Examining Mental Health through Social Constructionism

The Language of Mental Health

Michelle O'Reilly, Jessica Nina Lester

• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
• Year: 2017
• Print ISBN: 9783319600949
• eBook ISBN: 9783319600956
• Topic: Psychology
• Subtopic: Psychiatry & Mental Health
• Index: Psychology

This book explores social constructionism and the language of mental distress. Mental health research has traditionally been dominated by genetic and biomedical explanations that provide only partial explanations. However, process research that utilises qualitative methods has grown in popularity. Situated within this new strand of research, the authors examine and critically assess some of the different contributions that social constructionism has made to the study of mental distress and to how those diagnosed are conceptualized and labeled. This will be an invaluable introduction and source of practical strategies for academics, researchers and students as well as clinical practitioners, mental health professionals, and others working with mental health such as educationalists and social workers.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Front Matter
• 1. The Critical Turn to Language in the Field of Mental Health
• 2. History of Mental Health and Mental Illness
• 3. Classification Systems and Diagnostic Processes
• 4. Critical Perspectives in Psychiatry: Anti- and Critical Psychiatry
• 5. Models of Disability and the Translation to Psychiatric Categories
• 6. Constructions of Stigma
• 7. The Rhetoric of Evidence-Based Practice
• 8. Language-Based Methodologies for Studying Mental Health
• 9. Empirical Examples: Language, Mental Health, and Therapeutic Approaches
• 10. Empirical Examples: Language and Child Mental Health
• 11. Conclusions: Thinking About the Future of Mental Health
• Back Matter