From Poor Houses to Homelessness: Policy Analysis and Mental Health Care

Rochefort, David

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0865692742 ISBN 13: 9780865692749

Publisher: Praeger, 1997

Rochefort updates his classic comprehensive review of mental health policy issues in American society, beginning with early practices that predate the formal mental health system and ending with current debates about parity insurance coverage for mental illnesses, managed care, and Medicaid reform. At the same time, he provides a perspective on mental health policy analysis that draws on diverse work in the policy sciences, looks to both applied and theoretical concerns, and gives full recognition to the distinctive nature of mental health care problems. This new edition will be of enhanced value to policymakers in the mental health field as well as to students of American social welfare policy and public administration in general.

Review:

"A substantial addition to the mental health policy literature. To simply point out its engaging writing style and its thorough, scholarly coverage of the major issues in mental health policy would ignore its more important contributions. Rochefort brings both rigor and creativity to his coverage and synthesis of diverse perspectives on the major trends in mental health policy, providing a theoretical base, an international perspective, and sufficient detail to make it a key text for graduate and undergraduate students of public policy and human services."-Health Affairs

"Thoughtful analyses of aspects of mental health policy by a scholar whose perspective should not be ignored."-Contemporary Psychology (on the First Edition)

..."cool, authoritative, and remarkably well-documented...an indispensable resource for those who wish to get the story straight about the major issues in our complicated field."-American Journal of Psychiatry (on the First Edition)

"This second edition may be of particular interest to policy makers in the mental health field, as well as to students of american social welfare policy and public administration in general."-Administration and Policy in Mental Health

"The volume has much of value for students of mental health policy, agency managers, and service providers of all kinds. It fills a gap in the literature and is a most welcome addition to the field."-Psychiatric Services (on the First Edition)

"This is the first [book dealing with the evolution and transformation of the mental health system] to be written by a political scientist and to be specifically concerned with the process of policy formulation."-Journal of Public Health Policy (on the First Edition)

"This work is adequate as a textbook for undergradute courses related to mental health policy....The greatest value of this book is that it provides a competent and accurate summary of where things stand with mental health policy."-The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease

"This is the first İbook dealing with the evolution and transformation of the mental health system¨ to be written by a political scientist and to be specifically concerned with the process of policy formulation."-Journal of Public Health Policy (on the First Edition)

?Thoughtful analyses of aspects of mental health policy by a scholar whose perspective should not be ignored.?-Contemporary Psychology (on the First Edition)

?...cool, authoritative, and remarkably well-documented...an indispensable resource for those who wish to get the story straight about the major issues in our complicated field.?-American Journal of Psychiatry (on the First Edition)

Synopsis:

An updated, comprehensive examination of mental health policy issues in American society, beginning with early practices and ending with current debates about parity insurance coverage for mental illnesses, managed care, and Medicaid reform.