‘Often there is a Good Deal to be Done, But Socially Rather Than Medically’: The Psychiatric Social Worker as Social Therapist, 1945–70

‘Often there is a Good Deal to be Done, But Socially Rather Than Medically’: The Psychiatric Social Worker as Social Therapist, 1945–70

Seeking to align psychiatric practice with general medicine following the inauguration of the National Health Service, psychiatric hospitals in post-war Britain deployed new treatments designed to induce somatic change, such as ECT, leucotomy and sedatives. Advocates of these treatments, often grouped together under the term 'physical therapies', expressed relief that the social problems encoun...

Big Deal - good deal? Or is there a better deal?

A Psychiatric Social Worker Abroad

membership of the Board of the World Federation for Mental Health has stimulated but not created my interest in international work in the mental health field. Almost the first beginning pre-dated this by 16 years. Called to Switzerland by "Sepeg" immediately after the war, I learned vividly there the moral support and comfort which colleagues from other countries could give in dealing with such...

The psychiatric social worker in the community.

As you probably know, in January, i@, the Provisional National Council for Mental Health were asked by the Board of Control to provide a Social After-Care Service for men and women discharged from Service Psychiatric Hospitals. For the purposes of this work an experienced psychiatric social worker, known as Regional After-Care Officer, was appointed to each of the Civil Defence Regions to under...

There is one more thing to be done: ECMO!

1Coordinator of the Pediatric Cardiac Surgery at PUC-Campinas and the Cardio Surgical Clinic ECMO group of Campinas linked to ELSO, Campinas, SP, Brazil. E-mail: [email protected] “ – Unfortunately, it is not possible to get out of cardiopulmonary bypass. We have already tried several times and it is not working. We will have to let the patient die! I will talk to the family...” This is a...