This book collates and analyzes the information currently available on social support as it impacts on mental health. The international team of contributors covers a whole range of perspectives on mental illness, from biological mechanisms to psychological and social theory. The book begins with an overview of the latest published evidence and a description of the nature and origins of social support, which is followed by evidence from observational studies and specific interventions and trials. The text concludes with a summary that will act as a valuable resource to practitioners in their evaluation of social and psychological treatments and should also serve to stimulate further research and intervention trials. Practitioners and researchers in psychiatry, psychology and social work are certain to welcome this timely guide. Contents: Preface; List of contributors; 1. Social support and psychiatric disorder: overview of evidence Traolach S. Brugha; Part 1. Concepts and Origins of Social Support: 2. Understanding social support within the context of theory and research on the relationship of life stress and mental health Camille Lloyd; 3. A developmental perspective on social support networks Lorna Champion; 4. Cognitive aspects of social support processes Chris R. Brewin; 5. Attachment, co-operation and rank: the evolution of the need for status and social support Paul Gilbert; Part II. Lessons from Selected Observational Studies: 6. Social support as a high-risk condition for depression in women Hans O. F. Veiel; 7. The importance of context: who needs and who does not need social support among college students? Patrick McC. Miller; 8. Teenage peer networks in the community as sources of social problems: a sociological perspective Deirdre Kirke; Part III. Lessons from Intervention Studies: 9. Social network and mental health: an intervention study Odd Steffen Dalgard, Trine Anstorp, Kirsten Benum and Tom Sørensen; 10. A test of the social support hypothesis Bryanne Barnett and Gordon Parker; 11. Case management and network enhancement of the long-term mentally ill Graham Thornicroft, William R. Breakey and Annelle B. Primm; 12. Expressed emotion: measurement, intervention and training issues Liz Kuipers; Part IV. Intervention Principles and Recommendation: 13. Social support processes and cognitive therapy Glenys Parry; 14. Social support and psychiatric disorder: recommendations for clinical practice and research Traolach S. Brugha; Index. Reviews: "This book succeeds in describing the interactional complexity of social support systems, and presenting the challenge of empirically evaluating the contributions of social networks to human well-being. The presentation and evaluation of preventative and therapeutic interventions challenge the clinician to find new ways to incorporate social systems theory into treatment strategies." Patricia M. Meaden, Doody's Health Sciences Book Review Journal "...a great deal of timely, relevant information in an accessible, intriguing manner and is well worth reading." Mary Ellen McNaughton-Cassill, Ph.D., The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease "This valuable and well-designed book focuses on an issue of central importance for clinicians-the impact of social support on mental disorder....This is a book that makes accessible to clinicians and mental health administrators some of the advances in social psychiatry..." Richard Warner, M.B., D.P.M., Psychiatric Services Contributors: Traolach S. Brugha, Camille Lloyd, Lorna Champion, Chris R. Brewin, Paul Gilbert, Hans O. F. Veiel, Patrick McC. Miller, Deirdre Kirke, Odd Steffen Dalgard, Trine Anstorp, Kirsten Benum, Tom Sørensen, Bryanne Barnett, Gordon Parker, Graham Thornicroft, William R. Breakey, Annelle B. Primm, Liz Kuipers, Glenys Parry |
