Mental Health Professionals, Minorities and the Poor - Hardcover

Illovsky, Michael E.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0415935768 ISBN 13: 9780415935760

Publisher: Routledge, 2002

Synopsis

Mental Health Professionals, Minorities, and the Poor provides mental health professionals with information essential to the accurate assessment and effective treatment of diver populations.

About this title

Review:

"This is a courageous and sensitive examination of core issues for the 21st Century Mental Health Professional..This truly is a book for the thinking therapist and is a must-read for practitioners and educators of our next generation..The reader is assisted in deepening his or her understanding of cultural and ethnic issues while being encouraged to take action, explore alternative approaches, and utilize new innovations in technology."
-Stephany Joy-Newman, Ph.D., past president of the American College Counseling Association and the Illinois Mental Health Counselors Association
"Given the increasing cultural diversity of people in the U.S.A., Michael Illovsky's book is a necessary primer for every mental health professional.. Mental health providers must get beyond the 19th and 20th century assimilation paradigm and recognize that acculturation will be the adaptive strategy of most minorities and poor people in the 21st century."
-J. Q. Adams, Ph.D., moderator of the popular PBS Teleclass Dealing With Diversity, co-editor of "Dealing With Diversity: The Anthology
"This book provides current and up-to-date research on the various populations and what professionals have theorized about when working with these populations. This book is an excellent book for clinicians, researchers, and students to have in their collection of resources."
-Jacqueline A. Conley, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Department of Psychology, Chicago State University
"This book is a must-have if you are interested in a comprehensive review of mental health status, services, and outcomes that significantly differ among cultural groups.
This text provides an extensive review of Physiological, psychosocial, and social differences that suggest the lack of diversity in the mental health profession creates (1) limited cultural views and (2) miscommunication and decreased understanding between the ethnic-minority patient and the mental health provider.."
-Journal of Behavioral Health Services and Research, July/Sept 2004

Synopsis:

This is not a "how-to" book; instead it is a "think about what you are doing" book. Informing readers of issues in minority mental health, are critiques of the effects of minority mental health professionals in their interactions with minorities and the poor. It encourages therapists to go beyond common beliefs, espoused values, and accepted myths. Solutions offered include the exploration of other therapeutic approaches-with examples in the chapters on technology and evolution. Focusing on aspects of the mental health fields that are often overlooked, summarily dismissed, or ignored, racist, political and economic aspects of ethnic minority mental health work are explored and the development of endogenous systems in the underdeveloped US minority communities is encouraged. Conditions of ethnic minorities in other parts of the world are explored to gain perspective and to examine what has been done elsewhere. A world perspective makes it clearer that the conditions of minorities are often more a function of social, economic and political forces and not necessarily a function of the characteristics of the minority group.

About this edition

• Publisher: Routledge
• Publication date: 2002
• ISBN 10: 0415935768
• ISBN 13: 9780415935760
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 288