Cambridge University Press Handbook of Secure Care

This handbook provides a thorough and highly readable grounding in the important field of secure and forensic care within psychiatric services. In any society a small proportion of people with mental disorder present with behaviour that transgresses norms and violates the rights of others. Yet, these same people are often vulnerable themselves to violence, to abuse or exploitation by others, or at risk of neglect or self-harm. High rates of mortality and morbidity are well documented. Long conceptualized as a 'forensic' population, they interface between mental health and criminal justice systems, and require treatment for a time in secure services to manage risk. In recent years a growing realization has been that both protection of the public and the personal recovery of these patients must be championed by progressive, specialist clinicians. This book brings together a wide-ranging wealth of views and evidence from diverse perspectives including academic expertise and viewpoints from both clinicians and service users. It covers the spectrum of people with mental disorder who require secure care, across boundaries of age, diagnosis, and gender (converse to many texts which focus wholly on the mentally disordered offender). It is primarily for general and forensic psychiatrists, plus service managers, and for hospital and community psychiatric nurses. It will also useful for multidisciplinary professionals in the mental health team and criminal justice professionals.