Book Review: Mental Health: Global Policies and Human Rights
| Published date | 01 September 2004 |
| Pages | 42-42 |
| Date | 01 September 2004 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/13619322200400032 |
| Author | Andrew McCulloch |
| Subject Matter | Health & social care |
42 The Mental Health Review Volume 9 Issue 3 September 2004 ©Pavilion Publishing (Brighton) 2004
Book review
Mental Health: Global Policies and Human Rights
Peter Morrall and Mike Hazelton (Eds)
London: Whurr Publishers, 2004
his book shows how far we have come
and how far we still have to go at a variety of different
levels. It is a good example of how far editing and
publishing standards have deteriorated over the last 20
or 30 years. It does not address the issues it purports to
address on the back cover, at least to any great extent.
The blurb states that: ‘This book reviews mental
health policies across the world and their relationship
to the human rights of mentally disordered people.’ It
largely fails to do so.
Instead, the book consists of accounts of the
development of mental health policy in various
countries with only sideways glances at human rights.
It neglects both the service user and legal, political
and administrative perspectives that are fundamental
to understanding human rights and mental health. It is
extraordinary in this day and age that a book of this
type could be published with essays exclusively
written by mental health professionals. The book is
basically naive in both human rights and policy terms.
A second, less important deficit is the
unsatisfactory editing and proof-reading. There are
factual errors: for example, I imagine Cliff Prior would
be astonished to learn that Professor Sir David
Goldberg has got his job (p11). There is also
inadequate editing of the sometimes poor English of
often very good contributions by authors whose first
language is presumably not English.
Turning quickly to the merits of the book, it
provides a useful tour of international mental health
policy in England (not the UK as stated; the Mental
Health Act 1983, for example, does not apply to
Scotland, a fact acknowledged but not pursued in the
text), the United States, Australia, Italy, Egypt, India,
Brazil, Russia and Mozambique. There is also an essay
on the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners in
China but no description of the Chinese mental health
policy – again a possible editorial issue.
For me the book contains a number of highlights,
Tparticularly Okasha’s and Murthy’s useful and
sometimes humbling descriptions of policy and
services in Egypt and India respectively. The editors
are to be congratulated on obtaining two of the most
distinguished psychiatrists in developing countries to
share their thoughts (pace what I have already said). In
addition, parts of the chapters on the US, Brazil and
particularly Mozambique (by Valentini) provide
fascinating insights.
Other chapters are not as good, some because the
English is poorer. The chapter on China reads as
value-laden and way off target, although it highlights a
shocking abuse of human rights.
I have to say that despite reservations this is a
worthwhile and thought-provoking read. I was struck
by the fundamental similarity of many of the issues
faced across the world: de-institutionalisation, stigma,
the failure of the so-called medical model, care versus
control, the influence of local healers and belief
systems, resources, and making the rhetoric of rights
and social inclusion a reality.
Specifically, it is clear that no country, not even
Italy where despite all achievements my own
observations show that a strong medical and
institutional bias remains (even in Trieste), has
achieved a modern mental health service that
explicitly recognises the failures of the Victorian
institutions and of twentieth century medicine. It is
axiomatic that the new mental health service is about
enabling social inclusion. It is time to work that out in
practice. Some of these essays hint at the way forward
but we await the book which sets mental health policy
four-square within a human rights context and
recognises the very limited contribution of medicine
to improving the lives of people with mental health
problems.
Dr Andrew McCulloch
Chief Executive
The Mental Health Foundation
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