Contents
Preface
1 Setting the scene
Great and desperate cures · The advent of psychological therapies · Defining and classifying mental illness · Why is classification necessary? · The core groups of mental illnesses · How classification is used · The contemporary scene
2 Stress, trauma, and anxiety
Stress and coping · Adjustment disorders · Anxiety disorders · What causes anxiety disorders? · Generalised anxiety disorder (GAD) · Panic disorder · Phobic disorders · Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) · Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) · Acute stress reaction · Treating anxiety disorders
3 The highs and lows of mood
How do we recognize clinical depression? · Mania — the other side of the coin · Why does our mood become abnormal? · Psychological and social factors · How do we integrate the possible causes of the highs and lows of mood? · Treating depression · Treating mania · Treating bipolar disorder
4 The mind talking through the body
The mind in the body · Why the mysterious leap from mind to body? · Who is likely to express emotional distress through their body? · How do we approach the mind talking through the body? · Conversion disorder · Somatic symptom disorder (SSD) · Illness anxiety disorder (IAD) · Body dysmorphic disorder (BDD) · Factitious disorder and malingering · Treating both body and mind
5 Eating disorders
Anorexia nervosa · Treating anorexia nervosa · Bulimia nervosa · Binge-eating disorder (BED) · Avoidant/restrictive food-intake disorder (ARFID)
6 Personality and its variations
Types of personality disorder · How common are personality disorders? · What leads to personality disorders? · Approaches to identifying personality disorders · Specific personality disorders · Treating personality disorders
7 Schizophrenia and other psychoses
Schizophrenia · What causes schizophrenia? · Treating schizophrenia · Psychosis and mood disorders · Reactive psychosis · Delusional disorder · Drug-induced psychosis
8 Substance use
What is problematic substance use? · What causes problematic substance use? · The cycle of substance use · Likely outcomes · Seeking help · Treating substance use · Different forms of substance use
9 Suicide
Defining suicide and related behaviors · How common is suicide? · What leads to suicide? · Suicide and mental illness · How do we try to help? · Prevention at the general population level · Deliberate self-harm (DSH) · Treating and preventing DSH
10 Mental ill-health in children and adolescents
The role of childhood development · Development and clinical problems · The approach of mental health professionals in working with children · Diagnosing and categorizing clinical problems in childhood and adolescence · Problems in infancy and early childhood (0–5 years) · Problems of primary-school children (6–12 years) · Problems of adolescence (13–18 years) · Maltreatment in childhood and adolescence · Preventing mental ill-health in children and adolescents
11 Mental ill-health in women
The menstrual cycle · Motherhood · Pregnancy loss and infertility · Menopause · The older woman · The abused woman
12 Mental ill-health in the elderly
The role of the mental health professional · The dementias · How are patients affected? · Dementia through the eyes of the carer · Treating dementia · Caring for the carer · Other mental illnesses encountered in the elderly · Abuse of the elderly
13 The biological therapies
Drugs used to treat the mentally ill · The role of the pharmacist · Brain-stimulation therapies
14 The psychotherapies
The core features of psychotherapy · Therapies for specific goals · Therapies by approach · Therapies for two or more people · Counselling and psychotherapy — how do they differ?
15 Promoting our mental health
General principles and strategies to promote mental health · Grappling with life’s stresses · Ways of relaxing · Cultivating a sense of self · The family and mental health · Friends and mental health · Work and mental health · When things go awry · Detecting change early · When vulnerability persists · When mental ill-health becomes long-term · Family and friends as carers · A concluding note on hope and reality
Acknowledgements
Index
About the Authors
