Books, Articles and Research

Law & psychiatry: Slowing the revolving door: Community reentry of offenders with mental illness.
An article discussing the existing programs that help offenders with mental illnesses reenter the community and the importance of effective collaborations between criminal justice agencies and behavioral health providers.

Higher education and psychiatric disabilities: National survey of campus disability services
This article reports the results of a survey of disability services offices at colleges and universities in 10 States.

Mental health literacy in an educational elite: An online survey among university students
The aims of this paper are to determine whether a sample of university students recognise different symptoms of depression and schizophrenia and to reveal factors influencing correct recognition. 

University students' attitudes towards mental patients and psychiatric treatment
This study examined university students' attitudes towards different information regarding a person labeled as mentally ill.

What attitudes do psychiatrists hold towards people with mental illness?
To investigate the attitudes that psychiatrists hold towards people with mental illness. Each member of the Royal College of Psychiatrists in the UK was sent a questionnaire based on previous research in this area, supplemented with relevant questions on management.  

School-age children's perceptions of mental illness
The purpose of this study was to describe how school-age children perceive mental illness.

Sex differences in opinion towards mental illness of secondary school students in Hong Kong
This paper reports on the effect of sex differences in a study of secondary school students' opinions about mental illness in Hong Kong.

Homicidal maniacs and narcissistic parasites: stigmatization of mentally ill persons in the movies
The portrayal of mentally ill persons in movies and television programs has an important and underestimated influence on public perceptions of their condition and care. The authors suggest that mental health professionals can fight this source of stigma by increasing their collaboration with patient advocacy groups in monitoring negative portrayals of mentally ill people,

Reducing stigma and discrimination against older people with mental disorders: A technical consensus statement
This technical consensus statement is jointly produced by the Old Age Psychiatry section of the World Psychiatric Association and the World Health Organization, and other non-governmental organizations. It is intended to be a tool for (i) promoting debate at all levels on the stigmatisation of older people with mental disorders; (ii) outlining the nature, causes and consequences of this stigmatisation; and (iii) promoting and suggesting policies, programmes and actions to combat this stigmatisation.

Growing older: The lived experience of older persons with serious mental illness
The purpose of this qualitative paper is to describe, from the consumers perspective, the complex factors involved as persons with serious mental illness grow older in the community.

Mental healthcare for rural seniors. An outreach program in Cedar Rapids, IA, uses an integrated approach to break down barriers to care
Article discussing the Abbe Center for Community Mental Health in the Cedar Rapids, IA, and the work that the Center does in breaking down some of the barriers to mental health services for older adults in rural communities.

Beliefs about mental illness and willingness to seek help: A cross-sectional study
Evidence indicates that older adults underutilize mental health services, but little is known empirically about the perceptions older adults have about mental illnesses and their attitudes about seeking professional help for psychological problems. The present study examined beliefs about mental illnesses and willingness to seek professional help among younger and older persons.

Stigma and ageism: Compounding influences in making an accurate mental health assessment
This paper defines stigma and ageism and their potential and actual influences on assessment and interventions for elderly persons with mental illnesses. Strategies for overcoming the impact of stigma and ageism are presented to assist healthcare providers to advocate for geropsychiatric clients.

Chapter 5 of "Mental health: A report of the Surgeon General": Older adults and mental health
This chapter of the Surgeon General's report on mental health addresses various areas of interest for the older adult population, specifically considering mental disorders in older people - their diagnosis and treatment, and the various risk factors that may complicate the course or outcome of treatment.

Rural and frontier mental and behavioral health care: Barriers, effective policy strategies, best practices
This report focuses on the following areas: barriers to mental and behavioral health service delivery in rural America, model programs and effective activities for rural America, model policy strategies for rural mental and behavioral health care delivery, the role telehealth should play in service delivery to rural America, and the role that State Offices of Rural Health and other State and local organizations should play in service delivery to rural America.

A survey of preferred terms for users of mental health services.
This survey was conducted to determine how users of mental health services would like to be addressed by professionals. Three hundred two persons participating in a variety of inpatient and outpatient psychiatric programs were surveyed.

Evaluating the effectiveness of a consumer-provided mental health recovery education presentation
The current study investigated the effectiveness of the In Our Own Voice (IOOV) mental health education program in improving knowledge and attitudes about mental illnesses.  

Solutions to discrimination in work and housing identified by people with mental illness
This study examines perceived solutions to discrimination in housing and employment situations.

Mental illness and employment discrimination
This article presents a review of recent research that seeks to determine employment-related stigma and discrimination experienced by people with mental disabilities. In this study, researchers take an extensive view of the stigmatization process to include cognitive, attitudinal, behavioral, and structural disadvantages.

Managing workplace depression: An untapped opportunity for occupational health professionals
An article discussing how occupational health professionals are the most qualified to design and deliver destigmatized, customer-friendly programs and services to help employees who are depressed. Integration of services like benefits, health promotion, EAP, and human resources across a company can lead to an effective, organization-wide depression initiative.

Disclosure conundrum: How people with psychiatric disabilities navigate employment
This qualitative study of people with psychiatric disabilities explored the issues of self-disclosing their mental illness and the complex situations around employment and disclosure.

Employment and mental health service utilization in washington state
This study examined employment among individuals utilizing publicly-funded mental health services in Washington State during a 2-year period through the analysis of archival administrative data.

Economic barriers to better mental health practice and policy
This paper discusses economic barriers to improving the availability, accessibility, efficiency and equity of mental health care in low- and middle-income countries.

Newspaper representations of mental illness and the impact of reporting of 'events; on social policy: The 'framing' of Isabel Schwarz and Jonathan Zito
This paper critically examines the potential significance of the way in which responsibility for events is constructed for social policy by means of a discourse analysis, inspired by the genealogical work of Michel Foucault. It uses the device of "frames" (originally developed by Goffman) to explore the nature of newspaper coverage of two deaths to which causal responsibility for changes in the nature of English social policy in mental health has been attributed.

Dispelling the Myths and Stigma of Mental Illness: The Surgeon General's Report on Mental Health
This document summarizes a discussion featuring U. S. Surgeon General David Satcher of the report on mental health that he issued in December 1999. The focus of the meeting was the report's most policy-relevant findings, including the widespread prevalence of mental illness, which affects one in five Americans each year; the strong scientific basis for the diagnosis and treatment of mental illness; the effect of stigma in impeding needed treatment; the rationale for parity of coverage of mental and somatic illness; and the role of race, ethnicity, and poverty as obstacles to access. See URL for full text.

The sympathetic discriminator: Mental illness, hedonic costs, and the ADA
Discrimination against people with mental illness occurs in part because of how those with mental illness can make other people feel.Thus, a central basis for discrimination in this context is what I call hedonic costs. Hedonic costs are affective or emotional costs: an influx of negative emotion or loss of positive emotion. In addition, the phenomenon of emotional contagion, which is one source of hedonic costs, makes discrimination against people with mental illness peculiarly intractable.

Nearly 10 percent of Iraq vets screen positive for PTSD
This journal article describes a study conducted of the mental state of troops deployed to Iraq and the mental services assessed by and available to service personnel. Information for the study was taken from the Post-Deployment Health Assessment (PDHA) given to all service members upon their return from any deployment. See URL for full text.

Mental health in rural America
This report addresses mental health services in the rural area, and provides recommendations for improvement of services.

Talking about mental illness: An evaluation of an anti-stigma and educational program in Hamilton, Ontario
An evaluation of the "Talking About Mental Illness" program and its effectiveness in decreasing stigmatizing attitudes and increasing understanding of mental illness.

Stigma and the law
This paper is one of several delivered at an international conference, Stigma and Global Health: Developing a Research Agenda, sponsored by the National Institutes of Health's Fogarty International Center (FIC) in September 2001. The author discusses how enacted stigma law can influence the actions of persons diagnosed with stigmatized diseases and their community.

Stigma interventions and research for international health
This paper is one of several delivered at an international conference, Stigma and Global Health: Developing a Research Agenda, sponsored by the National Institutes of Health's Fogarty International Center (FIC) in September 2001. The paper includes a definition of health-related stigma and six research objectives, based on the stigma definition.

Conversation: Challenging the relevance and wisdom of separate mental health legislation.
This paper explores the dilemmas encountered by mental health nurses when working with mental health legislation.

"It's important to be proud of the place you live in": Housing problems and preferences of psychiatric survivors.
This paper reports findings from a series of focus group meetings held with survivors of mental illness to address issues concerning housing preferences and housing needs.

'She's manipulative and he's right off': A critical analysis of psychiatric nurses' oral and written language in the acute inpatient setting.
This paper critiques the language nurses use in acute inpatient psychiatry services, highlighting the diverse discourses implicated in nurses' writing and speaking about patients.

The Carter Center Mental Health Program: Addressing the public health crisis in the field of mental health through policy change and stigma reduction.
This article examines the public health crisis in the field of mental health and focuses on The Carter Center Mental Health Program?s initiatives, which work to increase public knowledge of and decrease the stigma associated with mental illnesses.

Forensic mental health law reform in Japan: From criminal warehousing to broad-spectrum specialist services?
This article seeks to demonstrate that the new forensic law in Japan cannot achieve its own stated goals without seeking to put into place financial and administrative supports aimed to integrate the myriad of patient populations that inevitably will be affected by the new forensic system.

Advocacy for mental health: Roles for consumers and family organizations and governments
The World Health Organization urges countries to become more active in advocacy efforts to put mental health on governments' agendas. Health policy makers, planners and managers, advocacy groups, consumer and family organizations, through their different roles and actions, can move the mental health agenda forward. This paper outlines the importance of the advocacy movement, describes some of the roles and functions of the different groups and identifies some specific actions that can be adopted by Ministries of Health.

Clinical utility and policy implications of a statewide mental health screening process for juvenile offenders
This study examined the utility of screening adjudicated juvenile offenders for mental health symptoms at intake to the State of Washington Juvenile Rehabilitation Administration. The authors assessed the ability of a screening measure, the Massachusetts Youth Screening Inventory, second edition (MAYSI-2), to identify youths with mental health problems and co-occurring substance use problems. This study also examined the relationship of these symptoms to treatment utilization both before and after intake to the juvenile justice system. Ethnic and gender differences in the screening results were studied.

Working with young people: The impact of mental health awareness programmes in schools in the UK and Canada
The persistent and disabling nature of psychiatric stigma has led to the establishment of global programmes to challenge the negative stereotypes and discriminatory responses that generate social disability, but these initiatives are rarely evaluated. This study compares the effectiveness of school-based interventions with young people aged 14-16 aimed at increasing mental health literacy and challenging negative stereotypes associated with severe mental illness in sites in Canada and the UK.

Stigma as a barrier to employment: Mental disability and the Americans with Disabilities Act
This study examines the role played by stigma in employers' response to the 1990 Americans with Disability Act (ADA). The article describes employers' experiences with employees with mental disabilities and accommodations, specific employment practices, and attitudes towards those with mental disabilities.

Forgotten policy: An examination of mental health in the U.S. [Brief]
This paper presents strategies and recommendations for improving the current mental health system so that it better addresses the mental health needs of Americans.

Stigma and mental disorder: Conceptions of illness, public attitudes, personal disclosure, and social policy
This article defines stigma and discusses empirical and narrative evidence for stigmatization, as well as historical trends regarding conceptualizations of mental illness.

Combat duty in Iraq and Afghanistan, mental health problems, and barriers to care
This study provides an initial look at the mental health of members of the Army and the Marine Corps who were involved in combat operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. Our findings indicate that among the study groups there was a significant risk of mental health problems and that the subjects reported important barriers to receiving mental health services, particularly the perception of stigma among those most in need of such care.

Acquiring medical services for individuals with mental retardation in community-based housing facilities.
This study examined the understanding of issues involved in acquiring services and the clinical decision-making experiences of 13 service agency directors representing 1,400 individuals with MR were investigated.

Medicaid managed care for mental health services in a rural state
State governments throughout the country increasingly have turned to managed care for their Medicaid programs, including mental health services. We used ethnographic methods and a review of legal documents and state monitoring data to examine the impact of Medicaid reform on mental health services in New Mexico, a rural state. New Mexico implemented Medicaid managed care for both physical and mental health services in 1997. The reform led to administrative burdens, payment problems, and stress and high turnover among providers. Restrictions on inpatient and residential treatment exacerbated access problems for Medicaid recipients. These facts indicate that in rural, medically underserved states, the advantages of managed care for cost control, access, and quality assurance may be diminished. Responding to the crisis in mental health services, the federal government terminated New Mexico's program but later reversed its decision after political changes at the national level. This contradictory response suggests that the federal government's oversight role warrants careful scrutiny by advocacy groups at the local and state levels.

Helping carers care: An education programme for rural carers of people with a mental illness
An article providing descriptive information about a short-term educational program for caregivers of people with a mental illness, living in rural Australia.

Reducing psychiatric stigma and discrimination: Evaluating an educational intervention with the police force in England
This paper evaluates the effectiveness of a mental health training intervention with the police force in England.

Structural stigma in state legislation
This article discusses examples of structural stigma that results from state governments' enactment of laws that diminish the opportunities of people with mental illness.

Effects of an educational program on public attitudes towards mental illness
The World Psychiatric Association promotes global anti-stigma programs. However, evaluation research is crucial to developing effective programs. The present study examined the effects of a lecture on mental health on public attitudes towards mental illness. Subjects were recruited from individuals employed by private companies and the government. Attitudes towards mental illness were measured using the Mental Illness and Disorder Understanding Scale developed by the authors and the Scale of Negative Attitudes Towards the Independence of People with Mental Disorders. Test scores obtained before and after the lecture were compared. The results demonstrated that scores on both scales improved significantly. The present study suggests the effectiveness of this type of educational program in reducing stigma attached to mental illness and disorder.

The Treatment Initiation program: An intervention to improve depression outcomes in older adults
This pilot study tests the usefulness of the Treatment Initiation Program (TIP) to improve depression in older adults. The TIP is an individualized, early intervention to address older adults? attitudes (e.g., perceived need for care and stigma) about depression and treatment.

The role of stigma in the quality of life of older adults with severe mental illness
This study was conducted to investigate whether stigmatisation of older adults with mental disorders is associated with the type of residential institution they live in or the type of disorder they suffer. It also assesses the role of stigma experiences in their quality of life.

A family's painful journey
This article discusses the issues faced in Maryland in seeking assistance for children with severe mental illness. It focuses on State budget cuts for wraparound mental health coverage. 

From stigma to discrimination: An analysis of community efforts to reduce the negative consequences of having a psychiatric disorder and label
This study reports the results of a first step national survey of noteworthy on-the-ground efforts to reduce the negative consequences of having a psychiatric disorder and label. The sample consists of nontraditional, innovative local efforts along with wellknown programs.

Changing middle schoolers' attitudes about mental illness through education
An article discussing the effectiveness of a curriculum supplement for middle school assessing their knowledge and attitudes about mental illness.

Position statement on employment and rehabilitation for persons with severe psychiatric disabilities
The position statement, developed by NASMHPD, encouraged the integration of employment and recovery goals with service delivery to individuals with mental illnesses. The NASMHPD concluded that State mental health agencies should work to develop tools for appropriate evaluation of plan success in moving covered individuals into employment or partial employment settings.

Mental health: culture, race, and ethnicity: A supplement to Mental health: A report of the Surgeon General
This report is a supplement to the first ever Surgeon General's Report on Mental Health, Mental Health: A Report of the Surgeon General. This supplement covers the four most recognized racial and ethnic minority groups in the United States and the barriers to services that are encountered by persons of certain social and cultural groups.

Violence by people discharged from acute psychiatric inpatient facilities and by others in the same neighborhoods 
The public perception that mental disorder is strongly associated with violence drives both legal policy (eg, civil commitment) and social practice (eg, stigma) toward people with mental disorders. This study describes and characterizes the prevalence of community violence in a sample of people discharged from acute psychiatric facilities at 3 sites. At one site, a comparison group of other residents in the same neighborhoods also was assessed.  

American with Disabilities Act of 1990
The current text of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 [?ADA?], as amended.

Helping people with severe mental illness to obtain work: Systematic review
This research paper explores possibilities for helping people with severe mental illness obtain competitive employment without the intervention of a job placement program. Resulting data and outcomes are based on a systematic review of earlier studies conducted on mental illness and employment.

Landmark mental health ADA case settled
An article in which a legal case is discussed and its ramifications on the llives of individuals with mental illnesess. A partner in the litigation group stated that "?this is a landmark case because it shows that all disabilities, including those involving mental health, are to be respected and provided the same accommodations allowed for by law."

Affordable, appropriate, integrated housing
In this report, the authors address the housing needs common to many people with disabilities. In particular, they address the need for: affordable housing; supportive, person-centered housing services; and accessible, integrated housing.

Consumer experience of stigma: A national survey
This article summarizes the results of a nationwide survey of 1,301 mental health consumers concerning their experience of stigma and discrimination.

Danforth residents cool to project group plans to build housing for people with mental illness
A brief article describing the life of an individual with mental illness and her struggles to find appropriate housing.

Child and adolescent mental health: Recommendations for improvement by state mental health commissions
Between June, 1997, and October, 2001, commissions in 13 states issued reports on the status of mental health in their state, and needed improvements. The National Association of State Mental Health Program Directors and Louis de la Parte Florida Mental Health Institute convened a meeting in 2002, to review the findings from these commission reports for the purpose of identifying their primary policy implications both at the federal and state level of government. This brief manuscript specifically focuses on the findings and recommendations with regard to children and adolescents, and their families.

Data trends, summaries of research on mental health services for children and adolescents and their families. No. 60
This article presents the results of a study of premature termination patterns among residents of the United States and Ontario using mental health services.

Children trapped by gaps in treatment of mental illness
A brief article in which the author addresses the need to close "the gap in mental health care," which "requires changes in attitudes and development of resources by all who care for children - families, schools, communities, health care agencies, the government, and children themselves."

Employers, insurers integrate benefits
A brief article in which the writer discusses how psychologists are helping employers to integrate disability, health and employee-assistance program benefits into the workplace.

Separate and unequal: The struggle of tenants with mental illness to maintain housing
This article assesses the current state of the law and challenges poverty and disability advocates to marshal new resources and arguments in an effort to secure full tenancy rights for These consumers.

Getting from NIMBY to yes: How developers can overcome opposition and mobilize support for multifamily housing 
An article that explains how developers can address opposition to the development of multi-family housing, specifically providing tips for reducing opposition from citizens and mobilizing community support for a project.

Mental health in the workplace
This paper discusses the findings of a series of country studies completed by the International Labour Office which examined legislative, policy and programme measures introduced in Finland, Germany, Poland, United States to address the challenge. The studies will assist in developing policy and enterprise-specific programmes which address the prevention of mental health problems and the promotion of good mental health practices and rehabilitation services.

People with psychiatric disabilities, employment, and the Americans with Disabilities Act: Turning policy into practice
This is a report of the proceedings of a two-day roundtable discussion on "People with Psychiatric Disabilities, Employment and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)" held in January 1995.

President's New Freedom Commission on Mental Health
The Commission?s mission was to study the United States mental health service delivery system, including both private and public sector providers. The Commission advised the President on methods to improve the system. The Commission?s goal was to recommend improvements that will enable adults with a serious mental illness and children with a serious emotional disturbance to live, work, learn, and participate fully in their communities.

Importance of language in mental health
An opinion article discussing how incorrect language usage can be damaging towards individuals with mental illnesses.

O'Clair family, advocates kick-off Timothy's Law campaign
A press release discussing the campaign kick-off to enact legislation that would end the discrimination faced by thousands of individuals living with mental illness and chemical dependency throughout New York State.

Housing and mental health: Reducing housing difficulties for people with mental illness
This paper outlines key issues in housing provision for people with serious mental illness and suggests a policy framework. It draws on the limited research available on the housing needs of people with mental illness and on information available from the mental health sector. It is intended to generate discussion and better understanding of the issues in the mental health and housing sectors.

Cultural diversity series: Meeting the mental health needs of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender persons. Executive summary
This report provides basic information regarding common mental health concerns of GLBT persons to aid in the development of culturally competent mental health services and supports.

NIMBY and housing for the mentally ill
The third installment of an NPR series on finding homes for people who need support and services. The journalist visits a Pittsburgh, PA neighborhood that feels squeezed between its own needs -- and its duty to others.

Real shame
People with psychiatric disabilities often are shunned. Ensconced in a separate array of interventions that are isolating and insulating, people with psychiatric disabilities also can be discredited with a mental-health specific language. This essay asks the mental health leadership to help align psychiatric disability with other disabilities. The author suggests relational advocacy, advocacy that does not disparage people who experience mood swings, fear, voices and visions.

Mental health parity -policy action across the states
Many States have enacted some form of mental health parity legislation, but many of the laws fail to provide adequate coverage, according to the Surgeon General's recent report on mental health. This report reviews mental health parity laws in States across the country.

Traditional neighborhoods without traditional NIMBYism
Brief article outlining the various types of opposition that may be encountered when developing new neighborhoods, as a means of assisting in the creation of an outreach campaign to specifically address the needs of the community.

Challenging two mental illness stigmas: Personal responsibility and dangerousness
This study set out to examine path models that explain how these attitudes lead to discriminatory behavior and to assess the impact of antistigma programs on components of personal responsibility and dangerousness models.

What factors explain how policy makers distribute resources to mental health services?
Advocates hope to influence the resource allocation decisions of legislators and other policy makers to capture more resources for mental health programs. Findings from social psychological research suggest factors that, if pursued, may improve advocacy efforts. In particular, allocation decisions are affected by policy makers' perceptions of the scarcity of resources, effectiveness of specific programs, needs of people who have problems that are served by these programs, and extent of personal responsibility for these problems. These perceptions are further affected by political accountability, that is, whether politicians perceive that their constituents will closely monitor their decisions. Just as the quality of clinical interventions improves when informed by basic research on human behavior, the efforts of mental health advocates will be advanced when they understand the psychological forces that affect policy makers' decisions about resources. 

Prevalence, severity, and unmet need for treatment of mental disorders in the World Health Organization World Mental Health surveys
Little is known about the extent or severity of untreated mental disorders, especially in less-developed countries. This study estimates prevalence, severity, and treatment of Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition (DSM-IV) mental disorders in 14 countries (6 less developed, 8 developed) in the World Health Organization (WHO) World Mental Health (WMH) Survey Initiative.

Student mental health: Secondary education no more
A brief article discussing the increase in students who are reporting more mental health problems and how college campuses are responding to the growing need.