Breaking Out of the Mainstream: The Evolution of Peer Support Alternatives to the Mental Health System

2008 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 146-162 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexandra L. Adame ◽  
Larry M. Leitner

The consumer/survivor/ex-patient (c/s/x) movement has been instrumental in the development of a variety of peer-support alternatives to traditional mental health services in both the United States in Canada. This article explores the role of the c/s/x movement in the creation of such alternatives and discusses the various ways peer support is defined and has been put into practice. We also discuss the potential for future alliances and dialogues between progressive mental health professionals and the c/s/x movement as both groups seek ways to reconceptualize mental illness and recovery outside of the medical model paradigm.

2020 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher Pudlinski

This study stems from an interest in peer support talk, an underexplored area of research, and in how supportive actions such as formulated summaries function in comparison to more professional healthcare settings. Using conversation analysis, this study explores 35 instances of formulations within 65 calls to four different ‘warm lines’, a term for peer-to-peer telephone support within the community mental health system in the United States. Formulations can be characterized across two related axes: client versus professional perspective, and directive versus nondirective. The findings show that formulations within peer support were overwhelmingly nondirective, in terms of meeting institutional agendas to let callers talk. However, formulations ranged from client-oriented ones that highlight or repeat caller reports to those which transform caller reports through integrating past caller experiences or implicit caller emotions. These tactics are found to have similarities to how formulations function in professional healthcare settings.


2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 621-627 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonathan Rottenberg ◽  
Andrew R. Devendorf ◽  
Vanessa Panaite ◽  
David J. Disabato ◽  
Todd B. Kashdan

Can people achieve optimal well-being and thrive after major depression? Contemporary epidemiology dismisses this possibility, viewing depression as a recurrent, burdensome condition with a bleak prognosis. To estimate the prevalence of thriving after depression in United States adults, we used data from the Midlife Development in the United States study. To count as thriving after depression, a person had to exhibit no evidence of major depression and had to exceed cutoffs across nine facets of psychological well-being that characterize the top 25% of U.S. nondepressed adults. Overall, nearly 10% of adults with study-documented depression were thriving 10 years later. The phenomenon of thriving after depression has implications for how the prognosis of depression is conceptualized and for how mental health professionals communicate with patients. Knowing what makes thriving outcomes possible offers new leverage points to help reduce the global burden of depression.


2019 ◽  
Vol 56 (4) ◽  
pp. 614-625
Author(s):  
Marina Economou ◽  
Lily Evangelia Peppou ◽  
Konstantinos Kontoangelos ◽  
Alexandra Palli ◽  
Irene Tsaliagkou ◽  
...  

Peyote Effect ◽  
2018 ◽  
pp. 11-22
Author(s):  
Alexander S. Dawson

In this chapter, we consider the moment when European and American scientists “discovered” peyote. John Briggs was one of the first Americans to write about peyote (in 1887), followed shortly by James Mooney, who recounted his experiences among the Kiowa of Oklahoma at the Anthropological Association in Washington DC in 1891. Around this time, the German scientist Louis Lewin encountered peyote while on a trip to the United States. Americans proved less adept at unlocking the chemistry of the cactus than their German counterparts, who identified four different alkaloids in the cactus by the mid-1890s. This period also saw notable studies of peyote by investigators in the United Kingdom, including some fairly dramatic self-experimentation among English intellectuals overseen by Havelock Ellis. Though their work did not yield widely accepted breakthroughs, these researchers were early pioneers in the exploration of the use of peyote and then mescaline as a tool for mental health professionals.


2018 ◽  
Vol 54 (6) ◽  
pp. 745-753 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiaoming Lin ◽  
Robert Rosenheck ◽  
Bin Sun ◽  
Guojun Xie ◽  
Guhua Zhong ◽  
...  

2018 ◽  
Vol 25 (2) ◽  
pp. 101-109 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cyrus S.H. Ho ◽  
Tian Ci Quek ◽  
Roger C.M. Ho ◽  
Carol C. Choo

SUMMARYTerrorism is a complex problem that is highly relevant in contemporary society, underscoring the need for greater understanding as well as cross-disciplinary and international research in this area. Controversies surround potential associations between mental illness and terrorism, many due to the limited and conflicting existing research, and mental health professionals’ duties to their patients versus society and the state. In this article, we review the literature, discuss clinical implications and the role of psychiatrists in anti-terrorism efforts. We also propose a simplified framework that may be incorporated into clinical practice to screen for potential terrorist tendencies.LEARNING OBJECTIVES•Understand the landscape and recent advances in the research of terrorism•Appreciate the importance and role of mental health professionals in preventing patients from engaging in terrorist activities•Understand how to assess risk of patients engaging in terrorist activitiesDECLARATION OF INTERESTNone.


2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 187-189 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chih-Hung Ko ◽  
Ju-Yu Yen

AbstractThe global coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak has necessitated physical distancing, lockdown, contact tracing, and self-quarantine so as to prevent the spread of the disease. Amid the outbreak, gaming data usage has reportedly increased in the United States, and game download volume has reached a record high in Europe. Because gaming can be used to cope with the psychological stress from the outbreak, therefore mental health professionals should be aware of how increased gaming during the pandemic may contribute to risk of gaming disorder, especially if the pandemic persists. Mental health professionals should thus formulate safe social interaction alternatives for people, particularly adolescents, who have gaming disorder risk.


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