David Harper

Paula Reavey

John Cromby

This core text explores the complex web of factors interacting in cases of mental distress. Aligned with current mental health practice, its innovative approach integrates evidence with critique and fully covers the debates raised in abnormal psychology courses.

Psychology, Mental Health and Distress

What does the word 'schizophrenia' mean to you? Perhaps your first thought is of someone with a medical condition that involves some kind of brain disease? But what if you knew that the person in question had been through a traumatic childhood? Would that change how you thought about their mental health? And what impact does this have on how we as a society interact with people with mental distress? Psychology, Mental Health and Distress is the first mainstream textbook that reconsiders the traditional emphasis on the biological and psychiatric models for what is commonly, but contentiously, known as 'abnormal psychology' or 'psychopathology'. It provides a fully rounded account of mental distress, including social and relationship causes, and challenges your preconceptions about what you think you know about mental health. Key features: * Reflects new approaches to mental health and the kinds of psychological interventions (or 'treatments') for those experiencing distress, moving away from a limited diagnostic model * Offers a wealth of case stories to portray the reality of living with distress, building your empathy to encourage sensitive practice * Fully informed by current experimental, qualitative and theoretical psychological research including research into hearing voices * Written by a team of leading clinical and social psychologists with additional contributions by renowned figures including Richard Bentall, a bestselling Penguin author whose Madness Explained won the 2004 BPS Book Award * Includes a chapter authored by those with first-hand experience of mental health services, ensuring you understand the nuances of this emotionally charged, and often controversial, topic The authors draw from a range of experience, examples and approaches to present this student-friendly and engaging text: core reading for anyone serious about understanding mental health issues.

This comprehensive volume provides an unprecedented illustration of the potential for visual methods in psychology. Each chapter explores the set of theoretical, methodological, as well as ethical and analytical issues that shape the ways in which visual qualitative research is conducted in psychology. Using a variety of forms of visual data, including photography, documentary film-making, drawing, internet media, model making and collages, each author endeavors to broaden the scope for understanding experience and subjectivity, using visual qualitative methods. The contributors to this volume work within a variety of traditions including narrative psychology, personal construct theory, discursive psychology and conversation analysis, phenomenology and psychoanalysis. Each addresses how a particular visual approach has contributed to existing social and psychological theory in their topic area, and clearly outline how they carried out their specific research project. The contributors draw on qualitative sources of verbal data, such as spoken interview, diaries and naturalistic conversation alongside their use of visual material. This book provides a unique insight into the potential for combining methods in order to create new multi-modal methodologies, and it presents and analyses these with psychology specific questions in mind. The range of topics covered includes sexuality, identity, group processes, child development, forensic psychology, race, and gender, making this volume a vital contribution to psychology, sociology and gender studies.

Paula Reavey

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