The Caucasus and the Balkan region are almost automatically associated with conflict and war. At the core of these struggles lies the quest for a new institutional relationship between territory, the state and ethnic groups. Both regions share a similar historical and institutional legacy which must be regarded as having paved the ground for a rise in ethno-nationalism. There is, as a result, wide potential for conflict in both regions. However, similar structural conditions do not always turn into violent conflicts. Rapid institutional change, as occuring in the former Yugoslavia and the former Soviet Union, can lead to new institutional arrangements on smaller scales - which may in turn provide stability in inter-group relations and border management. Therefore, it is of vital importance to the study of conflict analysis to identify what conditions foster new orders, and what factors, actors and institutions are necessary to create a stable equilibrium in intra- and inter-group conflicts. This book brings together a selection of case studies and theoretical approaches aimed at identifying the institutions which prevented or fostered escalation of conflict in the Caucasus and former Yugoslavia, and, will be of great benefit to students of these topics.

The understanding of how to reduce risk factors for mental disorders has expanded remarkably as a result of recent scientific advances. This study, mandated by Congress, reviews those advances in the context of current research and provides a targeted definition of prevention and a conceptual framework that emphasizes risk reduction. Highlighting opportunities for and barriers to interventions, the book draws on successful models for the prevention of cardiovascular disease, injuries, and smoking. In addition, it reviews the risk factors associated with Alzheimer's disease, schizophrenia, alcohol abuse and dependence, depressive disorders, and conduct disorders and evaluates current illustrative prevention programs. The models and examination provide a framework for the design, application, and evaluation of interventions intended to prevent mental disorders and the transfer of knowledge about prevention from research to clinical practice. The book presents a focused research agenda, with recommendations on how to develop effective intervention programs, create a cadre of prevention researchers, and improve coordination among federal agencies.

The Caucasus and the Balkan region are almost automatically associated with conflict and war. At the core of these struggles lies the quest for a new institutional relationship between territory, the state and ethnic groups. Both regions share a similiar historical and institutional legacy which must be regarded as having paved the ground for a rise in ethno-nationalism. There is, as a result, wide potential for conflict in both regions. However, similar structural conditions do not always turn into violent conflicts. Rapid institutional change, as occurring in the former Yugoslavia and the former Soviet Union, can lead to new institutional arrangements on smaller scales - which may in turn provide stability in inter-group relations and border management. Therefore, it important that the study of conflict analysis to identify what conditions foster new orders and what factors, actors and institutions are necessary to create a stable equilibrium in intra- and inter-group conflicts. This text brings together a selection of case studies and theoretical approaches aimed at identifying the institutions which prevented or fostered escalation of conflict in the Caucasus and former Yugoslavia, and as such, should be of benefit to students of these topics.

Perhaps never before has an objective, evidence-based review of the intersection between gun violence and mental illness been more sorely needed or more timely. Gun Violence and Mental Illness, written by a multidisciplinary roster of authors who are leaders in the fields of mental health, public health, and public policy, is a practical guide to the issues surrounding the relation between firearms deaths and mental illness. Tragic mass shootings that capture headlines reinforce the mistaken beliefs that people with mental illness are violent and responsible for much of the gun violence in the United States. This misconception stigmatizes individuals with mental illness and distracts us from the awareness that approximately 65% of all firearm deaths each year are suicides. This book is an apolitical exploration of the misperceptions and realities that attend gun violence and mental illness. The authors frame both pressing social issues as public health problems subject to a variety of interventions on individual and collective levels, including utilization of a novel perspective: evidence-based interventions focusing on assessments and indicators of dangerousness, with or without indications of mental illness. Reader-friendly, well-structured, and accessible to professional and lay audiences, the book: * Reviews the epidemiology of gun violence and its relationship to mental illness, exploring what we know about those who perpetrate mass shootings and school shootings. * Examines the current legal provisions for prohibiting access to firearms for those with mental illness and whether these provisions and new mandated reporting interventions are effective or whether they reinforce negative stereotypes associated with mental illness. * Discusses the issues raised in accessing mental health treatment in regard to diminished treatment resources, barriers to access, and involuntary commitment.* Explores novel interventions for addressing these issues from a multilevel and multidisciplinary public health perspective that does not stigmatize people with mental illness. This includes reviews of suicide risk assessment; increasing treatment engagement; legal, social, and psychiatric means of restricting access to firearms when people are in crisis; and, when appropriate, restoration of firearm rights. Mental health clinicians and trainees will especially appreciate the risk assessment strategies presented here, and mental health, public health, and public policy researchers will find Gun Violence and Mental Illness a thoughtful and thought-provoking volume that eschews sensationalism and embraces serious scholarship.

Bringing together treatment and referral advice from existing guidelines, this text aims to improve access to services and recognition of common mental health disorders in adults and provide advice on the principles that need to be adopted to develop appropriate referral and local care pathways.

Estimates indicate that as many as 1 in 4 Americans will experience a mental health problem or will misuse alcohol or drugs in their lifetimes. These disorders are among the most highly stigmatized health conditions in the United States, and they remain barriers to full participation in society in areas as basic as education, housing, and employment. Improving the lives of people with mental health and substance abuse disorders has been a priority in the United States for more than 50 years. The Community Mental Health Act of 1963 is considered a major turning point in America's efforts to improve behavioral healthcare. It ushered in an era of optimism and hope and laid the groundwork for the consumer movement and new models of recovery. The consumer movement gave voice to people with mental and substance use disorders and brought their perspectives and experience into national discussions about mental health. However over the same 50-year period, positive change in American public attitudes and beliefs about mental and substance use disorders has lagged behind these advances. Stigma is a complex social phenomenon based on a relationship between an attribute and a stereotype that assigns undesirable labels, qualities, and behaviors to a person with that attribute. Labeled individuals are then socially devalued, which leads to inequality and discrimination. This report contributes to national efforts to understand and change attitudes, beliefs and behaviors that can lead to stigma and discrimination. Changing stigma in a lasting way will require coordinated efforts, which are based on the best possible evidence, supported at the national level with multiyear funding, and planned and implemented by an effective coalition of representative stakeholders. Ending Discrimination Against People with Mental and Substance Use Disorders: The Evidence for Stigma Change explores stigma and discrimination faced by individuals with mental or substance use disorders and recommends effective strategies for reducing stigma and encouraging people to seek treatment and other supportive services. It offers a set of conclusions and recommendations about successful stigma change strategies and the research needed to inform and evaluate these efforts in the United States.

There is a dynamism among current ideas on AD/HD research which is extraordinarily encouraging as we look to the future and the resolution of the problems of AD/HD. We can have more confidence than of late that we can determine and rate the problems grouped under the rubric of AD/HD (chapter 1), delineate them with respect to some prominent (if not all) related behavioural disruptions (chapter 2) and have some confidence in an inter-cultural commonality of a problem that may respond to attention from professional care-givers (chapter 4). We are standing already at the second stage of an understanding and attribution of genetic and environmentally mediated traits (chapter 3, 9 and 10): that the way forward (towards which feature(s) trigger(s) which effect(s)) may involve tens of stages is exciting - for the first results are at hand (e.g., DRD4). Which amine systems (DA, NA, 5-HT, adrenaline, acetylcholine) intervene with anomalous function is better understood qualitatively than quantitatively (chapters 5-8). Perhaps this link in the chain of understanding remains in the most primitive state, among the fields discussed in this book. synaptic bouton (e.g., vesicle transporters, and neurexins), let alone the rules for extraneuronal uptake and release in neighbouring systems (e.g. DA by NA systems)? This knowledge will determine future generations of biologically based treatments. Chapter 12 and 13 have illustrated how (in principle) we may determine, with simple neurophysiological means, for whom precisely will these work, and on what neural systems and psychological functions are they effective. The current ideas are promising, a body of knowledge is there, many details still need to be teased out, but the way forward has been indicated.