‘Diagnosis human’: markets, targets and medicalisation in community mental health services

Abstract

Jeremy Weinstein has argued that three processes: managerialism, marketisation and medicalisation are reshaping contemporary mental health practice. This chapter will seek to expand on their nature, dynamics and interaction within community mental health services in England. The discussion will begin with an overview of the form taken by managerialism and marketisation in mental health services. This is followed by an outline of the mechanisms through which front line practice is medicalised and its impact on social workers, other mental health practitioners and service users. The chapter will then go on to briefly examine risk, and conclude with consideration of the prospects for resistance to the neoliberal restructuring of the mental health field.