ABSTRACT
This chapter aims to examine practical issues about assessment in mental health, building on the theoretical discussion, and learning from the practitioners who make assessments. There has already been a reference to M. Foucault’s concept of power in relation to disciplinary practices, and the social construction and control of ‘madness’, and particularly the use of biographical methods, has been a central part of the debate. The chapter focuses on the area of making assessments particularly influenced by issues concerning serious risks - whether to people themselves or to others. It examines the issues surrounding assessments which are less constrained by media attention, but are nevertheless important: the social assessment of people in mental distress who do not need compulsory treatment, but who may voluntarily agree that they need help. Risk-minimisation and risk-taking are two aspects of assessment found in official guidance to mental health workers.
