Consumer-Run Mental Health

Chapter 1 - Introduction.- Defining Qualities of CROs.- History of CROs and Mental Health Care.- Research on the Effectiveness of CROs.- Organizational Dynamics.- Overview of the Book.- Chapter 2 - Using existing theory to build a conceptual framework of consumer-run organizations.- Part 1: Conceptualization of CRO Outcomes.- Part 2: Setting Characteristic Theories.- Part 3: Interpersonal Processes Within CROs.- Part 4: Roles and Identity Theory.- Part 5: The Preliminary Framework.- Chapter 3 - Refining the preliminary framework to create the role framework.- Focused Questions Methodology.- Categories and Causes of Personal Change.- Integrating Categories to Create the Role Framework.- Discussion.- Chapter 4 - Constructing journalistic life history narratives to explore the role of framework.-Conceptual and Epistemological Foundations of Narrative.- Narratives as a Research Methodology.- Integrating Journalism and Ethnographic Research.- Visual Storytelling.- Study Setting - The P.S. Club.- Study Sample.- Participant Observation.- Minimally Structured Interviews.- Life History Construction.- Analysis of Narratives.- Sharing Narratives.- Conclusion.- Chapter 5 - Life history narratives from the P.S. Club.- Life Inside Wellington's Mental Health System.- Facing Serious Mental Illness, Running a Nonprofit.- Chapter 6 - Using narratives to understand how people benefit from CROs.- Summary Cross-Case Analysis of Life History Narratives.- Limitations and Future Research.- Conclusion.- Chapter 7 - How Organizations Influence Role Development.- Organizational Size.- Leadership Involvement.- Recovery.- Study Hypotheses.- Method.- Results.- Discussion.- Chapter 8 - Role development and recovery.- Role Development and Recovery.- Relating Friendship and Leadership Roles.- Study Overview and Hypotheses.- Method.- Results.- Interpretation of Results.- Promoting an Empowering Environment.- Promoting a Socially Supportive Environment.- Comparing Friendship and Leadership Roles.-

Louis D. Brown, Ph.D. is an assistant professor at The University of Texas, School of Public Health in El Paso. He has published numerous articles and book chapters on the subject. Further, he edited a special issue for the American Journal of Community Psychology and a book for Springer on the larger field of mental health self-help. His research in this area has received numerous awards and he chairs the largest group of self-help researchers internationally.

From the reviews:

"The aim of this book is to provide an introduction to CROs in mental health, review the scholarly evidence for their benefit and cost-effectiveness, and provide an insider's perspective on mental health and the process of recovery within these organizations by those who are consumers and members of them. The author identifies a wide audience, ranging from researchers of consumer-run organizations to students of psychiatry to mental health consumers. ... book ends with suggestions for research directions and includes a self-help questionnaire in the appendix." (Christopher J. Graver, Doody's Review Service, March, 2012)

"In Consumer-Run Mental Health: Framework for Recovery, Louis Brown provides a theoretical framework for consumer-run organizations (CROs) and a research model for studying consumer-driven organizations. Those who study CROs and mental health recovery will find the text to be thoughtful, well organized, and informative. Graduate students learning about psychopathology will gain a deeper and more informed understanding of mental illness and of the social impact of living with a chronic mental health condition." (Lisa Fitzgibbons, PsycCRITIQUES, Vol. 57 (43), October, 2012)