Sunday, May 19, 2013

Psychiatric Rehabilitation, 2nd Edition, Carlos W. Pratt



"...a comprehensive textbook for students studying psychiatric rehabilitation. Chapters are complete and well organized...making the material easier to understand and apply."
- Doody Enterprises, Inc.

I bought this book for a class that I took over the summer. What I found was a text that, while dense at times, is very informative and I have learned a lot from reading it. Would I read it if there wasn't a class? no but it really does compliment a class setting and compliments what would be discussed in the classroom. Overall, a pretty decent text

This book is layed out in a very simple format, and easy to understand. I give this book a great deal of credit with my success passing the Certified Psychiatric Rehabilitation Practioner exam in April 2011. This book was the foundation that I used when studying, and it gives vivid examples of the concepts described. If you are attempting to write for the CPRP exam, then you need this book!!! It gets an A++++++++ from me.

I'm a parent to a young adult son with schizophrenia. Like so many others in my position, I have been navigating the maelstrom of mental disability. Tossing and turning on such turbulent seas, I have been hankering for a safe harbor of understanding from which I can chart a more productive course. I have found it in Psychiatric Rehabilitation, a wonderful textbook by Carlos Pratt, et.al. at University of Medicine and Dentristry of New Jersey, one of the few schools which actually teaches this subject at a graduate level. (Boston University and University of Illinois at Chicago are the other two.)

Psychiatric rehabilitation is a relatively new field within mental health. Originated by early adopters like William Anthony of Boston University and Robert Drake of Dartmouth Medical School, psychiatric rehabilitation proposes to turn the traditional concepts of mental illness on their heads. No longer are we talking illness and disability. We are now all about wellness and recovery. This makes perfect sense. As a cancer survivor myself, I appreciate an affirmative tone that this book projects... confidence... autonomy... VICTORY over affliction! The old thinking is about disability, illness, limits, constraints, restraints, disability... The new thinking, so well embodied in Pratt et.al.'s fine text, is all about empowerment, hope, recovery, POSSIBILITIES!

Psychiatric Rehabilitation describes it all well. For a loved one of someone with a mental illness, this book is a godsend. It speaks of the wonderful potentialities for all mentally afflicted to create a better life for themselves in their recoveries. All recoveries will differ. They all depend on the individual. Families also play a critical role. The beauty of this book is its laying out so lucidly all the possible elements of a holistic recovery, supported employment, supported education, and supported housing, just to mention three.

Never would I wish a mental illness on anyone. My son's PACT director says that mental illness is an ailment worse than cancer. At least with cancer there is a definitive end. I don't go that far. My son's mental illness, I tell my incredulous friends, has actually been a blessing: I have come to learn first-hand of the significant trauma that many loved ones navigating this maelstrom experience for themselves. The blessing is in the bonding with all of them. It is part of the spirit that Psychiatric Rehabilitation embraces.

This text lays out cogently, simply, articulately all the aspects of recovery available to our disabled. Its plain and direct explanations can help the afflicted--and their loved ones alike--to see ahead a better future. Psychiatric Rehabiliation, both this text and the movement it describes, is all about positive empowerment. More power to Carlos Gill et.al,. with thanks from this layman for this fine canonical text!

Superb introduction to psychosocial rehabilitation. Introduces the experiece of mental illness from the client's perspecitive, covers symptoms and etiology of severe and persistent mental illness as well as treatment strategies. The book is simply written using case illustrations. I have used it for new staff at our community mental health clinic for the past 2 years. The book was popular - so popular that it disappeared and I am replacing it with several copies, one for each team. I would recommend the book as a resource for any student of a mental health program or any staff person trying to get a handle on working effectively with clients who have severe and persistent mental illness.

In reviewing this book I found it to be interesting and educational at the same time. It is not dry reading for a subject that could well be that. I will be able to use this book in my clinical practice when I graduate this summer.

This is an excellent book for anyone interested in learning more about PsyR! It is easy to read and includes interesting case studies to assist in the learning process.

Product Details :
Hardcover: 458 pages
Publisher: Academic Press; 2 edition (October 6, 2006)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0125644310
ISBN-13: 978-0125644310
Product Dimensions: 7.5 x 1.3 x 9.2 inches

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