Working with Schizophrenia: A Needs Based Approach

This is a practical handbook for all professionals working with people suffering from schizophrenia, concerned with promoting real understanding of their experiences and developing effective ways to facilitate them to maintain a reasonable quality of life. Featuring many contributions from sufferers, carers and service providers, and based on a tried and tested needs based approach pioneered by the author and her colleagues, it begins by looking at the present "state of play" in society's approach to schizophrenia, and the experiences of both sufferers and their families. It goes on to identify the needs raised by such experiences and considers ways of meeting such needs before detailing methods of intervention, including groupwork and the provision of resources.

Table of Contents:
Foreword. Introduction. Part I: About Schizophrenia. 1. Reality, Not Myth! 2. What Happens to sufferers. 3. What Happens to Families. Part II: Identifying and Meeting Needs 4. Priorities the Whole Family. 5. Priorities for sufferers. 6. Meeting Needs Indentified by Families. 7. Meeting Needs Identified by Sufferers. Part III: A Needs Based Approach 8. Explanations and Sharing Information. 9. Dealing with Specific Problems. 10. An Effective Resource. 11. Reality Testing and Other Strategies. 12. Needs Based Groupwork. Part IV: A Way Forward 13. Damage Limitation. References. Useful addresses. Further reading. Index.

About the Author :
Gwen Howe began her career in psychiatric social work twenty years ago. A specialist senior practitioner and ASW until 1988, she went on to manage a centre for schizophrenia sufferers. Now retired, her fourth book was published earlier this year. Gwen is co-ordinator of a local pressure group of sufferers and carers and a member of Depression Alliances professional advisory panel. She is frequently asked to give talks and advice on serious mental illness.

Review :
`This is clearly a valuable book and, in the present climate of concern about the wisdom or otherwise of caring for schizophrenic patients in the community, it has particular relevance. Many professionals in this challenging area will find this book useful, and a good basis for discussing relevant issues with colleagues and trainees. The discussion of resources, unusual in books in this area, is very welcome. What this book does is to provide a very sensible discussion of a way of managing, and working with, schizophrenic patients and their families in the community. Thus it complements, very effectively, the existing technical literature.' - Behaviour Research and Therapy `The author has a positive and optimistic approach with realistic suggestions for improving care in an area where development is much needed. The content is topical and pertinent. By allowing the families and patients to `speak' for themselves, she achieves a clarity of expression which is both valuable and helpful for increasing awareness and understanding on the part of the reader. This would be particularly valuable for students or staff with limited experience, but is salutary reading for anyone. The problem is that those who most need to read it will probably not. Make sure you are not in this category.' `In this thoroughly engaging and readable book, the author draws on years of practical experience to give a committed and compassionate account of working with people who suffer from schizophrenia and their carers…I would recommend that mental health nursing students and practitioners working with this client group do read it - not the least for the challenges it poses for services and service-providers.' -Nursing Times `Twenty years as a psychiatric social worker ably distilled into a readable form.' `Gwen Howe fulfils her aim in providing a handbook for mental health professionals working with people who have schizophrenia. She writes with conviction keeping a balance between research that has been undertaken in the general area of the affliction and the vivid case studies of individuals … offers useful and well formed questions to draw out a sufferer in order to assess change.' `good advice about social security benefits and rightly emphasises the importance of preventing crisis through early access and the ready availability of relevant information.' `a practical handbook for professionals, written without jargon and without pretension … A warm book, that pulls no punches, I strongly recommend it to all professionals working with people who suffer from this cruel disorder.' `presents some creative and practical suggestions … offers an excellent training tool for workers new to mental health and to students.' `many service providers and trainers would benefit greatly from its down to earth approach … a basic, useful approach to mental illness … written with the authority of one who has worked for years in the field as a professional … a good beginner's guide.' `wideranging and readable...I warmly commend Gwen Howe's book...an essential handbook for families of schizophrenia sufferers.' -NSF Today `This is a practical book, written without jargon, and without pretension, and based on the author's extensive working experience. It emphasises the importance of listening to sufferers and their relatives, respecting emotional reactions and their formulations of their difficulties, and helping them to reach their own solutions. It is underscored by a passionate belief in human rights, and in the potential of people with schizophrenia to attain a better quality of life than many find possible. The book will be valuable to many people for the detailed information it contains, the understanding of human dilemmas which it conveys, and the humanity with which it is written. It should be standard reading for professionals in the mental health services. Voluntary workers and families trying to help a person with schizophrenia will find in it much that they need to know; and many sufferers will find it a source of support and assistance, as they try to cope with their own problems, and the day-to-day stresses of their lives.'