Mental Health Global Policies and Human Rights ‐ edited by Morrall, P. and Hazelton, M. and The Economics of Gender and Mental Illness ‐ edited by Marcotte, D.E. and Wilcox‐Gök, V.

P. Morrall and M. Hazelton ( eds ) Mental Health Global Policies and Human Rights. London : Whurr Publishers , 2004 . £25 (pbk) xviii + 196 pp . ISBN 1-86156-388-4 D.E. Marcotte and V. Wilcox-Gök ( eds ) The Economics of Gender and Mental Illness . Oxford : Elsevier , 2004 . £56.50 (hbk) 193 pp . ISBN 0-7623-1111-8 Much has been written on gender differences in the prevalence of mental disorders and the economic and social consequences resulting from these disorders. Similarly, there is a wealth of literature on the human rights issues associated with stigmatisation caused by mental health problems and failures of health systems in providing appropriate care. Two edited books, published in 2004, provide further insights into gender and human rights in relation to mental illness. Marcotte and Wilcox-Gök, have assembled a collection of quantitative research papers on the economic impact of mental illness from a gender perspective. The Morrall and Hazelton book is a comparative analysis of mental health policy with a focus on global policies and human rights. Apart from the initial similarity of both being on the topic of mental illness, and both being well-edited books based on collections of discrete papers from several nations, these books are very different from one another in their content and style. Consequently, each book will be reviewed separately in the first instance, with an overview of their contribution to knowledge in this field in the summary. The Morrall and Hazelton book is an examination of mental health care in 10 different nations, with each chapter devoted to a different nation. The authors state that, in part, the choice of which countries to include was decreed by serendipity. Nevertheless, the diversity of nations covered is commendable. In addition to the usual account of mental health care in the United States, the United Kingdom and Italy, there are chapters on Russia, Brazil, Mozambique, Egypt, India and China. This book has a truly global dimension in its examination of mental health policy and human rights from nations from the East and the West; from highly industrialised nations to developing nations; and, from relatively stable nations to those that have recently experienced political instability or war. In the Introduction, mental health and human rights are established as global issues. With reference to statements from the World Health Organisation, the United Nations and Amnesty International, concerns about the continual violation of human rights for people with mental health problems are expressed. Then, the case studies start with a discussion by Morrall on how mental health policy in the United Kingdom is characterised by chaos and control. This is followed by a chapter entitled ‘US mental health policy; progress and continuing problems’ by Smoyak. Hazelton and Clinton question the effectiveness of recent reforms in Australia. The consequences of the radical reforms in mental health policy in Italy are explored by Burti. Mental health policy in the developing nations of Egypt, India and Brazil are covered by Okasha, Murthy, and Valentini and Alves respectively. Savenko writes about mental health reform in post-Soviet period Russia. Galli and Lu describe the ongoing persecution of Falun Gong in China. The final case study is on mental health care in post-war Mozambique by Igreja. The chapters hang well together owing to the relatively uniform format of an historical background, contemporary policy, experiences and a summary for each case study. The final chapter is a considered review of the previous chapters, drawing together the commonalities and differences between nations. There are examples of limitations in the success of recent reforms in the United Kingdom, the USA and Australia. In contrast, the radical reforms of Italy are considered somewhat successful in terms of meeting the needs of people with mental health problems. The political misuse of psychiatry remains a problem in China and Russia. Mental health care in Mozambique is limited owing to a lack of human and financial resources, and a lack of political will. Overall, it can be seen that there are major differences between nations in the success of mental health policies in terms of meeting needs and ensuring human rights. Morrall and Hazelton suggest that throughout the developed and developing world mental health has entered the political domain. They conclude that, even within democracies, there is an ongoing need for vigilance and activism as democracy does not necessarily guarantee human rights for all. The book by Marcotte and Wilcox-Gök has a very different feel. It is less political than the Morrall and Hazelton publication. The material is presented in a more detached, ‘scientific’ manner in the style of a themed periodical with a series of papers on various aspects of the economic impact of mental health from a gender perspective. The volume is a collection of quantitative empirical research papers, organised to provide the reader with an understanding of the prevalence of mental disorders, and the educational, employment and earnings outcomes for men and women who have mental health problems. It is set out in such a way that the patterns and economic consequences of mental illness, for men and women over the life-course can be examined. The research for all of these papers was done using secondary data analysis, mainly from the United States, from sources such as the National Comorbidity Study, the National Household Survey, and the Schizophrenia Care and Assessment Programme from the United States. There are also papers from Denmark based on an analysis of data from the Danish Longitudinal Labour Market Survey, and from Canada using administrative data from three major Canadian fianancial/insurance sector employees. Overall, this book demonstrates persistent and significant gender differences in the prevalence of mental illness, take-up of treatment, dropping out of school, cohabitation, and employment transition. There are 24 contributors to this volume; too many for everyone to be included in this review. Examples include research by Wilcox-Gök and colleagues that shows that men are more likely than women to drop out of high school following early onset depression. Alexandre, Fede and Mullings conclude that mentally ill men are more likely to be unemployed than non-mentally ill men, but this difference does not apply to women. In contrast, Slade and Karakus found that employment chances for women with schizophrenia are more negatively affected. There is a brief review of each of the papers in the introduction. Here, it is shown that what these papers have in common is a specific focus on gender and the economic impact of mental illness across the life span. It would, however, have been useful if the editors had also included a concluding chapter to give an overview of the chapters; to pick out common themes or major differences and to comment on the methodological issues raised by each research project. Nevertheless, as a collection of papers the book offers much insight into the economics of gender and mental health. It could be argued that the reader can draw her/his own conclusions, which is in keeping with a quantitative approach to the production of knowledge. Clearly, these books have been written with different audiences in mind as they differ not only in content and focus; but in style and accessibility too. The highly quantitative, research-based collection of papers in the book by Marcotte and Wilcox-Gök is likely to be of particular interest to health economists. The content, however, is also relevant to other disciplines interested in mental health issues and gender such as social work, social policy, sociology, gender studies, psychology and psychiatry. Morrall and Hazelton's book is written more in the style of a comparative social policy textbook. It is more accessible to readers who have not been trained in econometrics. This book will be of interest to academics and practitioners across the social, political and medical sciences. Both books are valuable in their examination of mental health policy in terms of its impact on individuals with respect to gender and human rights.

Fetched live from OpenAlex and de-inverted. Abstracts are not stored in this database: the inverted indexes are 8.6 GB of the frame’s 9.3 GB of text, and the host has 13 GB free.