Psychiatry and psychology have constructed a mental health system that does no justice to the problems it claims to understand and creates multiple problems for its users. Yet the myth of biologically-based mental illness defines our present. The book rethinks madness and distress reclaiming them as human, not medical, experiences.

This book is the result of extensive archival research conducted on the Collection “Silvano Arieti Papers” held in the Manuscript Division of the Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. It offers readers the first scientific biography of the renowned Italian-born psychiatrist Silvano Arieti, who in 1939 emigrated to the United States, where he gained fame and recognition for his work on schizophrenia. In 1975, the second edition of his book, Interpretation of Schizophrenia, received the National Book Award in Science. The book has been cast as a twofold journey: an exploration of the life of a psychiatrist and scientist and an overview of twentieth century psychiatry and its significant issues, debates, and transformations. Readers will find useful insights for a better understanding of psychiatry as a discipline capable of portraying the complexity of human nature.

Provides an optimistic vision of a superior alternative approach to psychiatric illness and its treatment.

This book is a guide for psychiatrists struggling to incorporate transformational strategies into their clinical work. The book begins with an overview of the concept of critical psychiatry before focusing its analytic lens on the DSM diagnostic system, the influence of the pharmaceutical industry, the crucial distinction between drug-centered and disease-centered approaches to pharmacotherapy, the concept of “de-prescribing,” coercion in psychiatric practice, and a range of other issues that constitute the targets of contemporary critiques of psychiatric theory and practice. Written by experts in each topic, this is the first book to explicate what has come to be called critical psychiatry from an unbiased and clinically relevant perspective. Critical Psychiatry is an excellent, practical resource for clinicians seeking a solid foundation in the contemporary controversies within the field. General and forensic psychiatrists; family physicians, internists, and pediatricians who treat psychiatric patients; and mental health clinicians outside of medicine will all benefit from its conceptual insights and concrete advice.

Evolutionary psychiatry attempts to explain and examine the development and prevalence of psychiatric disorders through the lens of evolutionary and adaptationist theories. In this edited volume, leading international evolutionary scholars present a variety of Darwinian perspectives that will encourage readers to consider 'why' as well as 'how' mental disorders arise. Using insights from comparative animal evolution, ethology, anthropology, culture, philosophy and other humanities, evolutionary thinking helps us to re-evaluate psychiatric epidemiology, genetics, biochemistry and psychology. It seeks explanations for persistent heritable traits shaped by selection and other evolutionary processes, and reviews traits and disorders using phylogenetic history and insights from the neurosciences as well as the effects of the modern environment. By bridging the gap between social and biological approaches to psychiatry, and encouraging bringing the evolutionary perspective into mainstream psychiatry, this book will help to inspire new avenues of research into the causation and treatment of mental disorders.

Introductory Psychology and the Human Condition provides an engaging, cohesive, and practical treatment of traditional psychological principles and theories. The book uses Maslow’s human needs hierarchy and Bronfenbrenner’s ecological theory of development as organizational schemas for considering how cultures have evolved to address human needs. It relates major psychological processes including biology, perception, motivation, learning, and cognition to lifespan and personality development in nomadic hunter-gatherer and technologically enhanced cultures. Human history is described as a feedback loop in which inventions and technologies result in the need for individuals and cultures to adapt to changing environmental and social conditions. By applying interdisciplinary perspectives of the humanities, social and natural sciences, and helping professions to the human condition, it offers a meaningful lens through which to study and interpret core psychological concepts. Chapters are supported by self-understanding and self-control exercises that help students place their lives within a cultural and historical context and apply the principles of psychology to themselves. Offering an engaging overview of the essential elements of an introductory psychology course in an accessible and approachable style, Introductory Psychology and the Human Condition is core reading for introductory students and will appeal also to a general audience interested in psychology.

Offers an integrative account of the relation between experiences, physiology and environment in psychiatric disorders.