Author: Neal L. Cohen
Publisher: Johns Hopkins University Press
ISBN: 1421422794
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 457
Book Description
How does mental health impact public health? In 2001, the WHO recognized depressive disorders as the leading cause of disability worldwide. But most Americans who meet diagnostic criteria for major depression are untreated or undertreated. Luckily, recent advances have finally made it possible for the field of public health to address mental health in the population. Public Health Perspectives on Depressive Disorders fills a gap by identifying the tools and strategies of public health practice and by exploring their application to twenty-first-century public mental health policy and practice. By looking at depressive disorders through a public health lens, this book highlights the centrality of mental health to public health. Linking the available research on depressive illness at the population level with public mental health policy and practice, expert contributors set a research agenda that will help make mental health a central part of public health science and practice. This book is an invaluable resource for researchers and practitioners to develop, facilitate, and conduct pilot and feasibility studies of promising preventive and treatment interventions that might mitigate the progression toward major depression and other mental disorders among populations at risk. The first part of the book underscores the public health significance of depressive illness by focusing on the evidence provided by recent approaches to nosology, epidemiology, illness burden, and impact on overall health. The second part looks at the social and environmental influences on depressive disorders that are critical to future efforts to prevent illness and to promote mentally healthy communities. The third and longest part addresses the vulnerability of diverse groups to depressive illness and underscore best practices to mitigate risk while improving both the preventive and therapeutic armamentaria.
Public Health Perspectives on Depressive Disorders
Author: Neal L. Cohen
Publisher: Johns Hopkins University Press
ISBN: 1421422794
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 457
Book Description
How does mental health impact public health? In 2001, the WHO recognized depressive disorders as the leading cause of disability worldwide. But most Americans who meet diagnostic criteria for major depression are untreated or undertreated. Luckily, recent advances have finally made it possible for the field of public health to address mental health in the population. Public Health Perspectives on Depressive Disorders fills a gap by identifying the tools and strategies of public health practice and by exploring their application to twenty-first-century public mental health policy and practice. By looking at depressive disorders through a public health lens, this book highlights the centrality of mental health to public health. Linking the available research on depressive illness at the population level with public mental health policy and practice, expert contributors set a research agenda that will help make mental health a central part of public health science and practice. This book is an invaluable resource for researchers and practitioners to develop, facilitate, and conduct pilot and feasibility studies of promising preventive and treatment interventions that might mitigate the progression toward major depression and other mental disorders among populations at risk. The first part of the book underscores the public health significance of depressive illness by focusing on the evidence provided by recent approaches to nosology, epidemiology, illness burden, and impact on overall health. The second part looks at the social and environmental influences on depressive disorders that are critical to future efforts to prevent illness and to promote mentally healthy communities. The third and longest part addresses the vulnerability of diverse groups to depressive illness and underscore best practices to mitigate risk while improving both the preventive and therapeutic armamentaria.
Publisher: Johns Hopkins University Press
ISBN: 1421422794
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 457
Book Description
How does mental health impact public health? In 2001, the WHO recognized depressive disorders as the leading cause of disability worldwide. But most Americans who meet diagnostic criteria for major depression are untreated or undertreated. Luckily, recent advances have finally made it possible for the field of public health to address mental health in the population. Public Health Perspectives on Depressive Disorders fills a gap by identifying the tools and strategies of public health practice and by exploring their application to twenty-first-century public mental health policy and practice. By looking at depressive disorders through a public health lens, this book highlights the centrality of mental health to public health. Linking the available research on depressive illness at the population level with public mental health policy and practice, expert contributors set a research agenda that will help make mental health a central part of public health science and practice. This book is an invaluable resource for researchers and practitioners to develop, facilitate, and conduct pilot and feasibility studies of promising preventive and treatment interventions that might mitigate the progression toward major depression and other mental disorders among populations at risk. The first part of the book underscores the public health significance of depressive illness by focusing on the evidence provided by recent approaches to nosology, epidemiology, illness burden, and impact on overall health. The second part looks at the social and environmental influences on depressive disorders that are critical to future efforts to prevent illness and to promote mentally healthy communities. The third and longest part addresses the vulnerability of diverse groups to depressive illness and underscore best practices to mitigate risk while improving both the preventive and therapeutic armamentaria.
Public Health Perspectives on Depressive Disorders
Author: Neal L. Cohen
Publisher: JHU Press
ISBN: 1421422816
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 457
Book Description
How does mental health impact public health? In 2001, the WHO recognized depressive disorders as the leading cause of disability worldwide. But most Americans who meet diagnostic criteria for major depression are untreated or undertreated. Luckily, recent advances have finally made it possible for the field of public health to address mental health in the population. Public Health Perspectives on Depressive Disorders fills a gap by identifying the tools and strategies of public health practice and by exploring their application to twenty-first-century public mental health policy and practice. By looking at depressive disorders through a public health lens, this book highlights the centrality of mental health to public health. Linking the available research on depressive illness at the population level with public mental health policy and practice, expert contributors set a research agenda that will help make mental health a central part of public health science and practice. This book is an invaluable resource for researchers and practitioners to develop, facilitate, and conduct pilot and feasibility studies of promising preventive and treatment interventions that might mitigate the progression toward major depression and other mental disorders among populations at risk. The first part of the book underscores the public health significance of depressive illness by focusing on the evidence provided by recent approaches to nosology, epidemiology, illness burden, and impact on overall health. The second part looks at the social and environmental influences on depressive disorders that are critical to future efforts to prevent illness and to promote mentally healthy communities. The third and longest part addresses the vulnerability of diverse groups to depressive illness and underscore best practices to mitigate risk while improving both the preventive and therapeutic armamentaria.
Publisher: JHU Press
ISBN: 1421422816
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 457
Book Description
How does mental health impact public health? In 2001, the WHO recognized depressive disorders as the leading cause of disability worldwide. But most Americans who meet diagnostic criteria for major depression are untreated or undertreated. Luckily, recent advances have finally made it possible for the field of public health to address mental health in the population. Public Health Perspectives on Depressive Disorders fills a gap by identifying the tools and strategies of public health practice and by exploring their application to twenty-first-century public mental health policy and practice. By looking at depressive disorders through a public health lens, this book highlights the centrality of mental health to public health. Linking the available research on depressive illness at the population level with public mental health policy and practice, expert contributors set a research agenda that will help make mental health a central part of public health science and practice. This book is an invaluable resource for researchers and practitioners to develop, facilitate, and conduct pilot and feasibility studies of promising preventive and treatment interventions that might mitigate the progression toward major depression and other mental disorders among populations at risk. The first part of the book underscores the public health significance of depressive illness by focusing on the evidence provided by recent approaches to nosology, epidemiology, illness burden, and impact on overall health. The second part looks at the social and environmental influences on depressive disorders that are critical to future efforts to prevent illness and to promote mentally healthy communities. The third and longest part addresses the vulnerability of diverse groups to depressive illness and underscore best practices to mitigate risk while improving both the preventive and therapeutic armamentaria.
Depression in Parents, Parenting, and Children
Author: Institute of Medicine
Publisher: National Academies Press
ISBN: 0309121787
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 488
Book Description
Depression is a widespread condition affecting approximately 7.5 million parents in the U.S. each year and may be putting at least 15 million children at risk for adverse health outcomes. Based on evidentiary studies, major depression in either parent can interfere with parenting quality and increase the risk of children developing mental, behavioral and social problems. Depression in Parents, Parenting, and Children highlights disparities in the prevalence, identification, treatment, and prevention of parental depression among different sociodemographic populations. It also outlines strategies for effective intervention and identifies the need for a more interdisciplinary approach that takes biological, psychological, behavioral, interpersonal, and social contexts into consideration. A major challenge to the effective management of parental depression is developing a treatment and prevention strategy that can be introduced within a two-generation framework, conducive for parents and their children. Thus far, both the federal and state response to the problem has been fragmented, poorly funded, and lacking proper oversight. This study examines options for widespread implementation of best practices as well as strategies that can be effective in diverse service settings for diverse populations of children and their families. The delivery of adequate screening and successful detection and treatment of a depressive illness and prevention of its effects on parenting and the health of children is a formidable challenge to modern health care systems. This study offers seven solid recommendations designed to increase awareness about and remove barriers to care for both the depressed adult and prevention of effects in the child. The report will be of particular interest to federal health officers, mental and behavioral health providers in diverse parts of health care delivery systems, health policy staff, state legislators, and the general public.
Publisher: National Academies Press
ISBN: 0309121787
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 488
Book Description
Depression is a widespread condition affecting approximately 7.5 million parents in the U.S. each year and may be putting at least 15 million children at risk for adverse health outcomes. Based on evidentiary studies, major depression in either parent can interfere with parenting quality and increase the risk of children developing mental, behavioral and social problems. Depression in Parents, Parenting, and Children highlights disparities in the prevalence, identification, treatment, and prevention of parental depression among different sociodemographic populations. It also outlines strategies for effective intervention and identifies the need for a more interdisciplinary approach that takes biological, psychological, behavioral, interpersonal, and social contexts into consideration. A major challenge to the effective management of parental depression is developing a treatment and prevention strategy that can be introduced within a two-generation framework, conducive for parents and their children. Thus far, both the federal and state response to the problem has been fragmented, poorly funded, and lacking proper oversight. This study examines options for widespread implementation of best practices as well as strategies that can be effective in diverse service settings for diverse populations of children and their families. The delivery of adequate screening and successful detection and treatment of a depressive illness and prevention of its effects on parenting and the health of children is a formidable challenge to modern health care systems. This study offers seven solid recommendations designed to increase awareness about and remove barriers to care for both the depressed adult and prevention of effects in the child. The report will be of particular interest to federal health officers, mental and behavioral health providers in diverse parts of health care delivery systems, health policy staff, state legislators, and the general public.
Overdiagnosed
Author: H. Gilbert Welch
Publisher: Beacon Press
ISBN: 0807022012
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 247
Book Description
An exposé on Big Pharma and the American healthcare system’s zeal for excessive medical testing, from a nationally recognized expert More screening doesn’t lead to better health—but can turn healthy people into patients. Going against the conventional wisdom reinforced by the medical establishment and Big Pharma that more screening is the best preventative medicine, Dr. Gilbert Welch builds a compelling counterargument that what we need are fewer, not more, diagnoses. Documenting the excesses of American medical practice that labels far too many of us as sick, Welch examines the social, ethical, and economic ramifications of a health-care system that unnecessarily diagnoses and treats patients, most of whom will not benefit from treatment, might be harmed by it, and would arguably be better off without screening. Drawing on 25 years of medical practice and research on the effects of medical testing, Welch explains in a straightforward, jargon-free style how the cutoffs for treating a person with “abnormal” test results have been drastically lowered just when technological advances have allowed us to see more and more “abnormalities,” many of which will pose fewer health complications than the procedures that ostensibly cure them. Citing studies that show that 10% of 2,000 healthy people were found to have had silent strokes, and that well over half of men over age sixty have traces of prostate cancer but no impairment, Welch reveals overdiagnosis to be rampant for numerous conditions and diseases, including diabetes, high cholesterol, osteoporosis, gallstones, abdominal aortic aneuryisms, blood clots, as well as skin, prostate, breast, and lung cancers. With genetic and prenatal screening now common, patients are being diagnosed not with disease but with “pre-disease” or for being at “high risk” of developing disease. Revealing the economic and medical forces that contribute to overdiagnosis, Welch makes a reasoned call for change that would save us from countless unneeded surgeries, excessive worry, and exorbitant costs, all while maintaining a balanced view of both the potential benefits and harms of diagnosis. Drawing on data, clinical studies, and anecdotes from his own practice, Welch builds a solid, accessible case against the belief that more screening always improves health care.
Publisher: Beacon Press
ISBN: 0807022012
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 247
Book Description
An exposé on Big Pharma and the American healthcare system’s zeal for excessive medical testing, from a nationally recognized expert More screening doesn’t lead to better health—but can turn healthy people into patients. Going against the conventional wisdom reinforced by the medical establishment and Big Pharma that more screening is the best preventative medicine, Dr. Gilbert Welch builds a compelling counterargument that what we need are fewer, not more, diagnoses. Documenting the excesses of American medical practice that labels far too many of us as sick, Welch examines the social, ethical, and economic ramifications of a health-care system that unnecessarily diagnoses and treats patients, most of whom will not benefit from treatment, might be harmed by it, and would arguably be better off without screening. Drawing on 25 years of medical practice and research on the effects of medical testing, Welch explains in a straightforward, jargon-free style how the cutoffs for treating a person with “abnormal” test results have been drastically lowered just when technological advances have allowed us to see more and more “abnormalities,” many of which will pose fewer health complications than the procedures that ostensibly cure them. Citing studies that show that 10% of 2,000 healthy people were found to have had silent strokes, and that well over half of men over age sixty have traces of prostate cancer but no impairment, Welch reveals overdiagnosis to be rampant for numerous conditions and diseases, including diabetes, high cholesterol, osteoporosis, gallstones, abdominal aortic aneuryisms, blood clots, as well as skin, prostate, breast, and lung cancers. With genetic and prenatal screening now common, patients are being diagnosed not with disease but with “pre-disease” or for being at “high risk” of developing disease. Revealing the economic and medical forces that contribute to overdiagnosis, Welch makes a reasoned call for change that would save us from countless unneeded surgeries, excessive worry, and exorbitant costs, all while maintaining a balanced view of both the potential benefits and harms of diagnosis. Drawing on data, clinical studies, and anecdotes from his own practice, Welch builds a solid, accessible case against the belief that more screening always improves health care.
Ending Discrimination Against People with Mental and Substance Use Disorders
Author: National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine
Publisher: National Academies Press
ISBN: 0309439124
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 171
Book Description
Estimates indicate that as many as 1 in 4 Americans will experience a mental health problem or will misuse alcohol or drugs in their lifetimes. These disorders are among the most highly stigmatized health conditions in the United States, and they remain barriers to full participation in society in areas as basic as education, housing, and employment. Improving the lives of people with mental health and substance abuse disorders has been a priority in the United States for more than 50 years. The Community Mental Health Act of 1963 is considered a major turning point in America's efforts to improve behavioral healthcare. It ushered in an era of optimism and hope and laid the groundwork for the consumer movement and new models of recovery. The consumer movement gave voice to people with mental and substance use disorders and brought their perspectives and experience into national discussions about mental health. However over the same 50-year period, positive change in American public attitudes and beliefs about mental and substance use disorders has lagged behind these advances. Stigma is a complex social phenomenon based on a relationship between an attribute and a stereotype that assigns undesirable labels, qualities, and behaviors to a person with that attribute. Labeled individuals are then socially devalued, which leads to inequality and discrimination. This report contributes to national efforts to understand and change attitudes, beliefs and behaviors that can lead to stigma and discrimination. Changing stigma in a lasting way will require coordinated efforts, which are based on the best possible evidence, supported at the national level with multiyear funding, and planned and implemented by an effective coalition of representative stakeholders. Ending Discrimination Against People with Mental and Substance Use Disorders: The Evidence for Stigma Change explores stigma and discrimination faced by individuals with mental or substance use disorders and recommends effective strategies for reducing stigma and encouraging people to seek treatment and other supportive services. It offers a set of conclusions and recommendations about successful stigma change strategies and the research needed to inform and evaluate these efforts in the United States.
Publisher: National Academies Press
ISBN: 0309439124
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 171
Book Description
Estimates indicate that as many as 1 in 4 Americans will experience a mental health problem or will misuse alcohol or drugs in their lifetimes. These disorders are among the most highly stigmatized health conditions in the United States, and they remain barriers to full participation in society in areas as basic as education, housing, and employment. Improving the lives of people with mental health and substance abuse disorders has been a priority in the United States for more than 50 years. The Community Mental Health Act of 1963 is considered a major turning point in America's efforts to improve behavioral healthcare. It ushered in an era of optimism and hope and laid the groundwork for the consumer movement and new models of recovery. The consumer movement gave voice to people with mental and substance use disorders and brought their perspectives and experience into national discussions about mental health. However over the same 50-year period, positive change in American public attitudes and beliefs about mental and substance use disorders has lagged behind these advances. Stigma is a complex social phenomenon based on a relationship between an attribute and a stereotype that assigns undesirable labels, qualities, and behaviors to a person with that attribute. Labeled individuals are then socially devalued, which leads to inequality and discrimination. This report contributes to national efforts to understand and change attitudes, beliefs and behaviors that can lead to stigma and discrimination. Changing stigma in a lasting way will require coordinated efforts, which are based on the best possible evidence, supported at the national level with multiyear funding, and planned and implemented by an effective coalition of representative stakeholders. Ending Discrimination Against People with Mental and Substance Use Disorders: The Evidence for Stigma Change explores stigma and discrimination faced by individuals with mental or substance use disorders and recommends effective strategies for reducing stigma and encouraging people to seek treatment and other supportive services. It offers a set of conclusions and recommendations about successful stigma change strategies and the research needed to inform and evaluate these efforts in the United States.
Personal Health: A Public Health Perspective
Author: Michele Kiely
Publisher: Jones & Bartlett Learning
ISBN: 1284301664
Category : Health & Fitness
Languages : en
Pages : 790
Book Description
Written to guide students developing healthy lifestyles while helping them better understand the policy decisions that encourage health, Personal Health: A Public Health Perspective uniquely provides information about individual health topics – including those of great interest and relevance to college-aged students – while presenting them in the context of community and global health. Thoroughly updated to reflect current statistics, research, treatments, and more, the Second Edition also includes coverage of COVID-19, including its impact on mental health; expanded coverage of the social determinants of health and health inequities; new material on violence prevention including sexual assault and gun control; different ways to approach healthy eating and helpful tips on incorporating exercise; and much more. Filled with examples from social media, websites, and the popular press as well as peer-reviewed publications, the Second Edition also is enlivened with numerous features.
Publisher: Jones & Bartlett Learning
ISBN: 1284301664
Category : Health & Fitness
Languages : en
Pages : 790
Book Description
Written to guide students developing healthy lifestyles while helping them better understand the policy decisions that encourage health, Personal Health: A Public Health Perspective uniquely provides information about individual health topics – including those of great interest and relevance to college-aged students – while presenting them in the context of community and global health. Thoroughly updated to reflect current statistics, research, treatments, and more, the Second Edition also includes coverage of COVID-19, including its impact on mental health; expanded coverage of the social determinants of health and health inequities; new material on violence prevention including sexual assault and gun control; different ways to approach healthy eating and helpful tips on incorporating exercise; and much more. Filled with examples from social media, websites, and the popular press as well as peer-reviewed publications, the Second Edition also is enlivened with numerous features.
Mental Health Services: A Public Health Perspective
Author: Bruce Lubotsky Levin
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0195388577
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 572
Book Description
This revised and expanded third edition text utilizes a public health framework and the latest epidemiological, treatment, and service systems research to promote a comprehensive understanding of the organization, financing, and delivery of mental health and substance abuse services in the United States. Written by national experts in the field, this timely work will provide policymakers, administrators, clinicians, and public health and behavioral health graduate students with the knowledge base needed to manage and transform mental health service systems, both nationally and locally.The book is unique in providing a public health framework of the most significant issues facing mental health policy makers, administrators, planners, and practitioners. It combines issues (e.g., evaluation; law; ethnicity) that extend across different age groups, treatment settings, and disorders, with issues that are population and disorder specific.The publication of this book is timely for those involved with the debate over national health care reform legislation, and provides important and timely information (on populations at-risk for mental disorders, services, and systems issues) for those responsible for implementing policies and programs resulting from this reform effort.
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0195388577
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 572
Book Description
This revised and expanded third edition text utilizes a public health framework and the latest epidemiological, treatment, and service systems research to promote a comprehensive understanding of the organization, financing, and delivery of mental health and substance abuse services in the United States. Written by national experts in the field, this timely work will provide policymakers, administrators, clinicians, and public health and behavioral health graduate students with the knowledge base needed to manage and transform mental health service systems, both nationally and locally.The book is unique in providing a public health framework of the most significant issues facing mental health policy makers, administrators, planners, and practitioners. It combines issues (e.g., evaluation; law; ethnicity) that extend across different age groups, treatment settings, and disorders, with issues that are population and disorder specific.The publication of this book is timely for those involved with the debate over national health care reform legislation, and provides important and timely information (on populations at-risk for mental disorders, services, and systems issues) for those responsible for implementing policies and programs resulting from this reform effort.
Disease Control Priorities, Third Edition (Volume 5)
Author: Dorairaj Prabhakaran
Publisher: World Bank Publications
ISBN: 1464805202
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 948
Book Description
Cardiovascular, respiratory, and related conditions cause more than 40 percent of all deaths globally, and their substantialburden is rising, particularly in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Their burden extends well beyond health effects to include significanteconomic and societal consequences. Most of these conditions are related, share risk factors, and have common control measures at theclinical, population, and policy levels. Lives can be extended and improved when these diseases are prevented, detected, and managed. This volume summarizes current knowledge and presents evidence-based interventions that are effective, cost-effective, and scalable in LMICs.
Publisher: World Bank Publications
ISBN: 1464805202
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 948
Book Description
Cardiovascular, respiratory, and related conditions cause more than 40 percent of all deaths globally, and their substantialburden is rising, particularly in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Their burden extends well beyond health effects to include significanteconomic and societal consequences. Most of these conditions are related, share risk factors, and have common control measures at theclinical, population, and policy levels. Lives can be extended and improved when these diseases are prevented, detected, and managed. This volume summarizes current knowledge and presents evidence-based interventions that are effective, cost-effective, and scalable in LMICs.
Sociology of Diagnosis
Author: PJ McGann
Publisher: Emerald Group Publishing
ISBN: 0857245767
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 402
Book Description
Offers an introduction to the sociology of diagnosis. This title presents articles that explore diagnosis as a process of definition that includes: labeling dynamics between diagnoser and diagnosed; boundary struggles between diverse constituents - both among medical practitioners and between medical authorities and others; and, more.
Publisher: Emerald Group Publishing
ISBN: 0857245767
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 402
Book Description
Offers an introduction to the sociology of diagnosis. This title presents articles that explore diagnosis as a process of definition that includes: labeling dynamics between diagnoser and diagnosed; boundary struggles between diverse constituents - both among medical practitioners and between medical authorities and others; and, more.
A Public Health Perspective of Women’s Mental Health
Author: Bruce Lubotsky Levin
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 1441915265
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 416
Book Description
A Public Health Perspective of Women’s Mental Health Edited by Bruce Lubotsky Levin and Marion Ann Becker As many as one-half of all women in the U.S. will experience some form of mental illness in their lives—an especially distressing fact when health care budgets are in flux, adding to existing disparities and unmet health needs. Written from a unique multidisciplinary framework, A Public Health Perspective of Women’s Mental Health addresses today’s most pressing mental health challenges: effective treatment, efficient prevention, equal access, improved service delivery, and stronger public policy. Eminent clinicians, researchers, academicians, and advocates examine the effects of mental illness on women’s lives and discuss the scope of clinical and service delivery issues affecting women, focusing on these major areas: Epidemiology of mental disorders in girls, female adolescents, adult women, and older women. Selected disorders of particular concern to women, including depression and postpartum depression, eating disorders, menopause, chemical dependence, and HIV/AIDS. Mental health needs of women in the workplace, rural areas, and prisons. Racial and ethnic disparities and their impact on service delivery. Parenting and recovery issues in mothers with mental illness. Women’s mental health services in an era of evidence-based medicine. Improving women’s health in today’s technological climate. A Public Health Perspective of Women’s Mental Health is a resource of immediate importance to professionals and graduate students in the public health, health administration, health disparities, social work, behavioral health, and health services research fields, as well as nursing, community/health psychology and community/public psychiatry.
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 1441915265
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 416
Book Description
A Public Health Perspective of Women’s Mental Health Edited by Bruce Lubotsky Levin and Marion Ann Becker As many as one-half of all women in the U.S. will experience some form of mental illness in their lives—an especially distressing fact when health care budgets are in flux, adding to existing disparities and unmet health needs. Written from a unique multidisciplinary framework, A Public Health Perspective of Women’s Mental Health addresses today’s most pressing mental health challenges: effective treatment, efficient prevention, equal access, improved service delivery, and stronger public policy. Eminent clinicians, researchers, academicians, and advocates examine the effects of mental illness on women’s lives and discuss the scope of clinical and service delivery issues affecting women, focusing on these major areas: Epidemiology of mental disorders in girls, female adolescents, adult women, and older women. Selected disorders of particular concern to women, including depression and postpartum depression, eating disorders, menopause, chemical dependence, and HIV/AIDS. Mental health needs of women in the workplace, rural areas, and prisons. Racial and ethnic disparities and their impact on service delivery. Parenting and recovery issues in mothers with mental illness. Women’s mental health services in an era of evidence-based medicine. Improving women’s health in today’s technological climate. A Public Health Perspective of Women’s Mental Health is a resource of immediate importance to professionals and graduate students in the public health, health administration, health disparities, social work, behavioral health, and health services research fields, as well as nursing, community/health psychology and community/public psychiatry.