Family Fellowship Society for Psychosocial Rehabilitation Services (1993-2019): A Self-help Movement.

Family Fellowship Society for Psychosocial Rehabilitation Services is an initiative of families of persons with mental illness and with psychiatric disabilities. It has been advocating self-help movement on the part of the families who have been on the lookout for alternative care services. This venture has been technically supported by the mental health professionals at National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences, Bangalore. It is a collaborative effort of families and professionals to address the needs that have been felt by the consumers and the professionals. It is the first of its kind in India. Over a period of 26 years, 150 + families have availed the alternative care for psychosocial rehabilitation services for their wards. In this context, an attempt was made to enlighten the psychosocial rehabilitation services at family fellowship society.

Reconsidering the discontinuation of M.Phil. programs in clinical psychology and psychiatric social work: An imperative for India's mental health future.

This viewpoint critically examines the New Education Policy (NEP) 2020's decision to discontinue M.Phil. programs in Clinical Psychology and Psychiatric Social Work in India. It explores the crucial roles these programs play in addressing the country's shortage of mental health professionals and evaluates the potential impact of this decision on mental healthcare. The article advocates for the necessity of these programs in maintaining the quality and accessibility of mental health services and calls for a reconsidered policy approach that balances educational reforms with the specialized needs of the mental health sector.

Psicoeducación en salud mental: una herramienta para pacientes y familiares / Psychoeducation in mental health: a tool for families and patients

Las personas que padecen patologías de salud mental con frecuencia sufren estigma y exclusión por parte de la sociedad. El desconocimiento y el temor a ser discriminado evita el acercamiento de las personas a los servicios de salud, provocando latencias y abandono del tratamiento. La psicoeducación es una herramienta que busca que pacientes y familias conozcan la naturaleza de la enfermedad, promoviendo la autonomía, el empoderamiento y la reintegración social. El siguiente artículo recoge evidencia en torno a esta temática, discutiendo sobre la aplicabilidad de sus resultados, la importancia de replicar métodos y sistematizar experiencias.

Mental health illness are often related with social stigma. The unknowledge and the generalization of conducts of people with mental health illness, impacts the approach to social or medical services and sometimes quit the treatment. Psychoeducation as a tool in this area, persuits that patients and family know the nature of the illness, his ethiology, course, therapeutic approaches and outcomes. This article takes evidence sorround psychoeducation in mental health illness, discuss the appliance of the results and the importance of replying and systematization of experiences.

The experiences of Turkish families caring for individuals with Schizophrenia: A qualitative inquiry.

BACKGROUND: In Turkey, individuals with schizophrenia usually live with their families. Therefore, families are main caregivers and face psychological, financial and social problems. AIM: The aim of this study is to understand the personal burdens and coping strategies, and social support affecting the families that provide care to the individuals with schizophrenia. METHODS: In-depth interviews were conducted with 31 members of 12 families. RESULTS: Four themes were formed: learning and accepting the disorder, caregiving, social dimensions and service dimensions. Families have a problem with accepting this order and caregiving affects their quality of life both financially and socially. As schizophrenia is one of the reasons for being isolated from community, families prefer hiding it. Although families are satisfied with community-based systems, they need long-term solution, training and financial aid. CONCLUSIONS: To reduce the burden, family therapies, education and psychological support should be provided for families, and job opportunities, long-term caregiving services and psychological support should be provided for individuals with schizophrenia.

Palliative Care Social Work In India: Current Status and Future Directions.

Palliative care (PC) involves total care for persons suffering from life-threatening illnesses and their families. Social work as a profession and an academic discipline is gaining momentum in India for the past few decades. A large number of professional social workers are working with individuals, families, and communities to provide PC in India. Authors have presented the current status of PC social work interventions and discussed the future directions in the practice, research, and training in PC and end-of-life care.

The dement in the community: Social work practice with people with dementia revisited.

While social work practice with people with dementia and their families has a long but largely hidden history, it is an emerging area of specialism. The increased incidence, prevalence and recognition of dementia suggest that this area of practice will expand and so learning from previous practice may offer helpful insights. This paper describes and reflects upon social work practice with 'dements' in the 1950s in England. It draws on a reading of a small book written by a psychiatric social worker, Miss M (Muriel) H Bree, outlining her role in providing after-care to patients with neuro-syphilis who had been discharged from hospital to live with their families between 1942 and 1952 through her consideration of 275 case records and seven illustrative case studies. As a historical document, Bree's account presents a rich description of the patients and their social circumstances in post-war Britain; an account of practice from a hospital based setting that reached into the community, and of the engagement of a social worker with her clients and their family members. Threads and continuities with contemporary social work practice with people with dementia are explored; particularly work with family carers, younger people with dementia, and the value placed upon continuity of care.

'Often there is a good deal to be done, but socially rather than medically': the psychiatric social worker as social therapist, 1945-70.

Seeking to align psychiatric practice with general medicine following the inauguration of the National Health Service, psychiatric hospitals in post-war Britain deployed new treatments designed to induce somatic change, such as ECT, leucotomy and sedatives. Advocates of these treatments, often grouped together under the term 'physical therapies', expressed relief that the social problems encountered by patients could now be interpreted as symptomatic of underlying biological malfunction rather than as a cause of disorder that required treatment. Drawing on the British Journal of Psychiatric Social Work, this article analyses the critique articulated by psychiatric social workers based within hospitals who sought to facilitate the social reintegration of patients following treatment. It explores the development of 'psychiatric social treatment', an approach devised by psychiatric social workers to meet the needs of people with enduring mental health problems in hospital and community settings that sought to alleviate distress and improve social functioning by changing an individual's social environment and interpersonal relationships. 'Physical' and 'social' models of psychiatric treatment, this article argues, contested not only the aetiology of mental illness but also the nature of care, treatment and cure.