Books in the Current Topics in Mental Health series

Uprooting has to do with one of the fundamental properties of human life-the need to change-and with the personal and societal mecha nisms for dealing with that need. As with the more general problems of change, uprooting can be a time of human disaster and desolation, or a time of adaptation and growth into new capacities.

The purpose of the book is to examine the multiple issues growing out of the hospital closings: Why are the state hospitals being closed? What is the impact of closings on patients, hospital staff, and the communities where the hospitals are located?

As social and eco nomic change accelerates at an ever-increasing rate, we look with awe and wonder at the way in which unanticipated events impact on our lives and change the way we live. The President's Committee on Mental Retardation is proud of its deci sion to look at the year 2000 and its impact on the mentally retarded.

This book discusses how human beings cope with serious physical ill ness and injury. A conceptual model for understanding the process of coping with the crisis of illness is provided, and basic adaptive tasks and types of coping skills are identified.

The emphasis of most consultations is on improving the quality of life for various groups of people, on making impossible living situations more bearable, and "broadly on assisting people to face the daily challenges in their lives.