The Social Worker and Psychotropic Medication: Toward Effective Collaboration with Mental Health Clients, Families, and Providers [Paperback]

Kia J. Bentley (Author), Joseph F. Walsh (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 2, 2000 | ISBN-10: 0534365426 | ISBN-13: 978-0534365424 | Edition: 2nd

This book is a practical and useful resource for social work students and practitioners as they fill and expand their daily roles in psychiatric medication management. The authors provide readers with the information they need to be aware, articulate, and active with respect to client's medication-related dilemmas, but also mindful of the sociopolitical context of prescription practice in psychiatry. All the facts, myths, and relevant information about psychotropic medication are presented to social workers in an easy-to-access manner. Professionals and students alike will find this book to be a practical resource that helps them to be more responsive to the medication-related concerns of their mental health clients and to work more collaboratively on these issues with families and other mental health care providers. Rich in case examples and within a contemporary framework of "partnership" practice, this book provides an up-to-date primer on psychopharmacology and a review of psychosocial interventions.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Strengths: incredibly well-researched, well-written, info on children and adolescents throughout is very much appreciated. This book offers a very academic discussion with a reasonable tone that is moderate, thoughtful, and appropriate to the topic. I really cannot say how much I appreciate the balance between the ideological poles in social work that say we must either reject all pharmacotherapy/medical approaches, or else, on the other end of the spectrum, completely ally ourselves with the medical profession. This book never talks down to the reader. It offers an excellent inclusion of consumer perspectives, consumer-strengths focus, and skillfully integrates social work values into the discussion."

"The text is amazingly reader friendly and balanced in its perspectives on the role of medications in the life of clients, family members and their relationship with providers. The authors have done a superb job of infusing the third edition with updated information on psychotropic medications with special populations and data from a national survey of social workers and their changing roles in medication management." --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

About the Author

Dr. Kia J. Bentley is a licensed clinical social worker, tenured professor, and Director of the Ph.D. Program in Social Work at Virginia Commonwealth University where she has taught since 1989. Her current teaching focuses on mental health and mental illness, psychopharmacotherapy and social work, clinical theory, and research. She is consulting editor for "The Journal of Social Work Education" and chapter member of the editorial board of "Best Practices in Mental Health". In Virginia, she is the chair of the Human Rights Committee of Central State Hospital. She is the author of another Thomson Brooks/Cole text, SOCIAL WORK PRACTICE IN MENTAL HEALTH: CONTEMPORARY ROLES, TASKS, AND TECHNIQUES AND PSYCHIATRIC MEDICATION ISSUES FOR SOCIAL WORKERS, as well as COUNSELORS AND PSYCHOLOGISTS (2003, HAWORTH).

Joseph Walsh, Ph.D., L.C.S.W., is an Associate Professor of Social Work at Virginia Commonwealth University and currently teaches courses in generalist practice, clinical practice, research, and mental and emotional disorders. He has been a direct services practitioner in the field of mental health since 1974, first in a psychiatric hospital and later in community mental health center settings. Joe has provided services to older adult and general outpatient populations, but he specializes in services to persons with serious mental illness and their families. He is the author of two additional Thomson Brooks/Cole texts, CLINICAL CASE MANAGEMENT WITH PERSONS HAVING MENTAL ILLNESS and the forthcoming THEORIES FOR DIRECT SOCIAL WORK PRACTICE (2006 copyright).

Product Details

• Paperback: 328 pages
• Publisher: Brooks/Cole; 2nd edition (August 2, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0534365426
• ISBN-13: 978-0534365424
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.4 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,087,150 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Recommended Addition to any Social Worker's Bookshelf, September 13, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: The Social Worker and Psychotropic Medication: Toward Effective Collaboration with Mental Health Clients, Families, and Providers (Paperback)

In the coming years, the role of the social worker in the treatment of the mentally ill will continue to grow. Books such as this help social workers to define their roles, which are critical ones. The mentally ill deserve the very best that the social work profession has to offer. Kia Bentley and Joseph Walsh do a great job in compiling the information needed to ensure that the collaboration between the social worker and patient is an informed one. This book is a fitting start to a new century of more effective treatment of some of our most vulnerable citizens.

1 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Must Have Reference Book for Mental Health Professionals, June 2, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: The Social Worker & Psychotropic Medication: Toward Effective Collaboration With Mental Health Clients, Families, and Providers (Paperback)

This book is a wonderful product of the Decade of the Brain. Written by two concerned professionals in the social work field, it emphasizes that the medication of patients is a true partnership between the patient and professional. Only then will many patients truly comply with the medication that they would be better off taking.