Editorial
| Pages | 2-3 |
| Date | 01 October 2007 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/13619322200700022 |
| Published date | 01 October 2007 |
| Author | Mark Freestone |
| Subject Matter | Health & social care |
Editorial
COVAID Programme – that is still under iterative
development but which has shown promising
results for impulsive drinkers in early studies.
She also draws some interesting sociological
conclusions about the attitude of young male
drinkers to their problematic behaviour.
Taking a more broad,policy-level focus, Paul
Greenwood, Tony Ryan, John Keaveny and Ripu Deo
explore the implementation of the UK government’s
New Ways of Working documents in providing
integrated service delivery between the NHS and the
independent sectors. An excellent counterpoint to this
is provided by the second of our international papers,
from Irene Cant from the York,Ontario, Support
Services Network, who reflects on her involvement
in the delivery of the ’Second Family’ intervention:
a networked approach for a ’joined-up’ service
featuring psychiatric, legal and social services that
draws on concepts from family therapy in its provision
of ongoing support for service users. Both papers thus
have interesting implications for the situation in the
UK, where gaps between providers often mean that
many service users fall out of touch or ’through the
cracks’ following discharge from interventions.
Continuing the question of integrated models
of service delivery, Piyal Sen and Deji Adeleke from
Priory Secure Services consider the impact and
implications of the ongoing media interest in forensic
facilities; in particular,the ’folk devils’ mythology that
tends to be purveyed by the popular press in relation
to such services. Their paper provides a consideration
of the media impact on a private-sector forensic unit,
and elaborates a local strategy for dealing with the
media in a collaborative and managed fashion.
Finally, our third international contribution comes from
JK Trivedi, Puneet Narang and Mohan Dhyani,three
psychiatrists from the south Asia region who guide us
through the challenges faced by the developing world
in trying to work with outdated or,in 67% of south
Asian countries, non-existent mental health legislation.
We sincerely hope you find this second issue of
the new Mental Health Review Journal as stimulating
to read as it was for us to compile. We hope that the
standard of the papers published here demonstrates
that our policy of printing unsolicited content has in
no way compromised the quality of the journal, and
has indeed moved it towards a perspective that is
both balanced and inclusive.
Mark Freestone Co-editor
In October 2007, the Department of Health
announced a programme of investment in
psychological therapies, primarily cognitive-behavioural
therapy (CBT), amounting to £170 million over the
next three years and – in the words of the health
secretary – building capacity to treat another 900,000
patients suffering from depression and anxiety.
Yet the response to this announcement in the
public sphere has been a cautious one. Not only
does the government’s spending plan fail to improve
support for complex and chronic mental health
conditions, such as the spectrum of durable and
treatment-resistant difficulties that we currently know
as ’personality disorders’, but there are accusations
that the value of the cognitive-behavioural model
itself has been over-emphasised, particularly in terms
of its ability to treat the underlying causes of acute
mental health problems. A recent editorial in The
Guardian described this programme as the herald of
a new ’dark age’ for mental health, in which people
suffering from depression are given a CBT ’sticking
plaster’ for their symptoms and returned to work
with no greater insight into the aetiology of their
condition. Consequently, it is now more critical than
ever that resources are given to developing a realistic
evidence base that can answer questions about what
works, for whom, and under what conditions for the
vast alphabet soup of talking therapies currently
present throughout healthcare services in the UK.
In this issue of the Mental Health Review Journal,
we have a spread of papers considering not only the
psychological impacts of a number of new
therapeutic interventions, but also the legislative and
social climates within which these treatments are
delivered. Andy Bickle opens the issue with a
consideration of the forensic aspects of mental
capacity and ’fitness to plead’ of mentally disordered
individuals charged with serious offences.
In one of three papers we are delighted to include
from authors based outside the UK, Paul Falzer from
the University of Yale develops the sociological
concept of ’social capital’ – that is, the ability of an
individual to draw on his or her social networks for
support – within a public health context. His cautious
formulation between two of the most prominent
understandings of the concept serves to underline
the challenges in importing sociological ideas into
a practical policy context.
Mary McMurran details a cognitive behavioural
intervention for violent misusers of alcohol – the
Mental Health Review Journal Volume 12 Issue 3 October 2007 © Pavilion Journals (Brighton) Ltd
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