Serious Mental Illness: Person-Centered Approaches

Practical and evidence-based, this unique book is the first comprehensive text focused on person-centered approaches to people with serious mental illness such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. It reflects a range of views and findings regarding assessment, treatment, rehabilitation, self-help, policy-making, education and research. It is highly recommended for all healthcare professionals, students, researchers and educators involved in general practice, psychiatry, nursing, social work, clinical psychology and therapy. Healthcare service providers, and policy makers and shapers, will find the book's wide-ranging, multi-professional approach enlightening. 'Serious Mental Illness reflects a continued distancing from the outmoded and unsubstantiated belief that people with severe mental illnesses could not recover, and that they would respond positively only to goals and treatment plans chosen, designed and implemented by providers in order to prevent their further deterioration. Anyone with an interest in the concept of person-centered approaches will discover new ideas in this book. Indeed, anyone with an interest in person-centered approaches has to read this book. Not only is it the first such book on person-centered approaches, but it will serve as the gold standard in this topic area for years to come.' William A Anthony, in the Foreword

Table of Contents:
Introduction: Background and overview. Framework. Foundations and ethics of person-centered approaches to individuals with serious mental illness. Historical antecedents of contemporary person-centered approaches to serious mental illness. Moral treatment in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Rogerian and related psychotherapies in the twentieth century. Magnitude of the problem. Mood disorders: major depressive disorder and bipolar disorders. Schizophrenia-spectrum disorders: schizophrenia and schizoaffective disorder. The person's experience of the illness. The lived experience: narratives through the lens of wellness. The relationship between the person with a serious mental illness and his or her disorder. Understanding the context of the individual. Collaborating with families of people with serious mental illness. Trans-cultural issues in person-centered care for people with serious mental illness. Environmental interventions in relation to people with serious mental illness. Mental health systems and policy in relation to people with serious mental illness. The person/patient-clinician relationship. Therapeutic relationships with people with serious mental illness. Clinical communications with persons who have serious mental illnesses. Shared/collaborative care for people with serious mental illness. Serious mental illness of special populations. Person-centered approaches for adolescents with serious mental illness. Dual diagnosis: individualized approach. Serious mental illness: person-centered approaches in a forensic psychiatry setting. Treatment of co-occurring substance use disorders using shared decision making and electronic decision-support systems. Management and finding common ground. Person-centered assessment of people with serious mental illness. Person-centered approaches to psychopharmacology for people with serious mental illness. Person-centered individual psychotherapy for adults with serious mental illness. Cognitive and psychiatric rehabilitation: person-centered ingredients for success. Prevention and health promotion. Cultivating physical health and wellness utilising a person-centered approach. Self-help and peer-operated services. Constraints. Some sober reflections on person-centered care. Academic activities. Implications of serious mental illness for evidence-based practices. Educating service providers and researchers in person-centered principles related to serious mental illness. Conclusion. Making sure the person is involved in person-centered care.