Mental Health in America - A Reference Handbook

This extensive overview charts the fluctuating course of mental health policy in the United States from colonial times to today. Mental Health in America: A Reference Handbook examines the evolution of mental health policy in America from the almshouses of colonial times and the dawn of psychoanalysis in the early 1900s to the community mental health revolution in the 1960s and the insurance problems plaguing the field today. Addressing such conditions as Alzheimer''s disease, schizophrenia, anxiety, dementia, bipolar disorder, and depression, this work explores the changing definitions and explanations of mental illness and provides detailed analyses of treatments and their effects, including electroshock therapy, lobotomy, and psychotropic drugs. Readers will meet such key players as Horace Mann, who called for the insane to be made wards of the state, and assemblywoman Helen Thomson, an involuntary-treatment advocate referred to by her opponents as "Nurse Ratchett."

About the author

Donna R. Kemp is professor of public administration and MPA Coordinator of the Department of Political Science at California State University, Chico, CA. Her published works include Biomedical Policy and Mental Health and Mental Health in the Workplace: An Employer's and Manager's Guide.

Product details

• Authors: Donna Kemp, Donna R Kemp, Donna R. Kemp
• Assisted by: Mildred Vasan (Editor)
• Publisher: Abc Clio Press
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 01.03.2007
• EAN: 9781851097890
• ISBN: 978-1-85109-789-0
• No. of pages: 322
• Series: Contemporary World Issues (Har; Contemporary World Issues (Har; Contemporary World Issues
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > Psychology > Theoretical psychology; Non-fiction book > Psychology, esoterics, spirituality, anthroposophy > Psychology: general, reference works; Social sciences, law, business > Sociology > Sociological theories; USA, HISTORY / Social History, Psychology, Social & cultural history, PSYCHOLOGY / Mental Health, SOCIAL SCIENCE / Human Services, Care of the mentally ill, Social and cultural history, United States of America, USA, Care of people with mental health issues