Summary

Modern community psychiatry provides public sector psychiatric services to populations in efficient yet cost-effective ways. Increasingly, psychiatrists are applying the same methods and principles in the private sector as better organized managed systems of care are evolving. This book responds to this new interest by providing a thorough examination of community psychiatry. It places modern mental health services in their historical context, describes the methods and programs used to provide such services, and emphasizes integration between service components. With contributions from some of the foremost authorities in the field of psychiatry, the book discusses the public health principles that underlie community approaches, and present the methods used within the several components of a comprehensive service system in order to address the needs of specific populations, stressing interdisciplinary teamwork and coordination within an integrated service network. In addressing target populations, whether they be the residents of specific geographic areas, or special populations such as homeless people or AIDS victims, community psychiatry deals not only with interactions between clinicians and patients but also with the systems that enable these interactions and services to be provided effectively. In modern community psychiatry, success, measured by cost-effectiveness rather than by its faithfulness to any particular theoretical model, is achieved through interdisciplinary teamwork and the involvement of consumers. This book describes the history of public mental health services and the scientific underpinnings of modern community psychiatry in epidemiology, mental health services research and administration. It will be of interest to those in the field of psychiatry interested in the methods and strategies used to provide the range of services that constitute a comprehensive mental health porogram.