Religion and Prevention in Mental Health

Studies in Empowerment

Steps Toward Understanding and Action

Robert E Hess

This adaptable book offers diverse applications of the empowerment model to the promotion of mental health and the prevention of mental illness. Topics span the developmental trends of empowerment as an individual achievement, a community experience, and a professional aim in relation to social intervention strategies and tactics.

Sexual Assault and Abuse

Sociocultural Context of Prevention

Robert E Hess, Carolyn F Swift

Prevention of a chronic societal problem such as sexual victimization requires looking beyond individuals to the systemic factors that maintain the problem. Sexual Assault and Abuse addresses the need to change social and cultural beliefs and practices that permit the sexual victimization of women and children. Potential rapists and victims are viewed within the context of the social and cultural factors that shape sexual behavior. The book discusses rape prevention approaches ranging from changing individuals and groups to changing the social and cultural factors that permit and promote sexual victimization. Research in the social sciences, in education, and in the media documents the promise as well as the problems with efforts to change social and cultural beliefs and practices to create a sexually safe society. Sexual Assault and Abuse integrates recent advances in research on sexual assault and prevention into strategies to prevent sexual victimization, with a focus on the role of sociocultural factors. In Sexual Assault and Abuse, editor Carolyn F. Swift brings together authors who thoughtfully examine the perpetrators and victims of sexual assault/abuse in an effort to change or obliterate sociocultural factors which maintain or promote this behavior. Topics covered include: the sociocultural context of sexual assault/abuse the need to develop multiple-level prevention programs development of sexually abusive behavior in men and boys the relationship between pornography and sexual assault/abuse the need for culturally-sensitive prevention programs the significance of sexual revictimization in the lives of African American women an ecological approach to the prevention of sexual harassment utilization of social science research to develop public policy on pornography use of public information campaigns to prevent intrafamilial child sexual abuse within Hispanic families Sexual Assault and Abuse identifies sociocultural risks associated with sexual assault/abuse and explores ways to reduce these risks, from a prevention perspective, for diverse populations. Risks addressed include gender inequities, pornography, worksites hostile to women, previous victimization in African American females, sexist and racist beliefs, and media violence against women. Prevention programs range from interventions to stop the development of sexually abusive behavior in boys and men, through programs that take account of ethnic diversity in language, history, and culture, to those that promote empowerment of women. By addressing the environmental context in which sexual assault occurs, the authors in Sexual Assault and Abuse broaden their focus to incorporate both potential perpetrators and potential victims in an ecological perspective which permits new approaches to prevention. This book is of special interest and value to academics and practitioners of psychology, psychiatry, and social work, therapists and counselors, women’s studies professionals, sociologists, anthropologists, feminists, rape crisis center staff and volunteers, and battered women center staff and volunteers.

Aging and Prevention

New Approaches for Preventing Health and Mental Health Problems in Older Adults

Robert E Hess

Renowned specialists on aging explore the meaning of prevention and provide practical information about programs and services for the elderly. Interesting chapters focus on the prevention of long-term care institutionalization, alternative health delivery systems, informal support networks, and the prevention of domestic neglect and abuse of elderly adults.

The National Mental Health Association

Eighty Years of Involvement in the Field of Prevention

Robert E Hess

Here is a unique and important volume that pays tribute to the contributions of the National Mental Health Association to the field of prevention.For more than 80 years, the National Mental Health Association has been a major force in the advancement of the field of prevention. It has pursued an impressive three-pronged mission of promoting health, preventing mental illness, and improving the care and treatment of persons with mental illnesses through advocacy at all levels of state and national government and the development of prevention programs.The National Mental Health Association: Eighty Years of Involvement in the Field of Prevention traces the history of the association’s involvement in prevention back to the first decade of the century. Mental health professionals from Pennsylvania, Michigan, Texas, South Carolina, New York, and Illinois describe some of the diverse activities relating to prevention in which local associations are involved, such as public education, direct intervention, and legislative advocacy. In addition, a large part of the volume is devoted to in-depth descriptions of seven programs of sufficient distinction and merit to have received the association’s prestigious Lela Rowland Prevention Award, which recognizes outstanding prevention programs in the area of mental health.This volume should be read by the hundreds of thousands of Mental Health Association members, as well as community psychologists, social workers, and professionals in mental health centers and state mental health departments.

Prevention

Toward a Multidisciplinary Approach

Robert E Hess

This new book takes a detailed look at different disciplines as they relate to prevention. Authors examine how a multidisciplinary approach to prevention can refine and increase the effectiveness and comprehensiveness of the field. Given the complexity of the problems facing society today, many professionals are recognizing the strong need for collaborative efforts in the area of prevention. Prevention: Toward a Multidisciplinary Approach will help you gain a clearer perspective of this need and will provide invaluable insights into the intitial steps required for successful collaboration.

The Ecology of Prevention

Illustrating Mental Health Consultation

Robert E Hess

This provocative volume offers an enlightening look at mental health consultation as a preventive service. To enhance the prospects of consultation being preventive, consultation is defined as an ecological enterprise. Although attention is given to outcomes, process is the key in this book. This beneficial volume presents ten valuable principles to guide the work of a consultant, plus case studies representing different topics--self-esteem of high school students in rural Oregon, child abuse prevention in a rural and urban setting in Iowa, a junior high school consolidation in Maryland, and preventive services for Lutheran congregations in Minnesota. Each of the authors of the four case examples in their actual consultation and in their descriptions of their consultation have extended and elaborated what it means to think ecologically. Following an unusual format, the comments from the recipients of the interventions described in the case studies have been included as a reminder that prevention, in its truest spirit, involves partnerships, that “subjects” or “consultees” have feelings and opinions about their participation, and that subjective data are as important as objective data.

Religion As a Resource for Preventive Action

Conceptual and Empirical Foundations

Kenneth Ira Pargament, Kenneth I. Maton, Robert Hess

A theoretical look at religion as a factor in the prevention of mental illness, this work argues against the notion of religion as damaging to mental health. It focuses instead on ways in which religions assist believers in anticipating, avoiding or modifying problems before they develop.

Religion and Prevention in Mental Health

Community Intervention

Robert Hess, Kenneth I. Maton, Kenneth Ira Pargament

Description unavailable for this volume in the current provider response.

Handbook of Religion and Mental Health

David H. Rosmarin, Harold G. Koenig

The Handbook of Religion and Mental Health is a useful resource for mental health professionals, religious professionals, and counselors. The book describes how religious beliefs and practices relate to mental health and influence mental health care. It presents research on the association between religion and personality, coping behavior, anxiety, depression, psychoses, and successes in psychotherapy and includes discussions on specific religions and their perspectives on mental health. - Provides a useful resource for religious and mental health professionals - Describes the connections between spirituality, religion, and physical and mental health - Discusses specific religions and their perspectives on mental health - Presents research on the association between religion and personality, coping behavior, anxiety, depression, psychoses, and successes in psychotherapy

Religion and prevention in mental health

conceptual and empirical foundations

Robert E. Hess

Description unavailable for this volume in the current provider response.

Mental Health and Faith

Volver a la Historia

Daniel Rota, Elida Rota

It is an illusion to think that simply being Christians makes us immune to mental illness. This is a crucial book that provides a biblical yet scientific analysis of the relationship between contemporary crises of depression, addiction and anxiety and God's call to Christian experience and ministry. Mental Health and Faith provides a prevention and treatment plan for those Christians who understand that not all mental health challenges are spiritual in nature, though they undoubtedly affect the spirit of individuals and their environment. We know that God created the principles and laws that govern our entire being, and science seeks to discover and understand them. God has also revealed many things about human nature in the Scriptures. Therefore, the science of mental health and Christianity should not be seen as antagonistic. The challenge we face today is not choosing between faith and science; rather, we need both. In this book, we present guidelines for preserving and improving mental health, as well as a set of skills and competencies that are useful in counseling and ministering to Christians who experience mental health disorders. We also describe the boundary between a spiritual issue and a situation that requires psychological or psychiatric help, because treating a person with a mental illness as solely a spiritual or behavioral problem would be a mistake. We debunk prejudices, challenge misconceptions, and explain truths about the experiences of Christians with mental illnesses. Es ilusorio pensar que el mero hecho de ser cristianos nos hace inmunes a las enfermedades mentales. Este es un libro crucial que ofrece un análisis bíblico y a la vez científico de la relación entre las crisis contemporáneas de depresión, adicción y ansiedad y la llamada de Dios a la experiencia y el ministerio cristianos. Salud mental y fe ofrece un plan de prevención y tratamiento para aquellos cristianos que comprenden que no todos los problemas de salud mental son de naturaleza espiritual, aunque sin duda afectan al espíritu de las personas y a su entorno. Sabemos que Dios creó los principios y leyes que rigen todo nuestro ser, y la ciencia trata de descubrirlos y comprenderlos. Dios también ha revelado muchas cosas sobre la naturaleza humana en las Escrituras. Por lo tanto, la ciencia de la salud mental y el cristianismo no deben considerarse antagónicos. El reto al que nos enfrentamos hoy no es elegir entre la fe y la ciencia; más bien, necesitamos ambas. En este libro, presentamos directrices para preservar y mejorar la salud mental, así como un conjunto de habilidades y competencias que son útiles para aconsejar y ministrar a los cristianos que experimentan trastornos de salud mental. También describimos el límite entre una cuestión espiritual y una situación que requiere ayuda psicológica o psiquiátrica, porque tratar a una persona con una enfermedad mental como un problema únicamente espiritual o de comportamiento sería un error. Desmontamos prejuicios, cuestionamos ideas erróneas y explicamos verdades sobre las experiencias de los cristianos con enfermedades mentales.

Religion and Mental Health

John F. Schumaker

Some argue that religious beliefs foster security of mind and mental stability, maintaining that they offer a sense of hope, meaning, and purpose; provide a reassuring fatalism that enables the believer to better withstand suffering and pain; and give people a sense of power and control through association with an omnipotent force. Others assert, however, that religious beliefs can undermine mental health in ways that include generating excessive levels of guilt, encouraging the unhealthy repression of anger, and creating anxiety and fear with threats of punishment for sinful behavior. This interdisciplinary collection presents previously unpublished papers on the controversial relationship between religious behavior and mental health. Schumaker has assembled a distinguished international roster of contributors - sociologists and anthropologists as well as psychiatrists and psychologists of religion representing a wide range of opinions concerning the mental health implications of religious belief and practice. Taken together, the papers provide a comprehensive overview of theory and research in the field. Included are papers on the interaction of religion and self-esteem, life meaning and well-being, sexual and marital adjustment, anxiety, depression, suicide, psychoticism, rationality, self-actualization, and various patterns of anti-social behavior. Religion is also considered in relation to the mental health of women, the elderly, and children. Contributions addressing mental health in non-Western religious groups add an important cross-cultural dimension to the volume.