Abolishing the concept of mental illness: rethinking the nature of our woes

Description

"In Abolishing the Concept of Mental Illness: Rethinking the Nature of Our Woes, Richard Hallam takes aim at the very concept of mental illness, and explores new ways of thinking about and responding to psychological distress. Though the concept of mental illness has infiltrated everyday language, academic research, and public policy-making, there is very little evidence that woes are caused by somatic dysfunction. This timely book rebuts arguments put forward to defend the illness myth and traces historical sources of the mind/body debate; the author discusses what it means in concrete clinical terms to consider mental illness as a metaphor, and presents a balanced overview of the past utility and current disadvantages of employing a medical illness metaphor against the backdrop of current UK clinical practice. Insightful and easy to read, Abolishing the Concept of Mental Illness will appeal to all professionals and academics working in clinical psychology, as well as psychotherapists and other mental health practitioners."-- Table of ContentsChapter One: Introducing the issuesChapter Two: Thomas Szasz and the myth of mental illnessChapter Three: 'Mental' and 'bodily' causes of woes: A brief history Chapter Four: 'Major depression': The creation of a mythical diseaseChapter Five: Agency, rationality, and the concept of mental illness Chapter Six: Medicalisation: Resistance or replacement?Chapter Seven: Well-being and mental heathChapter Eight: A future without the concept of mental illness