A Handbook for the Study of Mental Health

Teresa L. Scheid is a Professor of Sociology at the University of North Carolina, Charlotte, with joint appointments in Public Policy and Health Services Research. She is also an affiliate faculty member in the PhD programs for Health Psychology and Organization Science. Dr Scheid's first book, Tie a Knot and Hang On: Providing Mental Health Care in a Turbulent Institutional Environment (2004), examined mental health care work and changes to mental health care under managed care. She also edited the four-volume series, Mental Health: Major Themes in Health and Social Welfare (2008) and has co-edited two editions of The Handbook for the Study of Mental Health: Social Contexts, Theories and Systems (Cambridge, 1999 and 2010). Eric R. Wright is a 2nd Century Initiative (2CI) Professor of Sociology and Public Health and Chair of the Sociology Department at Georgia State University. As a medical sociologist, his research focuses on social dimensions of and public policy responses to mental health and illness, substance use and addiction, and sexual health. Professor Wright is an award winning teacher and deeply committed to engaging students in research and service learning projects to make learning more relevant and to build stronger bridges between the academy and the community.

Foreword David Mechanic; Part I. Theoretical Perspectives on Mental Health and Illness Teresa L. Scheid and Eric R. Wright: 1. An overview of sociological perspectives on the definitions, causes, and responses to mental health and illness Allan V. Horwitz; 2. The measurement of mental disorder Jerome C. Wakefield and Mark F. Schmitz; 3. Defining mental disorders: sociological investigations into the classification of mental disorders Owen Whooley; 4. The dual continua model: the foundation of the sociology of mental health and mental illness Corey L. M. Keyes; 5. What outcomes should the study of mental health try to explain? Jason Schnittker; 6. Biological approaches to psychiatric disorders: a sociological approach Sharon Schwartz and Cheryl Corcoran; 7. Sociological approaches to mental illness Peggy Thoits; 8. Mental health in cross-cultural context Harriet P. Lefley; Part II. The Social Context of Mental Health and Illness Teresa L. Scheid and Eric R. Wright: 9. Studying stress in the twenty-first century: stress concepts and research Blair Wheaton and Shirin Montazer; 10. Understanding the connection between social support and mental health Robyn Lewis Brown and Gabriele Ciciurkaite; 11. Work and unemployment as stressors Laura Limonic and Mary Clare Lennon; 12. Socioeconomic stratification and mental disorder William W. Eaton and Carles Muntaner; 13. Gender and mental health Sara Rosenfield, Dena Smith and Kelly Kato; 14. Race and mental health David R. Williams, Manuela Costa (Wiedemeier) and Jacinta P. Leavell; 15. African American women and mental well-being: the triangulation of race, gender, and socioeconomic status Verna M. Keith and Diane R. Brown; 16. Marital status and mental health Kristi Williams, Adrianne Frech and Daniel L. Carlson; 17. Well-being across the life course John Mirowsky and Catherine Ross; 18. Mental health and terrorism Robert J. Johnson, Stevan E. Hobfoll and Isabelle Beulaygue; Part III. Mental Health Systems and Policy Teresa L. Scheid and Eric R. Wright: 19. Labeling and stigma Bruce G. Link and Jo Phelan; 20. The context and dynamic social processes underlying mental health treatment: classic and contemporary approaches to understanding individuals' responses to illness in light of the Affordable Care Act Bernice A. Pescosolido and Carol A. Boyer; 21. Community mental health care organizations Kerry Dobransky; 22. Integrating service delivery systems for persons with severe mental illness Gary S. Cuddeback and Joseph P. Morrissey; 23. Mental illness and the criminal justice system Virginia Aldigé Hiday and Bradley Ray; 24. Cultural diversity and mental health treatment Bonki Woo, Emily Walton and David T. Takeuchi; 25. Preventing adolescent suicidal behavior: integrating sociology and public health Alexander Crosby and Leigh A. Willis; 26. The mental health consumers/survivors movement in the US Athena McLean; 27. The HIV-mental health challenge James Walkup and Stephen Crystal; 28. Mental health policy in the United States: critical reflection and future directions for sociological research Dennis P. Watson, Erin L. Adams and Joanna R. Jackson; Epilogue: the three solitudes of the sociology of mental health William Avison.