May is Mental Health Awareness Month!
Millions of people suffer from mental health conditions and disorders. Since the start of the pandemic in 2020, many more have felt the effects of stress and isolation. During the month of May, take some time to acknowledge the importance of mental health and mental health issues during these uncertain times.
This online display includes free and library resources (eBooks, streaming videos, and links) related to Mental Health Awareness Month. It will be updated as resources become available. You are invited to email suggestions or recommendations.
Help Yourself Towards Mental Health by
This book explores how an individual can help themselves resolve a wide variety of ordinary, everyday life problems and improve their mental health. It is designed as a self-help aid for people with depression, anxiety, or with issues of low self-esteem.
Voices in the History of Madness by
This book presents new perspectives on the multiplicity of voices in the histories of mental ill-health. In the thirty years since Roy Porter called on historians to lower their gaze so that they might better understand patient-doctor roles in the past, historians have sought to place the voices of previously silent, marginalised and disenfranchised individuals at the heart of their analyses. Today, the development of service-user groups and patient consultations have become an important feature of the debates and planning related to current approaches to prevention, care and treatment. This edited collection of interdisciplinary chapters offers new and innovative perspectives on mental health and illness in the past and covers a breadth of opinions, views, and interpretations from patients, practitioners, policy makers, family members and wider communities. Its chronology runs from the early modern period to the twenty-first century and includes international and transnational analyses from Europe, North America, Asia and Africa, drawing on a range of sources and methodologies including oral histories, material culture, and the built environment. Chapter 4 is available open access under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License via link.springer.com.
Creativity, Wellbeing and Mental Health Practice by
This book argues that some aspects of mental health practice have become mechanical, joyless and uninspiring, leading to a loss of creativity and wellbeing. A high level of wellbeing is essential to mental health and contemporary mental health care - and creativity is at the heart of this. A greater awareness of everyday creativity, the arts and creative approaches to mental health practice, learning and leadership can help us reinvent and reinvigorate mental health care. This, combined with a clearer understanding of the complex concept of wellbeing, can enable practitioners to adopt fresh perspectives and roles that can enrich their work. Creativity and wellbeing are fundamental to reducing occupational stress and promoting professional satisfaction. Introducing a new model of creative mental health care combined with recommendations for wellbeing, Creativity, Wellbeing and Mental Health Practice is a practical, evidence-based book for students, practitioners and researchers in mental health nursing and related disciplines.
Broken Spirits by
Mental health problems among asylum seekers and refugees are becoming a public issue, but awareness of this problem among the mental health community is relatively low. Although advances have been made in the provision of innovative mental health services for asylum seekers and refuges with PTSD, they are not systemized, and not widely known to professionals in the field. A publication offering practical guidelines for the treatment of torture victims and political refugees does not exist. Broken Spirits aims to bring together the works of the most respected mental health professionals - from the U.S. and abroad - and make available the most current knowledge on complex PTSD, forced migration and cultural sensitivity in diagnosis and treatment.
International Perspectives on Traumatic Stress by
Traumatic stress caused by violence, terror, natural disasters, political conflicts and poverty a partial list by far is a public health concern of alarming magnitude, affecting all. The long-term effects of exposure to these experiences, especially the concept of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), has been studied extensively and used internationally. The investigation of questions about the universality of PTSD and its applicability across cultural boundaries yielded fascinating work on the ethno-cultural aspects of PTSD as well as its presentation in specific cultural groups. However, a gap in knowledge still remains in regards to the potential differences and variations in the meaning and perception of trauma, the impact of extreme adversity, and its resolution and management. It all falls outside the construct of PTSD and from the point-of view-of other cultures. This edited book addresses theoretical and practical issues central to the field of traumatic stress from diverse cultural perspectives and provides a valuable resource for a broad audience of researchers and clinicians. The purpose of this book is to draw attention to issues concerning trauma and culture that are outside of the current accepted psychiatric conceptualizations, especially PTSD. The chapters included in this volume represent carefully selected examples of topics. Some elucidate the multi-faceted and dynamic resources that cultures bring forth to the perception of trauma, adjustment, coping, and recovery efforts, while others shed light on the essential contribution of cultural factors to the understanding of trauma, needs and treatment. Our hope is that these examples can be generalized and applied to all work on trauma.
The School of Wellbeing by
As rates of depression, anxiety, self-harm and eating disorders are on the up among young people, how can schools provide appropriate information and support for the young people in their classrooms? How can they bridge the gap between what they know matters - the impact of these issues on learning and life-long health - and the mounting day-to-day priorities and pressures of school life? This book provides unique insight into 12 projects that are helping to answer these questions and supporting teachers to make mental health and emotional wellbeing a key player in the school day. With a mix of longer-term initiatives and simple strategies that schools can put in place immediately, it explores mentoring and mindfulness, social action and sport, Lego play and poetry, the power of parents and the role of PSHE. It describes how these projects work practically and shares the impact they are having, increasing resilience and raising the aspirations and emotional wellbeing of the whole school community. As well as showcasing ideas that are making a difference, the book meets with the education leaders and charities behind the initiatives (including Place2Be, Step up to Serve, Kidscape, Mosaic, Diversity Role Models, Beat, Achievement for All and others) who offer advice and signpost useful information to support readers in getting these ideas off the ground in their schools. This book is a source of inspiration for headteachers, senior leadership teams, pastoral care teams, school counsellors and psychologists.
Positive Balance by
The book provides a new theory of well-being designed to integrate many disparate concepts of well-being, such as subjective well-being, personal happiness, mental well-being, emotional well-being, psychological well-being, hedonic well-being, social well-being, life satisfaction, domain satisfaction, and eudaimonia. It lays the foundation for a new a theory of mental well-being based on a hierarchical perspective of positive mental health and guided by the concept of positive balance. Written by a well-known expert in the field, this book addresses the issue of positive balance related to physiological, emotional, cognitive, meta-cognitive, developmental and social-ecological levels of an individual and analyses the factors at each level that contribute to an individual's positive mental health experience. It discusses in detail the effects of neurochemicals such as dopamine, serotonin, or cortisol; positive and negative affect; satisfaction in salient and multiple life domains vis-à-vis dissatisfaction in life domains; positive versus negative evaluations about one's life using certain standards of comparison; positive psychological traits of personal growth and intrinsic motivation, etc. vis-à-vis negative traits like pessimism and impulsiveness; and perceived social resources like social contribution and social actualization vis-à-vis perceived constraints like exclusion and ostracism. This original work is of interest to students, researchers and practitioners of quality of life and wellbeing studies, positive psychology, developmental psychology and mental health..
Insight and Psychosis: Awareness of Illness in Schizophrenia and Related Disorders by
The insight a patient shares into their own psychosis is fundamental to their condition - it goes to the heart of what we understand 'madness' to be. Can a person be expected to accept treatment for a condition that they deny they have? Can a person be held responsible for their actions if those actions are inspired by their own unique perceptions and beliefs - beliefs that no-one else shares? The topic of insight in schizophrenia and related disorders has become a major focus of research in psychiatry and psychology. It has important clinical implications in terms of outcome, treatment adherence, competence, and forensic issues. In order to study 'insight' a broad perspective is required. This involves applying knowledge from the cognitive and brain sciences, as well as from philosophy and the social sciences. "Insight and Psychosis" comprises a series of in-depth, well-referenced, scholarly overviews from each of these perspectives with a strong empirical foundation - including in some cases the presentation of new data and meta-analysis of the published literature. These are integrated and synthesised by the editors, both acknowledged experts in the field.; The scope is truly international and spans theoretical perspectives, clinical practice, and consumer views. The book will act as a source for students and researchers interested in pursuing any number of questions and controversies around lack of insight and awareness, and will guide clinical psychologists and psychiatrists who seek a broader view of the many facets of insight that might arise during their day-to-day work.
50 Activities for Managing Stress by
A great collection of 50 training activities designed to help managers and employeesaunderstand the sources of workplace stress, types of stress, ahow stress effects performance and most importantly - how to better manage stress."
Counselling for Stress Problems by
A welcome addition to the series. The co-authors... have endeavoured to give a thorough and practical guide to this vast subject and they have managed to do this within the confines of an easy to read, cheap and relatively short paperback... a very useful practical volume for the general counsellor to have on her book shelf' - "Counselling, The Journal of the British Association for Counselling " This comprehensive guide views stress counselling and management from a multimodal perspective. Clear guidelines show practitioners how they can give their clients the most effective help for their stress problems using a technically eclectic and systematic approach. The authors discuss the symptoms and
