From: Lydia Lewis [mailto:[log in to unmask]] 

	

	Sociology of Mental Health: Rethinking the Boundaries

	

	A one day symposium to take place at Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust, Thursday, 30th June 2005 and hosted by the Sociology of Mental Health Study Group (BSA Medsoc)

	

	We are pleased to announce that the newly formed Sociology of Mental Health Study Group will be holding its first annual symposium this year. The aim of the event is to bring participants together to discuss issues and work being carried out within the area and to provide an opportunity for networking and the sharing of ideas and information.

	

	The theme of this year's event is the boundaries of the sociology of mental health, an issue raised at the study gorup's inaugural meeting at the BSA Medical Sociology Group conference in September last year.  Presentations will address the boundaries between psychiatry and the sociology of mental health, as well as the boundaries and links between the study area and activism within the mental health sphere.  Papers will also address the conceptualisation of mental health and distress and of the field of mental health services from a sociological perspective, and of the sociology of mental health as a study area.

	

	There is a small charge of £10 for the day, with a concessionary rate of £5 for BSA members.  There is no charge for students and those who are unwaged.  For further details and to register, please contact Lorna Viikna at: [log in to unmask]; tel 0115 993 4543. Deadline for registrations is 13th May.

	

	We look forward to welcoming you in Nottingham for what we are sure will be a stimulating inaugural Sociology of Mental Health Study Group event.

	

	Study Group Convenors: 

	Lydia Lewis (University of Aberdeen) and Louise Woodward (Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust / University of Nottingham)

	

	This event is supported by the Sociology of Health and Illness Foundation

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	Programme:

	

	9.45 - 10.20: Arrival and registration (coffee)

	

	10.20 - 10.30: General introduction by convenors 

	

	10.30 - 11.50: Paper session: Lay, medical and sociological understandings of mental health and distress (3 x 15 minutes with 5 minutes each for questions) 

	

	C. Nugent, The duck and the rabbit? The maiden and the crone? A comparison of lay and psychiatric narratives of depression in older women.

	R. Power, 'Body learning': a practical challenge to the boundaries of definition of 'mental health'.

	R. Chidlaw, Young People Discussing Life. Challenges and Troubles: hearing the voices of young people

	S. Stitt, When Irish Eyes Aren't Smiling: Mental Health Issues Among the Irish Living in Britain 

	

	11.50-12.10: Coffee break 

	

	12.10-1.10: Paper session: Conceptualising mental distress: the limits of psychiatry and the contributions of sociology (3 x 15 minutes with 5 minutes each for questions)

	

	H. Middleton, The Sociology of Mental Health: Boundaries with Medicine

	M. Redley, The psychiatric assessment of non-psychotic patients who self-harm: how psychiatry can become sociology 

	A. Rogers and D. Pilgrim, Mental health inequalities, social psychiatry and critical realism? 

	

	1.10-2.00: Lunch

	

	2.00-3.00: Parallel paper sessions (3 x 15 minutes with 5 minutes each for questions) 

	

	Sociological perspectives on the position of mental health service users 

	R. Graham, The Modern Service User 

	E. Speed, Discourses of consumption or consumed by discourse?  A consideration of what 'consumer' means to the service user

	O'Donnell, User involvement: some questions, some answers

	

	Sociological Perspectives on the Field of Mental Health Services

	M. Freestone, The Field of Psychiatric Care: Contextualising High-Secure Mental Health Research

	J. Aggergaard Larsen, Addressing the how does it work?question in complex mental health intervention

	A. Page, Schizophrenia rethinking the boundaries

	

	3.00-3.20: Coffee break

	

	3.20-4.40: Paper session: Conceptual issues in the sociology of mental health (3 x 15 minutes with 5 minutes each for questions) 

	

	S. Leze, A Sociological perspective on mental health: what is at stake?

	D. Oneill, The marginalisation of learning disability

	J. Warner, Rethinking epistemological positions in the sociology of mental health.

	D. Weinberg, On the boundaries of subjectivity: Some conceptual issues in the sociology of mental health and illness

	

	4.40-5.15: General discussion of the day's proceedings around the theme of the symposium, delegate completion of evaluation forms and close