Synopses & Reviews
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Table of ContentsRead the Introduction
"Davidson's book leaves one with an image of the inside of schizophrenia as essentially mysterious but the possibilities of recovery as hopeful if uncertain."Journal of Mental Health
"I encourage you, whether you are a policy maker, practitioner, or researcher, to read Living Outside Mental illness
"The book provides a window into the experiences of a person with schizophrenia...a rich narrative."
The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease
"This volume makes the case for the utility of qualitative methods in improving our understanding of the reasons for the success or failure of mental health services."Family Therapy
"I see this book as an important accomplishment. It contains numerous helpful suggestions about how to go about eliciting narratives as a means of encouraging patients along their recovery journey."Psychiatric Services
"Davidson takes an interesting approach to the disorder and makes a compelling case for the use of person centered narratives to find out what is going on with recovery in persons with schizophrenia. Recommended."
Choice
"Davidson demonstrates the importance of listening ot what people diagnosed with schizophrenia have to say about their struggle, and shows the effect this approach can have on clinical practice and social policy."
Yale Weekly
"Living Outside Mental Illness is more than a recapitulation of previously published research."
Metapsychology Online Book Reviews
Schizophrenia is widely considered the most severe and disabling of the mental illnesses. Yet recent research has demonstrated that many people afflicted with the disorder are able to recover to a significant degree.
Living Outside Mental Illness demonstrates the importance of listening to what people diagnosed with schizophrenia themselves have to say about their struggle, and shows the dramatic effect this approach can have on clinical practice and social policy. It presents an in-depth investigation, based on a phenomenological perspective, of experiences of illness and recovery as illuminated by compelling first-person descriptions.
This volume forcefully makes the case for the utility of qualitative methods in improving our understanding of the reasons for the success or failure of mental health services. The research has important clinical and policy implications, and will be of key interest to those in psychology and the helping professions as well as to people in recovery and their families.
Review
“The book provides a window into the experiences of a person with schizophrenia . . . a rich narrative.”
-The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease,
Review
“This volume makes the case for the utility of qualitative methods in improving our understanding of the reasons for the success or failure of mental health services.”
-Family Therapy,
Review
“I see this book as an important accomplishment. It contains numerous helpful suggestions about how to go about eliciting narratives as a means of encouraging patients along their recovery journey.”
-Psychiatric Services,
Review
“Davidson takes an interesting approach to the disorder and makes a compelling case for the use of person centered narratives to find out what is going on with recovery in persons with schizophrenia. Recommended.”
-Choice,
Review
“Davidson’s book leaves one with an image of the inside of schizophrenia as essentially mysterious but the possibilities of recovery as hopeful if uncertain.”
- Journal of Mental Health
“Davidson’s book leaves one with an image of the inside of schizophrenia as essentially mysterious but the possibilities of recovery as hopeful if uncertain.”
“The book provides a window into the experiences of a person with schizophrenia . . . a rich narrative.”
“This volume makes the case for the utility of qualitative methods in improving our understanding of the reasons for the success or failure of mental health services.”
“I see this book as an important accomplishment. It contains numerous helpful suggestions about how to go about eliciting narratives as a means of encouraging patients along their recovery journey.”
Review
“Davidsons book leaves one with an image of the inside of schizophrenia as essentially mysterious but the possibilities of recovery as hopeful if uncertain.”
-Journal of Mental Health,
Review
"An interesting book for anyone who is interested in the history of venereal disease. It provides some interesting facts to consider about women and venereal disease and makes the reader aware that women have taken a bad rap for many centuries and that bad rap is slowly being transferred to the gays in this age of AIDS. Recommended for all academic and medical libraries." -AIDS Book Review Journal,
Synopsis
Schizophrenia is widely considered the most severe and disabling of the mental illnesses. Yet recent research has demonstrated that many people afflicted with the disorder are able to recover to a significant degree.
Living Outside Mental Illness demonstrates the importance of listening to what people diagnosed with schizophrenia themselves have to say about their struggle, and shows the dramatic effect this approach can have on clinical practice and social policy. It presents an in-depth investigation, based on a phenomenological perspective, of experiences of illness and recovery as illuminated by compelling first-person descriptions.
This volume forcefully makes the case for the utility of qualitative methods in improving our understanding of the reasons for the success or failure of mental health services. The research has important clinical and policy implications, and will be of key interest to those in psychology and the helping professions as well as to people in recovery and their families.
Synopsis
An essential volume for improving understanding of the recovery process for people diagnosed with schizophrenia
Schizophrenia is widely considered the most severe and disabling of the mental illnesses. Yet recent research has demonstrated that many people afflicted with the disorder are able to recover to a significant degree.
Living Outside Mental Illness demonstrates the importance of listening to what people diagnosed with schizophrenia themselves have to say about their struggle, and shows the dramatic effect this approach can have on clinical practice and social policy. It presents an in-depth investigation, based on a phenomenological perspective, of experiences of illness and recovery as illuminated by compelling first-person descriptions.
This volume forcefully makes the case for the utility of qualitative methods in improving our understanding of the reasons for the success or failure of mental health services. The research has important clinical and policy implications, and will be of key interest to those in psychology and the helping professions as well as to people in recovery and their families.
Synopsis
Schizophrenia is widely considered the most severe and disabling of the mental illnesses. Yet recent research has demonstrated that many people afflicted with the disorder are able to recover to a significant degree.
Living Outside Mental Illness demonstrates the importance of listening to what people diagnosed with schizophrenia themselves have to say about their struggle, and shows the dramatic effect this approach can have on clinical practice and social policy. It presents an in-depth investigation, based on a phenomenological perspective, of experiences of illness and recovery as illuminated by compelling first-person descriptions.
This volume forcefully makes the case for the utility of qualitative methods in improving our understanding of the reasons for the success or failure of mental health services. The research has important clinical and policy implications, and will be of key interest to those in psychology and the helping professions as well as to people in recovery and their families.
Synopsis
In 1497 the local council of a small town in Scotland issued an order that all light women--women suspected of prostitution-- be branded with a hot iron on their face. In late eighteenth- century England, the body of the prostitute became almost synonymous with venereal disease as doctors drew up detailed descriptions of the abnormal and degenerate traits of fallen women. Throughout much of history, popular and medical knowledge has held women, especially promiscuous women, as the source of venereal disease. In
Feminizing Venereal Disease, Mary Spongberg provides a critical examination of this practice by examining the construction of venereal disease in 19th century Britain.
Spongberg argues that despite the efforts of doctors to treat medicine as a pure science, medical knowledge was greatly influenced by cultural assumptions and social and moral codes. By revealing the symbolic importance of the prostitute as the source of social disease in Victorian England, Spongberg presents a forceful argument about the gendering of nineteenth- century medicine. In a fascinating use of history to enlighten contemporary discourse, the book concludes with a compelling discussion of the impact of Victorian notions of the body on current discussions of HIV/AIDS, arguing that AIDS, like syphilis in the nineteenth century, has become a feminized disease.
About the Author
Larry Davidson is an Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Director of the Program on Poverty, Disability, and Urban Health of the Yale University Institution for Social and Policy Studies. He also serves as Senior Clinical Officer and Mental Health Policy Director for the Connecticut Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services.