The decade of the 1980s has witnessed a rebirth of concern regarding the chronically mentally ill. The way mental health professionals view families of the chronically mentally ill has changed dramatically, largely because of the emergence of the biological theories of causation for schizophrenia. Innovative programs for families have included…

This presentation outlines the implications of psychiatric disability recovery for mental health systems and programs. Schizophrenia and other serious psychiatric disabilities have been viewed as irreversible illnesses with increasing disability over time. Mental health program planning, policies, and practices have been developed and implemented…

The relationship between schizophrenia and social change is examined through a review of recent medical research in genetics, biology, and epidemiology. Those mental traits that today in our society characterize the schizoprenic, in a previous era or in another society may have provided a mechanism for cultural change during the periods of stress…

This paper examines the major conflicts and stresses which surround the coming of age in rural Ireland today and which commonly contribute to mental breakdown. The study is based on ten months of participant observation in an Irish-speaking village of Southwest Kerry, combined with weekly visits to the county mental hospital. The author uses a…