Practicing Psychiatry In The Community

Today's rapidly changing mental health care environment has created both complex challenges and unique opportunities for the community psychiatrist. Practicing Psychiatry in the Community: A Manual is an indispensable resource for practitioners and psychiatric residents. Clinically active psychiatrists will find this manual invaluable as they adopt new roles in this dynamic and exciting field. This comprehensive work by leading experts in the field addresses the major issues currently facing community psychiatrists. It even includes a user-friendly guide to the development of a research program in a community setting. Organized into three main sections, this manual provides essential information on treatment settings, target populations, and special topics in the community psychiatry domain. The Treatment Continuum explores the varied environments in which community psychiatric services may be offered, including outpatient treatment, crisis resolution services, and psychiatric rehabilitation programs. Populations such as mentally disordered children, adolescents, and the elderly; HIV-infected patients; the homeless mentally ill; the developmentally disabled; chemically dependent patients; dually diagnosed patients; violent patients; and the chronically mentally ill have unique needs requiring skilled clinical care. The Target Populations section provides the community psychiatrist with useful and practical guidelines for the treatment of each of these patient groups. The Special Topics section ushers the community psychiatrist into the era of contemporary community psychiatric practice with vital information on emerging issues like cultural diversity, the principles of effective collaboration with advocacy and family/self-help groups, the role of the multidisciplinary team, and legal and training issues.

There are wide inconsistencies between, and even within, countries in how community-orientated care is defined and interpreted. The analysis presented in this book take as a starting point an evidence-based balanced care model in which services are provided in community settings close to the populations served, with hospital stays being reduced as far as possible, usually located in acute wards in general hospitals. The surprising conclusion from the research is that the same problems arise in all countries, regardless of resource status, and thus the recommendations of this book apply to mental health provision everywhere. This book reviews the implementation of community-orientated care using the balanced care model. It summarizes the steps, obstacles and mistakes that have been encountered in the implementation of community mental health care worldwide and presents guidelines on how to avoid them. It proposes realistic and achievable recommendations for the development and implementation of community-orientated mental health care over the next ten years. These guidelines will be of practical use to psychiatrists and other mental health and public health practitioners at all levels worldwide, including policy makers, commissioners, funders, non-governmental organisations, service users and carers. A core message of the book is that the mental health sector will more powerfully advocate for better services in future through strong and unified alliances, especially with powerful representation from consumer/service user and carer groups. Community-orientated care draws on a wide range of practitioners, providers, care and support systems (both professional and non-professional), though particular components may play a larger or lesser role in different settings depending on the local context and the available resources, especially trained staff. Research by a WPA task force has demonstrated that most of the challenges are common and global, but with local variations. The book is therefore relevant to psychiatrists and mental health workers in developed countries who are trying to deliver better health care on reduced budgets and for those in the developing economies who are in the position to modernise their mental health care. It provides clear, concise guidance on policy and practice decisions, learning from what has and has not worked in regions in the world. The book contains many tables documenting the evidence, supported by an essential reference list, and a Key Points summary for each chapter. Highly Commended in the Psychiatry section of the 2012 BMA Book Awards.

The aim of the American Psychiatric Association Practice Guideline series is to improve patient care. Guidelines provide a comprehensive synthesis of all available information relevant to the clinical topic. Practice guidelines can be vehicles for educating psychiatrists, other medical and mental health professionals, and the general public about appropriate and inappropriate treatments. The series also will identify those areas in which critical information is lacking and in which research could be expected to improve clinical decisions. The Practice Guidelines are also designed to help those charged with overseeing the utilization and reimbursement of psychiatric services to develop more scientifically based and clinically sensitive criteria.

During the past decade or more, there has been a rapid evolution of mental health services and treatment technologies, shifting psychiatric epidemiology, changes in public behavioral health policy and increased understanding in medicine regarding approaches to clinical work that focus on patient-centeredness. These contemporary issues need to be articulated in a comprehensive format. The American Association of Community Psychiatrists (AACP), a professional organization internationally recognized as holding the greatest concentration of expertise in the field, has launched a methodical process to create a competency certification in community psychiatry. As a reference for a certification examination, that effort will benefit enormously from a comprehensive handbook on the subject.

Psychiatry in Practice: Education, Experience, and Expertise provides detailed advice and useful tips for early career psychiatrists, and all others who wish to enhance their practical psychiatry skills. Each chapter is written by prominent early career psychiatrists from around the world, offering relevant and timely advice to those who are newly qualified, as well as a global perspective on the practical issues faced today. Covering a variety of topics from 'Psychiatric Emergencies' to 'Ethics and clinical practice in psychiatry', chapters include vignettes of scenarios that may be encountered, making this book pertinent and easily applicable to many early career situations. Skills related to personal management and managing resources are often not taught during training but are key to establishing a career in psychiatry - this book will help the new clinician to develop professionally. The emphasis on practicality ensures psychiatrists are prepared for the needs of the modern health service and society at large, and ensures patients across the world experience the best treatment available.

A presentation of a comparative analysis of the work of mental health social workers and community psychiatric nurses, an issue of importance because of "community care" and also important as much of their work territory overlaps. The findings are more favourable to social workers.