The Challenges of Mental Health Caregiving: Research · Practice · Policy

Caring for the ill, disabled, very old, or very young requires a labor-intensive commitment that is not only essential to the well-being of individuals and to society as a whole, but also fraught with physical, financial, and psychological risks. And despite the critical nature of their job, caregivers rarely have avenues of support.

The Challenges of Mental Health Caregiving addresses the complexities of the situation with uncommon depth and breadth. Suited to researchers, scientist-practitioners and clinicians, and students seeking a rounded understanding of the field, it examines how caregiving affects the lives, work, and mental health of family and professional caregivers. Chapters explore developmental, cultural, and spiritual contexts of care, addressing ongoing concerns about care in relation to larger health systems and emphasizing the need for care to be viewed as a community, rather than an individual or family experience. Further, the book's conclusion strongly advocates for more effective and efficient uses for available funds and resources while offering workable proposals for service improvements at the policy level.

Key areas of coverage:

• The impact of caregiving on physical and mental health.
• Integrating mental health and primary care.
• The promotion of positive mental health outcomes in children and youth.
• Mid-life concerns and caregiver experience.
• Loss, grief, bereavement and the implications for mental health caregiving.
• Policy issues incaregiving and mental health.

The Challenges of Mental Health Caregiving is a clear-sighted reference for researchers, clinicians and scientist-practitioners, and graduate students in the caregiving fields, including clinical psychology, social work, public health/medicine, geriatrics/gerontology, public policy, and educational policy.

Ronda C. Talley, PhD, MPH, is the Executive Director of the Suzanne Vitale Clinical Education Complex at Western Kentucky University and Professor of Psychology. Her prior work experience includes serving as Executive Director of the Rosalynn Carter Institute for Caregiving; Associate Director of Legislation, Policy, and Planning/Health Scientist at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; and Associate Executive Director at the American Psychological Association. Dr. Talley received the Outstanding Alumni Award from Indiana University and the Jack Bardon Distinguished Service Award from the Division of School Psychology of the American Psychological Association.

Gregory L. Fricchione, MD, is Director of the Benson-Henry Institute for Mind Body Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital. He also serves as Associate Chief of Psychiatry at MGH and is a Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. He is a 1978 graduate of the New York University School of Medicine and did his postgraduate training in psychiatry at NYU-Bellevue and in psychosomatic medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital. From 2000 to 2002, he served as Director of the Mental Health Task Force at the Carter Center in Atlanta, Georgia, while on leave of absence from HMS. While there he worked with Mrs. Rosalynn Carter and former President Jimmy Carter on public and international mental health issues and policy. Dr. Fricchione has published more than 100 journal articles and has co-authored five books. He has overall responsibility for the clinical, educational and research missions of BHI.

Benjamin G. Druss, MD, MPH, is Professor of Health Policy and Management andBehavioral Sciences and Health Education at the Rollins School of Health, Emory University. As the first Rosalynn Carter Chair in Mental Health at Emory University, Dr. Druss is working to build linkages between mental health, general medical health, and public health. He works closely with Carter Center Mental Health Program, where he is a member of the Mental Health Task Force and Journalism Task Force. He has been a member of two Institute of Medicine Committees and has served as an expert consultant to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, the Centers for Disease Control, and the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation.

Dr. Druss’s research focuses on improving physical health and healthcare among persons with serious mental disorders. He has published more than 100 peer-reviewed articles on this and related topics, including the first randomized trial of an intervention to improve medical care in this population in 2001. His research is funded by grants from the National Institute of Mental Health and the Agency for Healthcare Quality and Research, and he serves as a standing member of an NIMH study section. He has received a number of national awards for his work, including the American Psychiatric Association Early Career Health Services Research Award, the AcademyHealth Article-of-the-Year Award, and the AcademyHealth Alice S. Hersh New Investigator Award.