Lived Experience in Mental Health

Gary Morris is a lecturer in mental health nursing at the University of Leeds, UK. He is also the author of Mental Health issues and the Media and co-author of The Dementia Care Workbook.

• Part 1: Lived Experience and Learning 1. Embracing lived experience 2. ‘I became involved to try to make a difference’: Service user engagement Part 2: The Lived Experience in Mental Health 3. ‘Standing on a cliff edge’: Living with anxiety 4. ‘Walking in treacle’: Living with depression 5. ‘My brain won’t slow down’: Living with extremes of mood 6. ‘There’s a storm inside’: Living with altered reality 7. ‘Patching over the holes’: Living with impaired cognition Part 3: Embracing Lived Experience Narratives 8. Narrative resources 9. Learning strategy

**Description**This is a collection of narratives from people (service users) and carers ofmental health clients. The narratives are presented along with informationregarding an array of common mental health disorders.**Purpose**The author states in his introduction that the book "provides a contextualunderstanding of a person's daily experiences, encountered difficulties, copingapproaches and available support networks" of people living with mental health issues.**Audience**The author does not identify his intended audience. However, the book wouldcertainly offer an introduction to the lived experience of mental healthstruggles for any students beginning a career where they may care for clientssuffering with mental health disorders. Unfortunately, the author does notshare his credentials other than as a lecturer in nursing. This in itself isnot enough to determine whether he has any expertise in the area.**Features**The book is divided into three sections. The first defines what narratives areand describes the usefulness to the learner of lived experiences. The secondpresents the narratives of clients struggling with mental health issues. Thethird provides links to references and media sources that also offer narrativesof people with mental health issues. As a U.K. book, the resources are largelyfrom the U.K.**Assessment**This book offers a nice supplemental resource for teaching nursing students andother disciplines about mental health disorders. It will help provide contextto mental health issues.Laura Kelly, PhD, APN(Columbia University School of Nursing) - Doody's review