Mental Health Global Policies and Human Rights Edited By Peter Morrall and Mike Hazelton. London: Whurr. 2004. 196 pp. £25 (pb). ISBN 186156 388 4

The title of this book turns out to be a bit of a misnomer. Its main focus is on the policies and progress of different countries in integrating comprehensive mental health services. Much less space in the book is devoted to human rights; there is no comparative analysis of the countries or any account of the policies of those agencies with a global remit, such as the World Health Organization and other United Nations agencies, or international organisations such as the World Federation for Mental Health, the World Psychiatric Association or Amnesty International; nor an overview of the influence of dictatorships, democratisation or public health renewal on the evolution of mental health services within countries.

Most of the chapters provide straight-forward descriptions of the history of the evolution of services, their current situation and future aspirations and, as such, are of considerable interest in their own right. The UK chapter is somewhat disappointing, being a cursory and parochial antipsychiatry, anti-government polemic which thereby misses a golden opportunity to make a constructive dispassionate analysis of the levers and barriers to progress in the UK.

Fortunately the other chapters are generally very informative, clearly written, and helpful to readers from other parts of the world. For example, the Australian chapter contains an important analysis of the development of mental health consumerism, and the need to ensure it does not undermine the other important contributions to mental health policy, including a sense of community and a common cultural heritage.

The book is largely focused on high-(UK, USA, Australian) and middle-income countries (China, Russia, Egypt and Brazil) with only one low-income country represented (Mozambique). The chapter on Egypt is a particularly rewarding read, giving an overview of the Arab and Islamic approaches to understanding mental health, as well as the development of the current service infrastructure and its future developments. It summarises existing epidemiological information and also explores some of the complex ethical issues around removing homosexuality as a diagnostic category in these societies where it is considered a sin which is otherwise subject to significant societal sanction and punishment.

On the whole, an interesting book to have on the bookshelf.