Morality and mental health are now inseparably linked in our view of character. Alcoholics are sick, yet they are punished for drunk driving. Drug addicts are criminals, but their punishment can be court ordered therapy. The line between character flaws and personality disorders has become fuzzy, with even the seven deadly sins seen as mental disorders. In addition to pathologizing wrong-doing, we also psychologize virtue; self-respect becomes self-esteem, integrity becomes psychological integration, and responsibility becomes maturity. Moral advice is now sought primarily from psychologists and therapists rather than philosophers or theologians.In this wide-ranging, accessible book, Mike W. Martin asks: are we replacing morality with therapy, in potentially confused and dangerous ways, or are we creatively integrating morality and mental health? According to him, it's a little bit of both. He surveys the ways in which morality and mental health are related, touching on practical concerns like love and work, self-respect and self-fulfillment, guilt and depression, crime and violence, and addictions. Terming this integrative development "the therapeutic trend in ethics," Martin uses examples from popular culture, various moral controversies, and draws on a line of thought that includes Plato, the Stoics, Freud, Nietzsche, and contemporary psychotherapeutic theories. Martin develops some interesting conclusions, among them that sound morality is indeed healthy, and that moral values are inevitably embedded in our conceptions of mental health. In the end, he shows how both morality and mental health are inextricably intertwined in our pursuit of a meaningful life. This book will be of interest to philosophers, psychologists, psychiatrists, and sociologists, as well as the general reader.

The field of ethics is expanding and has assumed new significance as a compulsory part of study for psychiatrists and all mental health professionals. Ethics and Mental Health: The Patient, Profession and Community presents a new approach to these ethical dilemmas that have become an increasing part of modern practice. The book begins by exploring current normative theories of psychiatric ethics. It describes how empirical methods can make codes of conduct more representative of professional values. Considering their previous work, concepts of justice, and the moderate communitarian position, the authors outline their methodology, which argues that mental health professionals exist within a perpetual state of tension, caused by conflicts between the Hippocratic Oath, personal values, notions of social justice, and the potentially harmful influences of their social role. Applying their theory to the area of involuntary psychiatric treatment, the authors address the context of psychiatric practice and the moral agency of psychiatrists. They outline the different influences on the craft of psychiatry to better illustrate the diverse forces that impact moral deliberation and the practice of ethics in mental health. In doing so, they cover areas as diverse as cultural, economic, scientific, and political domains. The final section of the book applies the methodology to contemporary problems in mental health ethics, formulating how mental health clinicians can approach these quandaries. The book brings a new perspective to classic dilemmas from the past, to contemporary challenges, and in anticipation, to new concerns that will inevitably arise in a dynamic and complex professional context.

Mental health is the one area of health care where people are often treated against their will, with the justification that it is in their own interest. This raises significant ethical questions and value dilemmas; questions of autonomy, human rights, power and treatment. An understanding of how values matter is of vital importance across all disciplines working within the mental health field. This book provides a comprehensive and exploratory text for practitioners, students and all those interested in developing a knowledge of both ethics and the wider framework of values-based practice. It is unique in being fully co-written by authors representing both service user and service provider perspectives. This exciting new text will enable the mental health practitioner to work more co-productively with service users within a humane and just approach to care. With an emphasis on rights-based compassionate care throughout, this book: - Tackles the issues of how mental health is understood through key theoretical debates about mental distress, values and labelling; - Encourages readers to think critically about their understanding of key issues such as recovery, autonomy, power, knowledge, diagnoses and empathy; - Draws on a wide range of case examples and exercises to help readers deepen their knowledge of values-based practice and ethics in mental health.

This volume addresses gaps in the existing literature of global mental health by focusing on the ethical considerations that are implicit in discussions of health policy. In line with trends in clinical education around the world today, this text is explicitly designed to draw out the principles and values by which programs can be designed and policy decisions enacted. It presents an ethical lens for understanding right and wrong in conditions of scarcity and crisis, and the common controversies that lead to conflict. Additionally, a focus on the mental health response in “post-conflict” settings, provides guidance for real-world matters facing clinicians and humanitarian workers today. Global Mental Health Ethics fills a crucial gap for students in psychiatry, psychology, addictions, public health, geriatric medicine, social work, nursing, humanitarian response, and other disciplines.

Writing with clarity, coherence, and optimism, the authors summarize fundamental principles, enumerate essential skills, and review recent empirical findings in the overlapping areas of clinical ethics and psychiatry. Case illustrations, tables, and strategic lists enhance the book's 17 informative chapters.

Mental Health Ethics provides an overview of traditional and contemporary ethical perspectives and critically examines a range of ethical and moral challenges present in contemporary ‘psychiatric-mental’ health services.

This open access book offers essential information on values-based practice (VBP): the clinical skills involved, teamwork and person-centered care, links between values and evidence, and the importance of partnerships in shared decision-making. Different cultures have different values; for example, partnership in decision-making looks very different, from the highly individualized perspective of European and North American cultures to the collective and family-oriented perspectives common in South East Asia. In turn, African cultures offer yet another perspective, one that falls between these two extremes (called batho pele). The book will benefit everyone concerned with the practical challenges of delivering mental health services. Accordingly, all contributions are developed on the basis of case vignettes, and cover a range of situations in which values underlie tensions or uncertainties regarding how to proceed in clinical practice. Examples include the patient’s autonomy and best interest, the physician’s commitment to establishing high standards of clinical governance, clinical versus community best interest, institutional versus clinical interests, patients insisting on medically unsound but legal treatments etc. Thus far, VBP publications have mainly dealt with clinical scenarios involving individual values (of clinicians and patients). Our objective with this book is to develop a model of VBP that is culturally much broader in scope. As such, it offers a vital resource for mental health stakeholders in an increasingly inter-connected world. It also offers opportunities for cross-learning in values-based practice between cultures with very different clinical care traditions.