Publisher's Synopsis
Investigating a range of key issues surrounding mental health and race, this book is the first to bring together analysis in this field from a wide variety of disciplines outside psychiatry. The contributors systematically review the literature in each discipline with relevance to the phenomena observed in the interaction between ethnic minorities and all aspects of psychiatry. Attempts are made to objectively evaluate the strength of evidence behind common opinions and assumptions and to identify current issues and future research needs. Furthermore, both qualitative and quantitative research approaches and paradigms not traditionally used in this field are explored. The topics covered by this book are of crucial importance, given current concerns about the polarization of views between service providers and black people and the disproportionate and coercive inception and experience of black people within psychiatric systems. Indeed, black people are over-represented in every situation in the UK where the mode of entry is compulsory - from prisons to psychiatric hospitals and secure establishments run by the social services. It is therefore essential that the issues of mental health and race addressed in this book be carefully examined by researchers, practitioners and politicians alike.
