Experiences of Mental Health In-patient Care ─ Narratives from Service Users, Carers and Professionals

Commended in the Mental Health category of the 2008 BMA Medical Book Competition.

This book offers an insight into the experience of psychiatric in-patient care, from both a professional and a user perspective. The editors highlight the problems in creating therapeutic environments within settings which are often poorly resourced, crisis driven and risk aversive.

The contributors argue that for change to occur there needs first of all to be a genuine appreciation of the experiences of those involved in the unpredictable, anxiety-arousing and sometimes threatening environment of the psychiatric ward. Each chapter comprises a personal account of in-patient care by those in the front line: people who have been admitted to a psychiatric ward; their relatives; or those that provide the care. These accounts are followed by two commentaries written from different perspectives, suggesting lessons that can be learnt to improve the quality of care.

Experiences of Mental Health In-patient Care will be useful for all mental health professionals, including mental health nurses, psychiatrists, clinical psychologists, occupational therapists, arts therapists, social workers and trainees, as well as service users and carers organisations.

Mark Hardcastle is a consultant nurse with Sussex Partnership (NHS) Trust and a Visiting Fellow at the University of Brighton.

David Kennard is a clinical psychologist and group analyst, formerly Head of Psychology at The Retreat, York, and is Chair of ISPS UK.

Sheila Grandison is the Head of Arts Therapies at East London and The City Mental Health NHS Trust.

Leonard Fagin retired in 2006 as an NHS consultant psychiatrist and Clinical Director at North East London Mental Health NHS Trust and is an Honorary Senior Lecturer at University College London.