Elgar Advanced Introductions are stimulating and thoughtful introductions to major fields in the social sciences, business and law, expertly written by the world's leading scholars. Designed to be accessible yet rigorous, they offer concise and lucid surveys of the substantive and policy issues associated with discrete subject areas.

Written by esteemed legal scholar Michael L. Perlin, this indispensable Advanced Introduction examines the long-standing but ever-dynamic relationship between law and mental health. The author discusses and contextualises how the law, primarily in the United States but also in other countries, treats mental health, intellectual disabilities, and mental incapacity, giving examples of how issues such as the rights of patients, the death penalty and the insanity defense permeate constitutional, civil, and criminal matters, and indeed the general practice of law.

Key features include:

• unpacks key US Supreme Court decisions to focus on the issues that have been most significant in the development of the field
• explains the distortion of this area of law by biased and stereotypical social attitudes including sanism
• examines lesser-known cases that illuminate judicial attitudes, helping readers to better understand likely future developments in mental health law.

Offering an insightful introduction to this field, the Advanced Introduction to Mental Health Lawis an invaluable resource for students and newly qualified lawyers, and will appeal not only to those looking to understand the law in the United States, but how this contributes to the development of the field as a whole.