Responding to Men in Crisis

Responding to Men in Crisis is based on new research looking at gendered assumptions about rationality and men's mental health. It looks at postmodern theory in relation to masculinities and madness, and discusses key contemporary debates in political uses of risk, dangerousness and so on. The author relates this to a discussion of current policy and practice responses to men within the mental health system. It offers the reader a theoretical exploration of a topically and politically sensitive issues and is relevant to service user involvement and survivor movements, making it essential reading for academics and students of sociology and allied disciplines.

Increasing rates of male suicide have been well documented, as have the problems of mental health provision for some minority male groups. However, the position of men in general within the psychiatric system is complex and has received little attention in the literature on masculinities or on mental health. Responding to Men in Crisis addresses this difficulty by proposing a critical politics of complexity.

Key features include:

· postmodern and feminist critiques of Enlightenment rationality
· biographical studies of Nietzsche, Foucault, Antonin Artaud and Daniel Schreber to highlight their interest in madness and its exclusion
· the exploration of the political uses of experience
· various perspectives on the key issues of risk, 'dangerousness' and suicide
· autobiographical fragments which locate the writer's speaking position and illustrate issues around masculinity, distress, and bereavement.

This book is based on new research looking atgendered assumptions about rationality and men's mental health. It offers the reader a theoretical exploration of a topically and politically sensitive issue and provides a valuable critique of postmodern theory and theorists. It is relevant to service user involvement and survivor movements and is essential reading for academics and students of sociology and allied disciplines.

Brian Taylor worked as a community development worker between 1984 and 1993, mostly for one of the first user/survivor led MIND groups in England. He draws on a range of personal experience including involvements in informal crisis support, self-help therapy, and anti-sexist men's groups, and has recenetly completed a PhD in Applied Social Sciences at the University of Bradford.