
Drugs and Other Physical Treatments	266	(12)
The Talking Therapies	278	(19)
A Guide to Good Mental Health	297	(20)
A Selective Guide to Further Reading	317	(4)
Index	321