This thought-provoking book examines the organization of medical and social services for people with serious psychiatric disorders. It focuses on the current transition from hospital-centred to community-centred services.

The first part of the book concentrates on the changes which have occurred in the theory and practice of key groups of professionals, including psychiatrists, nurses, social workers, occupational therapists and psychologists. The second part describes how those changes have directly impinged on the everyday lives of people affected by psychiatric disorders. Prior demonstrates how sociological insights can be gained from an examination of the multiple ways in which disorders have been represented in and through the work of diverse groups of psychiatric professionals.

Introduction
Social Representations and Social Worlds
Changing Images of the Psychiatric Hospital
The Diverse Objects of Psychiatric Theory
Networks of Professional Practice
Representations of Psychiatric Disorder in the Community
Representations of Psychiatric Disorder in the Family
The Social Worlds of the Hospital
The Social Worlds of the Community
Epilogue
Representations of Mental Illness

Lindsay Prior is Professor Emeritus of Sociology at Queen's University, Belfast, and visiting Professor in the School of Public Health. He is the author of Using Documents in Social Research (SAGE, 2003) and editor of the 4-volume Using Documents and Records in Social Research (SAGE, 2011). His most recent journal publications-in, Social Science & Medicine, Critical Public Health, Sociology of Health & Illness, have focused on various aspects of public health practice and policy.