The psychiatric profession must ensure that its next generation of leaders has the appropriate skills to provide mental health services in the face of globalization and urbanization, new technologies, and competing demands for shrinking resources. Developing leadership skills and leaders is critical in order to optimise the use of resources, their application, service planning and delivery of services for patients and their families. This is the first book on leadership (rather than management skills) to focus on psychiatry and mental health care. Contributions from international experts with clinical and non-clinical backgrounds pull together the theories and practical skills required to be a successful leader. The aim is to guide mental health professionals in general and psychiatrists in particular on how to gain the relevant skills and on how to utilise these skills and training to take on leadership roles in clinical and organisational settings. The book covers the role of the leader and the skills required for leadership, including chapters on communication, decision-making, team development, mentoring, gender issues in leadership, burnout and more. It includes a section on assessment tools and learning material. Essential reading for all those who aspire to lead in psychiatry!

The New York Times bestseller “A glistening psychological history, faceted largely by the biographies of eight famous leaders . . .” —The Boston Globe “A provocative thesis . . . Ghaemi’s book deserves high marks for original thinking.” —The Washington Post “Provocative, fascinating.” —Salon.com Historians have long puzzled over the apparent mental instability of great and terrible leaders alike: Napoleon, Lincoln, Churchill, Hitler, and others. In A First-Rate Madness, Nassir Ghaemi, director of the Mood Disorders Program at Tufts Medical Center, offers a myth-shattering exploration of the powerful connections between mental illness and leadership and sets forth a controversial, compelling thesis: The very qualities that mark those with mood disorders also make for the best leaders in times of crisis. From the importance of Lincoln's "depressive realism" to the lackluster leadership of exceedingly sane men as Neville Chamberlain, A First-Rate Madness overturns many of our most cherished perceptions about greatness and the mind.

This book both acknowledges the complexity emerging from the three main components of leadership--the leader, the led, and the environment--while providing a sound, foundational structure in which the complexity of this area of study can be better understood.

In mental health, as in other medical disciplines, the role of the professional is changing. The availability of information, enhanced roles of other healthcare professionals and changes in training have altered the doctor-patient relationship and left professionals accountable to the needs of clients, politicians, policy makers and funding agencies. This book seeks to redefine the professional role of the specialist mental health worker by bringing perspectives from leading experts from both developed and developing countries, and also from a wide range of professionals in the field of law, medical ethics, education and medical leadership. Uniquely, it also looks at the views of patients and next-generation psychiatrists. It will be of interest to those involved in providing mental healthcare as well as those responsible for health policy initiatives and training.