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The purpose of this study was to explore the role of family members in support of their relatives who are mentally ill and to develop guidelines for the support of mentally ill relatives by their families in a rural community. The research design was qualitative, explorative, descriptive and contextual. The research population consisted of families of mentally ill relatives collecting their monthly medications at the Jane Furse Gateway Clinic. Purposive sampling was used to draw the sample. Data was collected by individual in-depth semi-structured interviews that were tape-recorded. The study revealed that families provide physical, psychosocial, financial and developmental support to their relatives. Furthermore, families are faced with frustrations when providing support to their mentally ill relatives / Health Studies / M.A. (Health Studies)

This thesis examines the cultural and social history of Cardiff City Mental Hospital during the tenure of its first medical superintendent, Dr Edwin Goodall. When the hospital opened in 1908 the asylum movement was at a low point with numbers increasing and recovery rates falling. In spite of this Cardiff's new asylum opened with a spirit of great optimism and a belief that cures for mental disorders were possible. Two primary sources, previously undiscovered, are analysed. The first, the Medical Superintendent Letter Books, are examined and enable insights into the relationship between Dr Goodall and staff within the hospital, society beyond the hospital gates, the Commissioners for Lunacy and Board of Control, the Visiting Committee and the Board of Guardians for Cardiff. The second, the King Edward VII Hospital outpatient notes, give information about the foundation of an innovative approach to mental health care in the period outside of the confines of an asylum. The thesis examines the hospital from a number of perspectives: The relationship between the institution and Cardiff as a city; the role of the medical superintendent; the research conducted and gender relations among patients and staff. It is found that the hospital played a role in Cardiff's portrayal of itself as the Welsh metropolis and was surrounded by a semipermeable membrane allowing passage in both directions between itself and the local community. The role of the superintendent is discovered to have been one of negotiation and compromise rather than of authority. The research played little role in patient treatment yet was lauded by contemporaries but mostly lost to future generations. New light is shone on gender in terms of diagnosis of insanity and on the relationships between male and female staff. The thesis lays bare the culture of the institution in the early twentieth century and adds much to our knowledge of care of the mentally disordered in this period.

Magister Curationis - MCur / The current debate on knowledge, attitudes and perceptions of medical staff and the broader community towards mentally ill patients across the world is also quite extensive in South Africa. The literature on the subject matter demonstrates poor knowledge of mental illness in the general population and also indicates that people often have stigmatising attitudes towards mental illness. However, while most studies have explored the attitudes, perceptions and behaviour towards mentally ill patients with respect to various staff categories such as doctors, nurses, pharmacists, psychologist and the community globally and particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa, few studies have extended the analysis to include general assistants. Moreover, little research has been carried out on the knowledge, attitudes and perceptions towards mental illness and mentally ill patients of non-medical staff such as general assistants, who on a daily basis spend time with mentally health care users, ensuring hygiene in psychiatric hospitals in South Africa. This study intended to fill the gap by using a quantitative, descriptive approach encompassing a cross-sectional survey design to identify the level of basic mental health knowledge and determine attitudes and perceptions of general assistants towards mental illness and mentally ill patients in four government funded psychiatric hospitals in Cape Town, South Africa. A random sample of 124 was selected from the general assistants of the four psychiatric hospitals in Cape Town. The results established that the majority of General Assistants (75.6%) in all four psychiatric hospitals demonstrated fair basic mental health knowledge pertaining to mental illness and positive attitudes and perceptions towards mentally ill patients. Although the attitudes and perceptions are mostly positive, item analysis revealed that there are disparities in the results. One third of the general assistants find it stressful to work with mentally ill people. Others displayed frustration (30,1% ), mistrust (52%) and fear(12%). In addition, 82.9% of the general assistants like working with mentally ill people and the majority of the general assistants are comfortable working with mentally ill patients. The recommendation is that basic mental health awareness programmes or in-service training should be implemented for general assistants especially newly appointed general assistants to improve the knowledge and understanding, attitudes and perceptions of general assistants and to reduce fear and negative perceptions and attitudes in order to enhance positive patient experiences.

No description available.

Michel Foucault's archaeology of the silence of madness in the age of reason circumvents the discipline of psychiatry by refusing to contest the latter on its own terms. The success of Foucault's project of giving voice to the mad is achieved, however, at the expense of neglecting a long history of resistance to the silencing of madness, to which autobiographical writings by people said to be mad have contributed. The first phase of my dissertation focuses on mind-problem memoirs published since the late 1960s, a period in which an international psychiatric survivor movement has emerged. My readings of these memoirs examine how they elaborate ways of negotiating encounters with psychiatry in everyday life, and how they reveal the contingency of naturalized psychiatric practices. The second phase begins with the identification of certain questions that are not prominent among the concerns of political activists struggling to displace the psychiatric system. In the course of articulating a critique of narrative, I introduce the phrase "order of making sense" to describe a moral injunction—to respond and contribute to narrative reason—that acts as a regulative ideal. The third phase consists of fragmentary writing about personal experiences that, in spite of being framed by competing theoretical perspectives, destabilize boundaries. My increasing emphasis on the body, understood as a multiplicity of forces that are not amenable to the formation of coherent subjectivity, opens up the possibility of a revaluation of non-knowledge and the absence of work. The fourth phase concludes a dissertation whose unanticipated discontinuities are both caused by, and a mode of expression of, persistent mind problems. With the delineation of a post-Nietzschean aesthetic of the materialist sublime, the political strategies of psychiatric survivors, including my critique of narrative, are surpassed by the intensities of unproductive expenditure. Until mind problems are no longer pathologized as troubled being that stands in need of direction, the project of overcoming the condition of internal exile remains imperative. Yet it is the anti-project of exceeding sense—through an affirmation of being troubled by eternal recurrence—that most exposes the limits of the age of reason. / Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies / Graduate

The purpose of this study was to identify individual characteristics and school experiences of youth with serious emotional disturbance (SED) that may influence their postsecondary employment status.

Master of Public Health - MPH / Introduction: People with mental illness (PMI) are likely to die of chronic diseases, primarily cardiovascular, cerebrovascular and respiratory diseases at a younger age compared with the general population. The side-effects of psychotropic medications particularly weight gain and impaired glucose intolerance increase the risk of premature mortality in PMI. Behavioural risk factors for non-communicable diseases such as physical inactivity and unhealthy diet (diets high in fat and low in fruit and vegetables) are also thought to be consequences of negative symptoms of mental illness and emotional dysregulation.

This paper deals with actual experiences of elementary school children in Bay County who were socially handicapped by emotional upsets which they were not able to overcome alone. For the greater part these children were in overcrowded classrooms and had to be helped by the teacher as frustrations became evident. It is the purpose of the writer to show how emotional disturbances contributed to the social maladjustment of the children whose cases will be discussed in this paper. / "July 3, 1950." / Typescript. / "Submitted to the Graduate Council of Florida State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science under Plan II." / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 69-71).

In the United States, cigarette smoking is the main contributor to preventable death in all populations; and, among the mentally ill, the prevalence of smoking is a clinical practice concern. Nearly half of all smokers also have a diagnosis of mental illness compared with 23% of the general population. In an effort to reduce the problem of tobacco use within mentally ill populations, this project sought to create an educational module on smoking cessation for staff in a mental health clinic. The theory of planned behavior was used to guide the project that focused on implementation of a behavior change approach to counter smoking dependence. With evidence obtained from a comprehensive literature search of medical databases and textbooks, the education module was developed for teaching staff in a 30-bed outpatient mental health facility. Staff were taught to administer the education module on smoking cessation and to evaluate the plan. Evaluation of the project effectiveness on the knowledge of clinical staff was determined through the use of questions directed toward understanding professionals' perceptions of the module development and implementation, and the evidence-based educational materials developed for the program. Post tests administered after the staff education showed an increase in knowledge. The full education program was provided to the unit and will be used for staff training and for working with patients in the future. Positive social change is expected to occur because of the increased knowledge among clinical staff who care for mentally ill individuals who smoke. The result should be a safer, healthier setting for both smoking and nonsmoking patients in mental health clinics.