Main description:

In this timely analysis, Rich Moth assesses mental health services in a period of major change.
Based on extended fieldwork in community mental health services, he explores the many impacts of policy reform, marketisation and austerity on NHS mental health provision, and positions developments in the contexts of neoliberalism and an increased emphasis on individual responsibility.
Firmly rooted in the lived experiences of people using mental health services and the everyday practices of social workers, nurses and psychiatrists, he develops a stimulating perspective on how mental distress is understood and responded to within these settings.

Contents:

Introduction
Part 1: Socio-Historical Contexts of Policy and Practice
Chapter 1: Policy Responses to Mental Distress: From the Asylum to Neoliberal Services
Part 2: Lived Experiences of Neoliberal Reform
Chapter 2: The Transition from Relational to Informational Practice
Chapter 3: Time, Trust and Relational Practice
Chapter 4: Risk and Responsibilisation
Chapter 5: Defining Mental Distress
Chapter 6: Punitive Managerialism Under Austerity
Chapter 7: Shifting Contours of Managerial Control
Part 3: Theorising Knowledge and Practice
Chapter 8: Temporality and Situational Logics in the Labour Process
Chapter 9: Biomedical Residualism and its Discontents
Conclusion