A Psychiatrist’s Guide to Advocacy

A Psychiatrist's Guide to Advocacy is both a scholarly text and a handbook—a uniquely inspiring work that considers health advocacy as the public voicing of support for causes, policies, or opinions that advance patient and population health. Since the American Medical Association's 2001 adoption of the "Declaration of Professional Responsibility: Medicine's Social Contract with Humanity," the concept of advocacy as a professional duty has gradually become more accepted. Advocacy can, and does, take many forms, from lobbying the legislature for mental health parity to calling an insurer repeatedly for authorization of health care coverage that has been unfairly denied to a patient, to pointing out discriminatory practices in medical settings against individuals with mental health diagnoses or those who are members of historically marginalized groups. The many arenas of advocacy (e.g., patient-level, legislative, organizational, media, education) and its diverse beneficiaries (e.g., children and families, older adults, LGBTQ patients, veterans) are addressed in depth in this engaging book. Also compelling are the multiple interviews with advocacy role models whose exceptional experiences provide texture, realism, and inspiration.

A Psychiatrist's Guide to Advocacy demystifies the process of stepping up and being heard, rendering advocacy less intimidating and helping readers build the skills and confidence necessary to advocate for patients, practitioners, and the profession.