Physiotherapy in Mental Health: a Practical Approach
Edited by Tina Everett, Maureen Dennis and Eirian Rick-etts. 424 pp
Must. Butterworth-Heinemann, Boston. 1995
ISBN 0-7506-1700-4
Overall rating: Good to excellent
Strengths: Comprehensive, holistic approach to integration of body and mind, excellent references and useful illustrations
Audience: Practitioners and educators in physiotherapy and mental health, some people with an interest in mind and body
This lengthy book has 28 contributors — all British — from professions such as physiotherapy, education, art therapy, psychology, osteopathy and psychiatry. The target readers are physiotherapy practitioners and educators. The book’s purpose is to reconnect mental health and physiotherapy, mind and body in the completeness of human existence through a holistic philosophy.
The book has three parts. The first introduces psychiatric illnesses from two perspectives, one practical and almost simplistic, and the other more theoretic, and discusses the place of physiotherapy in community health, including the evaluation of physiotherapy services. Some of the considerations in this part of the book are specific to British health care. However, most of it is general enough to be applicable to North American practices as well.
The second part explains the “how” of physiotherapy. It includes the basics of physiology and neuroanatomy as well as the techniques of physiotherapy and related disciplines. The essay by K. Poon on human touch emphasizes the importance of body contact in human existence and the ethics of the way in which such contact is exercised. This is a very timely subject given the recent focus on physical and sexual abuse and the forces pushing health care professionals away from touching.
The essay by M. Dennis is a very aggressive, almost hostile, discussion of the ethics of the medical model. The essay on agoraphobia and panic attacks should have been included in part three, which deals with mental illnesses such as eating disorders, post-traumatic stress, substance abuse and dementia. It also covers child, elder and forensic psychiatry. This part emphasizes the importance of physiotherapy in helping diagnose and manage these mental health problems.
The references are one of the strongest parts of the book; most of the essays are comprehensive and up to date.
You can read any one essay at a time without losing continuity. The writing flows smoothly and takes into account the wide range of physiotherapists in all specialties who may be reading the book. This book is worth buying, not only for physiotherapists but also for mental health workers, practitioners and teachers.
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