Principles of Social Psychiatry

Provides a broad overview of current thinking in the field of social psychiatry. Coverage is wide-ranging and includes research, the role of voluntary groups, and contemporary social factors such as AIDS, unemployment and homelessness.

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Social psychiatry has the widest perspective of all branches of psychiatry, examining not only the social and environmental causes of mental illness, but also its social consequences. The move towards care in the community in the last two decades has led to a greater emphasis on social factors in the treatment and rehabilitation of the psychiatric patient. This new book provides a broad overview of current thinking in this expanding field and will be a source of ideas both in research and for the management of mental illness. Professor Julian Leff is the Director of the Social Psychiatry Unit at the Institute of Psychiatry in London and is well known internationally for his work on the families of schizophrenic patients.