The social representation of mental ill-health in communities of mental health practitioners in the UK and France

As society's practical experts on mental ill-health, mental health professi onals work at the interface between politics, "expert'' theories of mental illness and their lay equivalents in common sense. This paper describes res earch conducted from the perspective of social representations theory explo ring the basic understanding of mental ill-health amongst communities of me ntal health practitioners in the UK and France. Professionals construct not ions of mental ill-health articulated around three central themes of differ ence, distress and disruption, and adopt social rather than medical models of their work. Despite their expert status, professionals' representations are fraught with uncertainties that ave lived out in eclectic treatment str ategies. This research highlights the role of interactions between politics , professional practitioners and lay representations in contemporary societ al constructions of mental ill-health.