Includes index and bibliographical references.

Content: Approaches to mental health illness: Definitions and perspectives -- The measurement of mental disorder -- The prevalence of mental illness -- Biological approaches to psychiatric disorders -- Psychological approaches to mental illness -- Sociological approaches to mental illness -- The labeling theory of mental disorder(I): The role of social contingencies in the application of psychiatric labels -- The social context of mental health and illness: Stress and mental health: A conceptual overview -- The nature of stressors -- Social support and coping -- Outcomes of the stress process -- Family structure and the processes -- Social networks and mental health -- Socioeconomic stratification and mental disorder -- Work and unemployment as stressors -- Race and mental health: Emerging patterns and promising approaches -- Social stressors in childhood and adolescence -- Well-being across the life course -- Gender and mental health: Do women have more psychopathology, men more, or both the same (and why)? -- The labeling theory of mental disorder(II): The consequences of labeling -- Mental health systems and policy: How do people come to use mental health services? Current knowledge and changing perspectives -- Contemporary mental health systems and managed care -- Institutional change and its consequences for the delivery of mental health services -- Integrating service delivery systems for persons with a severe mental illness -- Mental health policy making in the intergovernmental system -- Psychiatric rehabilitation services and outcomes: An overview -- An introduction to the mental health consumer movement -- Mental illness and the criminal justice system -- The HIV-mental health challenge -- Cultural diversity and mental health treatment -- Mental health systems in cross-cultural context.