Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-j824f Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-04T19:15:53.932Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Work and Mental Health: an Employer's Guide. D. M. Miller, M. Lipsedge & P. Litchfield (eds). London: Gaskell, 2002, £20 pb, 176 pp. ISBN: 1-901242-85-4

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

Jed Boardman*
Affiliation:
Institute of Psychiatry, South London and Maudsley NHS Trust, De Crespigny Park, Denmark Hill, London SE5 8AF
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Type
Columns
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BY
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright
Copyright © The Royal College of Psychiatrists, 2004

There seems to be little doubt that work plays an important role in the well-being of the population. Work is after all, just about the only thing that you can do for eight hours a day. This book, aimed at employers and occupational health workers, contains a series of articles from a string of leaflets on ‘The ABC of Mental Health for Occupational Physicians’ and presentations from a conference on ‘Mental Well-being in the Workforce - Current Practice’.

The book is divided into chapters concerned with assessing mental health problems and specific disorders written by clinicians and a series of case studies on employers’ schemes to improve practice in the workplace. The former are of value to those working in occupational health settings, but the latter may be of interest to general practitioners and those working in mental health services. The chapter on legal aspects of mental health in the workplace is particularly useful.

As with many edited books containing material written for other purposes, there are important omissions. The book has missed an opportunity to outline the importance of work and employment for those with a mental illness. Work for people with mental illness is given an important place in the National Service Framework and both getting people with mental illness into work and keeping them in employment is crucial. More importantly for this book, the National Health Service (NHS) is one of the largest employers in the United Kingdom, yet there is no mention of schemes in NHS Trusts that employ users of mental health services. These schemes not only create jobs, but also challenge many of the barriers and misconceptions about employing people with mental health problems.

Employment for those with a mental illness is of significance to the process of recovery and to social inclusion. It is important that employers, occupational physicians, general practitioners and mental health workers are made aware of these matters and liaison between these groups encouraged. This book may have a role to play in promoting this awareness and collaboration.

References

Miller, D. M., Lipsedge, M. & Litchfield, P. (eds). London: Gaskell, 2002, £20 pb, 176 pp. ISBN: 1-901242-85-4

Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.