The purpose of the book

The reform of mental health services is now a prominent issue in most economically developed countries and also in several countries of Central and Eastern Europe.Although the speed and the precise local detail of these changes vary between countries, there is a clear need for an overall conceptual framework, which can assist both those leading and those who are affected by these changes. In a sense this book acts as a guide,providing a map of the territory and a compass to orientate the direction of reform.

The process of re-modelling mental health services is a reform in two senses: it is a profound change in the values informing how treatment and care should be provided to people suffering from mental illness, and it is also a radical structural change in the physical shape and pattern of services. This book seeks to provide an overall conceptual model, and acts as a pragmatic manual to help thos e who are involved in changing mental health services and those who wish to learn from evidence and experience accumulated elsewhere.

In this volume, we shall selectively present evidence for the clinical effectiveness of community-based mental health services, including the results of research studies, such as randomised controlled trials. We shall also include a range of other types of evidence, such as knowledge based on the experience which has accrued from good clinical practice, especially in those areas not yet subjected to formal evaluation.