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Michael T. Compton, M.D., M.P.H., is Professor of Psychiatry at Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons and Research Psychiatrist at New York State Psychiatric Institute.
Marc W. Manseau, M.D., M.P.H., is Clinical Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at New York University Grossman School of Medicine.
The stories in this volume are presented in fascinating and engaging vignettes about ordinary people and their struggle for dignity and a better life. Social needs such as freedom from poverty, food insecurity, climate change, racism, and exploitation are elaborated to draw the reader to an inevitable conclusion. Mental health suffers because of these preventable social determinants. Policy-level change is imperative for impacts on large populations. This is a must-read historical review for anyone interested in advocating for the rights of populations and improving mental health.—Vivian B. Pender, M.D., DLFAPA,President, American Psychiatric Association, Clinical Professor of Psychiatry, Weill Cornell Medical College
I love to read and tend to prefer reading fiction in my spare time. This volume, edited by Michael Compton and Marc Manseau, is a notable exception. It tells the human stories of seven pieces of federal legislation that have improved the mental health of Americans. And these are not seven stories of the development of new treatments or even changes in insurance coverage. They are stories that focus on the social determinants of health. Food, employment, income, clean air, race equity, education, and housing matter for mental health. The book concludes with lessons learned from these quintessentially human narratives about how each of us can make a difference in advancing public health and mental health through policy change.—Lisa Dixon, M.D., MPH, Edna L. Edison Professor of PsychiatryNew York State Psychiatric InstituteColumbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons and NewYork-PresbyterianDirector, Division of Behavioral Health Services and Policy Research & Center for Practice Innovations
Struggle and Solidarity is a ground-breaking and inspirational book that shows readers how others have successfully advocated in the past for seven federal non-health-related laws—public policies—that impacted social determinants of health and mental health for the entire population.—Francis Lu, M.D., DLFAPA, Kim Professor in Cultural Psychiatry, Emeritus, UC Davis
