Book Review: Mental Health in the Mainstream
| Date | 01 March 2006 |
| Published date | 01 March 2006 |
| Pages | 42-44 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/13619322200600011 |
| Author | Selvaraj Vincent |
| Subject Matter | Health & social care |
Book Review
Mental Health in the Mainstream
Jennifer Rankin
London: Institute for Public Policy Research,
2005
he last 10 years have seen a growing
number of reports on the national and global burden
of mental health and we are currently witnessing
major initiatives in service reorganisation in the
United Kingdom under the mental health reform
agenda of the present government. These service
reorganisations have been mainly propelled by policy
makers adopting a top-down and prescriptive
approach geared towards risk management and tertiary
care. Mental Health in the Mainstream, by Jennifer
Rankin, from the Institute of Public Policy Research
in association with Rethink, adds new perspectives to
current thinking in mental health service reforms.
The reporthas an important and welcome focus on
the promotion of the mental health of the community
which tends not to receive its fair share of attention
from policy makers and budget holders where, as in
any other areas of health, sights seem to be set on
tertiary care provision. Mental health promotion can
have a significant impact in achieving community
resilience, just as a fit and productive society can be
achieved by promoting physical activity and healthy
eating. The report portrays mental health promotion
as partof the wider social agenda rather than limited
to the health agenda.
Asecond welcome aspect of the reportis that it
draws its policy recommendations from original
qualitative research, the Mental Health in the
Mainstream project, conducted by Rethink with 13
service users and 20 carers. This user/carer
involvement is now recognised to be an essential
component of all aspects of mental health service
development and delivery, and it is gratifying to see
policy being put into practice.
The first part of the report presents a utopian
vision of a community in the year 2025, where services
seem to co-ordinate with each other with silken
Tsmoothness and with the precision of Swiss clocks. It
then proceeds to give a detailed account of the scale of
mental health problems and attitudes to mental ill
health. The second part of the report provides a
comprehensive account of the trends in current
policies for mental health with references to most of
the recent policy documents and a separate chapter
dedicated to social inclusion. This section gives a
glimpse of the current thinking and direction in
mental health policies and their role in achieving the
utopian dream.
The third part of the report devotes its attention to
the future of mental health based on the five guiding
themes: targeted universalism, public health, social
inclusion, rights-based mental health and
personalisation. This section is verybrief and does not
expand adequately on issues raised in previous
sections. The themes intuitively make sense but it is
unclear as to how these themes will translate into the
utopian vision presented for mental health services in
2025. It would have been interesting to know to what
extent these guiding principles informed the proposed
changes in UK mental health legislation. The report
ends with six policy recommendations that include a
role for access workers as alternatives to GPs,
extending the scope of direct payments and greater
access to non-pharmacological treatments.
The report’sfocus is limited to adults of working
age and it does not specifically address the mental
health issues relating to children and older people.
The visions for the future of health and social
development both nationally and internationally – for
example, the UK government’svarious health-related
targets and the United Nations’ Millennium
Development Goals – tend to remain as mere wish-
lists since insufficient thought is given to social,
political, economic and demographic changes over the
course of time. While addressing such issues may be
beyond the scope of this report, thereis one important
42 The Mental Health Review Volume 11 Issue 1 March 2006 ©Pavilion Publishing (Brighton) 2006
To continue reading
Request your trial