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Principles of Social Intervention


Psychosocial rehabilitation offers a number of program models, refined over years of research and practice, which aim to improve the social inclusion of people with serious mental illness and to reduce the symptoms of illness and the handicap which they create. But the field is more than a series of programs. Rehabilitation practice is based on a set of principles or values which we inherit from 200 years of social psychiatry. These principles, set out in table below, have been “rediscovered” in the great social movements in psychiatry of the past two centuries, the latest of these being the Recovery Model or Movement. The fact that these values have been rediscovered on several occasions tells us that they have been periodically abandoned, so it is important for us to recognize and accept the centrality of these principles to the work that we do. The best treatment models available will not thrive in a treatment setting which neglects the values on which they are based.

 

Table: Principles of Social Interventions in Psychiatry

 

Treatment approach
            Multidisciplinary, flexible, empowering
            Reduced reliance on drug treatment
            Consumer participation in treatment
            Family support and education
Treatment location
            Local and accessible
            In the community
Treatment setting
            Small, domestic, normalizing
            Encouragement of individual self-control
            Reduction of coercion and confinement
Involvement of the larger community
            Collaboration with other social agencies
            Fighting stigma
            Political advocacy
Respect for human rights
The importance of client communities
Empowerment: transfer of power from service providers to service users
The value of work
Therapeutic optimism
Understanding biological, psychological, social, cultural and political-economic factors