Evidence-Based Mental Health Practice: A Textbook

Robert E. Drake, Matthew R. Merrens, and David W. Lynde

Praise for Evidence-Based Mental Health Practice:

“[P]rovides short, crisply written chapters that serve as an introduction to the best available evidence in mental health practice and how to make that judgment . . . . [M]uch sound advice about what to do, and how to do it . . . . [A] most welcome addition to the literature.”
—Metapsychology

"Robert Drake and colleagues have done an excellent job of defining evidence-based practice, providing historical background to the concept in the mental health field, and describing interventions that are now considered to be evidence based….This book would be most useful for clinicians and administrators at agencies that provide psychiatric rehabilitation and other pyschosocial services for adults with serious mental illnesses; for consumers and families that receive or should receive these services; and for students in counseling, rehabilitation, and social work programs.” —The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease

Reviews:

"This text should find itself on the 'use-often' shelf of anyone committed to advancing the cause of evidence-based practice, yet it may be an even more important must read for those who remain skeptical about the intentions or the savvy of those who promote evidence-based practices, because the authors have mapped out extensive common ground for discussion and argument." —PsycCritiques

Overview – Table of Contents – Read the Prologue

The movement to make medicine more scientific has evolved over many decades but the specific term evidence-based medicine was introduced in 1990 to refer to a systematic approach to helping doctors to apply scientific evidence to decision-making at the point of contact with a specific consumer. As the philosophy, major tenets, and techniques of the movement have evolved, evidence-based medicine has strongly influenced individual health care decision-making, the practices offered in health care programs, and the structure of medical and public health systems. Evidence-based medicine has also begun to influence the field of mental health. As support for evidence-based medicine grows in mental health, the need to clarify its fundamental principles also increases.

In dealing with the new era of evidence-based practice, mental health practitioners are now confronted with a sense of obligation to understand these practices and to implement them in order to provide the best available services to consumers. This book explores some of the complex challenges in implementing EBPs, and highlights the meaningful opportunities that are inherent in this paradigm shift. This comprehensive textbook will become an essential primer for all practitioners and students who are grappling with the new age of evidence-based practice.

About the Editors

Robert E. Drake, M.D., Ph.D., is the Andrew Thomson Professor of Psychiatry and Community and Family Medicine at Dartmouth Medical School and the Director of the New Hampshire-Dartmouth Psychiatric Research Center. He has focused on developing and evaluating innovative community programs for persons with severe mental disorders

Matthew R. Merrens, Ph.D., is Visiting Professor of Psychiatry at Dartmouth Medical School and the New Hampshire-Dartmouth Psychiatric Research Center. He has had extensive experience in clinical psychology and community mental health and has authored and edited a number of textbooks in psychology

David W. Lynde, M.S.W., LICSW, is the Training Manager for the West Institute at the New Hampshire-Dartmouth Psychiatric Research Center and faculty member of Dartmouth Medical School. David provides training and consultation regarding the implementation Evidence-Based Practices.

ISBN: 0-393-70443-2
Winter 2005
Paper; 494 pages