New book on Mental Health in Ireland launched

Posted on: 17 June 2014

A new book on Mental Health in Ireland was recently launched at the School of Nursing and Midwifery, Trinity College Dublin. The event was attended by mental health service users, practitioners, academics, researchers, friends and Minister of State for Disability, Equality and Mental Health, Kathleen Lynch T.D. The book was launched by Eddie Molloy, Chairman of Mental Health Reform, and by contributor and expert by experience Paddy McGowan.

Mental Health in Ireland: Policy, Practice & Law is the first extensive overview of emerging issues in the field of mental and emotional distress in Ireland covering the period from the 1940s to the present day. With contributions from experts in the area, there is an emphasis on current trends in mental health law and policy, which have implications for mental health service delivery in Ireland in the future.

The book has been edited by Agnes Higgins, Professor in Mental Health and Head of the School of Nursing and Midwifery, Trinity and Dr Shari McDaid, Director of Mental Health Reform. Professor Higgins has worked in mental health practice and education for over 30 years and Dr McDaid and has worked in social policy in Ireland for over 10 years, specialising in mental health.

Mental health has gained a higher profile in Ireland in recent years. In this context, Mental Health in Ireland provides a critical analysis of recent developments that may affect those experiencing mental and emotional distress, and their families, in Ireland today.

Commenting on the launch of Mental Health in Ireland, Professor Higgins said: "The aim of the book was to hear the perspectives of people with self-experience alongside that of mental health professionals and academic analysts and open up a dialogue about the future development of the mental health services within Ireland".

Mental Health in Ireland presents an invaluable resource, based on recent literature and research, in the field of mental health in Ireland. It discusses trends in mental health law and service delivery and their implications for mental health practitioners. Addressing key issues relating to recent changes in approaches to mental health, it covers the move from expert-led care to recovery orientated, partnership-based support and the challenge posed to service delivery by a risk-averse society.

Containing contributions from prominent experts in the field of mental health, and with forewords by Dr Eddie Molloy and Dr Ivor Browne, the book discusses, among other topics, social exclusion and discrimination of people with experience of mental or emotional distress; peer support and mutual help as a means to recovery; the role of families; ethnic minorities and mental health; contemporary responses to problematic alcohol and substance misuse; emerging issues in the law within a changing human rights framework; the interface between mental health and the criminal justice system; risk in relation to mental health services; challenging the dominance of the pharmaceutical industry in psychiatry; and democratising support for people experiencing mental and emotional distress.

Mental Health in Ireland is available from all major bookshops and www.gillmacmillan.ie, priced €34.99.