Abolishing the concept of mental illness : rethinking the nature of our woes / Richard Hallam.

Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon ; New York, NY : Routledge, 2018.

1 online resource (173 pages)

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"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."-- Provided by publisher

Taylor & Francis. EBA 2024-2025.

Print version: Hallam, Richard S. Abolishing the concept of mental illness. Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon ; New York, NY : Routledge, 2018

Books / Online

English

October 04, 2024

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Cover; Half Title; Title Page; Copyright Page; Table of Contents; Acknowledgements; 1 Introducing the issues; 2 Thomas Szasz and the myth of mental illness; 3 Mental and bodily causes of woes: a brief history; 4 Major depression: the creation of a mythical disease; 5 Agency, rationality, and the concept of mental illness; 6 Medicalisation: resistance or replacement?; 7 Well-being and mental health; 8 A future without the concept of mental illness; Index