New book series “Language, Discourse and Mental Health” (University of Exeter Press)

New Book Series “Language, Discourse and Mental Health”

Editors: Dr. Laura A. Cariola (Lead Editor) (University of Edinburgh), Dr. Stefan Ecks (University of Edinburgh), Dr. Billy Lee (University of Edinburgh) and Dr. Lisa Mikesell (Rutgers University).

The editors are very pleased to announce the new book series “Language, Discourse and Mental Health” published with the University of Exeter Press. This book series is a unique resource to further knowledge and understanding of mental health from a pluralistically informed linguistic perspective.

Using qualitative and quantitative approaches to language-based analysis, the empirical and theoretical contributions will provide a compelling insight on mental health from a range of perspectives and contexts, including psychotherapeutic communication, public presentations of mental health, literary accounts of lived experiences, and language features associated to specific mental health problems. This interdisciplinary book series will be an essential reference for students, researchers and practitioners in linguistics and communication, education, cognitive science, psychology, counselling and psychotherapy, special needs, medicine, nursing, and medical anthropology.

Scope of the Book Series

The book series is framed in terms of linguistic perspectives that differentiate between communication about mental health (i.e., language performance or use), and the communication of individuals with mental health problems (i.e., language competence or systems) in real-world and research contexts. Such a focus is anticipated to be captured through the following linguistic perspectives: sociolinguistics and sociocultural linguistics, cognitive linguistics and psycholinguistics, literary linguistics and stylistics. These can be applied through a range of language-based methodologies, including qualitative methods (e.g., discourse analysis, conversation analysis, interpretative phenomenological analysis, narrative analysis, thematic analysis), quantitative methods (e.g., corpus-based approaches, quantitative content analysis), and also experimental methods.

Consistent with an interdisciplinary framework that seeks to encourage and strengthen interdisciplinary research of mental health, the book series aims to encompass a wide repertoire different theoretical and philosophical views and a broad range of themes that add significant value to the field of mental health research, including:

  • ‘Understanding of mental health and mental health problems’ by developing empirical and theoretical knowledge of mental health from different perspectives. 
  • ‘Living with mental health problems’ by improving understanding of individuals’ perceptions of living with mental health problems.
  • ‘Effective interventions’ by focussing on the effectiveness of psychological intervention in the treatment and prevention of mental health problems.
  • ‘Wider inequalities in society’ (e.g., issues around gender, ethnicity, poverty sexuality and faith)
  • ‘Vulnerable and hard-to-reach populations’ in society, including drug users, migrants and homeless people.

Call for Book Proposals

The book series “Language, Discourse and Mental Health” is accepting book proposals for monographs and edited volumes. To discuss your book proposals, please contact the book series editors. Book series launch spring 2019.

Book proposal form: UEP – CE Book Proposal Form 2018 (see also http://www.exeterpress.co.uk/for-authors)

Dr. Laura A. Cariola (Lead Editor). Laura.Cariola@ed.ac.uk

Dr. Stefan Ecks. Stefan.Ecks@ed.ac.uk

Dr. Billy Lee. Billy.Lee@ed.ac.uk

Dr. Lisa Mikesell Mikesell.Lisa@gmail.com