Ethical Issues in Mental Health

✍ Scribed by David Brandon (auth.), Philip J. Barker PhD, Steve Baldwin PhD (eds.)

• Publisher: Springer US
• Year: 1991
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 217
• Edition: 1
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

Why write another book on ethics? As practitioners we are involved both in the design and delivery of services to people with mental health problems. In common with all other professionals, our work has led to the experience of ethical dilemmas: typically, these have involved major confrontations, either with our col­ leagues or our consciences. This book, however, is not limited to a discussion of such major themes. Rather, we have tried to use a broader canvas: ethics, in our view, is really about the judgement of right and wrong in ordinary, everyday life. Ethics are highly personal: we fashion our own personal code from our experi­ ence of others, and from the 'tests' which bring meaning to our lives. Such experiences shape our individual values. We bring these codes and values to our work. We are not always aware of their influence in our dealings with people. Although we may not always be aware of it, all our actions pose an ethical question. Given that our work involves us in helping others to live ordinary, satisfying lives, this challenge heightens the intensity of our ethical dilemmas. This is most evident where our personal code conflicts with the implicit code of the health setting.

✦ Table of Contents

Front Matter....Pages i-xvi
Front Matter....Pages 1-1
User power....Pages 3-12
The nature of morality....Pages 13-26
Ideological themes in mental health nursing....Pages 27-44
Front Matter....Pages 45-45
Psychiatry: on its best behaviour....Pages 47-67
Ethical issues in work with older people....Pages 68-83
Working with people with a mental handicap....Pages 84-99
Front Matter....Pages 101-101
Autonomy and mental health....Pages 103-126
The consequences of service planning in mental health nursing....Pages 127-147
Ethics and clinical practice: a behavioural analysis....Pages 148-160
Change not adjustment: the ethics of psychotherapy....Pages 161-178
Front Matter....Pages 179-179
Putting the service to rights....Pages 181-197
In search of ethical parameters....Pages 198-201
Back Matter....Pages 202-205

✦ Subjects

Psychiatry; History of Medicine