Relationships and Mental Health

This interdisciplinary edited volume examines the complexities of relational life in the context of psychological distress and recovery. It is well documented that supportive, close relationships are central to wellbeing. This volume explores how connectedness is shaped by mental health settings, interventions and mental health experiences - and vice versa. In doing so, this work provides important insights for adult mental health care, where systems and settings can often struggle to take account of the relational context of distress and recovery.

This is the first book to address the emerging shift towards a relational account of distress and recovery through a focus on people's experiences. Chapters explore community and statutory service settings, privileging the voices of those experiencing distress, their loved ones and the professionals who work with them. It also extends recent interest in the role of loneliness and social isolation in mental health,to consider themes such as belonging, connection, care and intimacy. It will appeal to mental health practitioners as well as academics in the fields of psychology, sociology, psychotherapy, psychiatry, social policy and social work.

Analyses and amplifies people's experience of interpersonal relationships in the context of distress Brings together work from user/survivor research, psychology, psychotherapy and sociology Addresses the emerging shift towards a relational account of distress and recovery

Auteur
Zoë Boden-Stuart (née Boden) is Lecturer in Critical and Psychosocial Mental Health at The Open University. She is also a psychotherapist in private practice. Her research focuses on relational experience in the context of mental health.

Michael Larkin is Reader in Psychology at Aston University, a founding member of Aston's Phenomenology of Health and Relationships (PHaR) group, and an experienced researcher in mental health.

Contenu
1: Introduction: Why relationships matter for mental health.- 2: Conceptual Foundations: Relational thinking for mental health contexts.- 3: Clinical Foundations: A brief history of relational practice.- 4: Family relatedness for Mori survivors of familial childhood sexual abuse.- 5: Relational contexts as causal and curative pathways in recurrent suicidal distress and repeated police Mental Health Act (Section 136) detention.- 6: Working through relational trauma: An exploration of narratives of lived experiences of trauma and recovery.- 7: Understanding the value base that supports the development of peer support relationships.- 8: Exploring family experiences and relationship dynamics where one member experiences psychosis: We've Been On That Journey Together.- 9: Relatedness and connectedness over time: How young people make sense of their relationships during their recovery from first-episode psychosis.- 10: Hunger trauma, relational care, and emergency food support.- 11: Implicating the institution: Who is responsible for sexuality-related silence in mental health settings?- 12: Romance in the context of psychosis: A risky business or are mental health services just risk averse?- 13: You don't even get a hug: Sexuality and relational security in secure mental healthcare.- 14: The Development of a Relational Practice Movement.- 15: Concluding thoughts: Relational hopes, relational realities.