SHRINKS

From alienists to mesmerists to shrinks: the fascinating story of psychiatry's demise and redemption in the field of medicine, by the former President of the American Psychiatric Association.

For the huge number of people living with mental illness —17 million people in the United States alone— it is the best and worst of times. On the one hand, treatment has never been better: thanks to major inroads in their understanding of the brain, psychiatrists now have the capability to help even the sickest patients live more balanced and productive lives. On the other, enormous obstacles—cultural, medical, economic and personal—still stand between some patients and effective care.

Millions of people all over the world suspect they or a loved one might have a mental illness, but they’re embarrassed to seek help. Others have visited a professional, but they’re not sure if they’ve received the right diagnosis or prescription. News stories linking mental illness and violence—or lamenting the “overprescription” of psychotropic drugs—have stoked their fears and left them unsure of what to do.

Dr. Jeffrey Lieberman, president elect of the American Psychiatric Association offers fascinating stories from his practice in a book that is a cri de coeur for psychiatry, a discipline that has traveled light years since its Freudian past, and a distillation of his unique advice for anyone seeking the effective treatment for themselves or their loved ones. The book also takes a fascinating look at the history and contemporary landscape of psychiatry.

Dr. Lieberman knows that his new position as president of the American psychiatric association affords him a bully pulpit to press his colleagues, Big Pharma, governments, the media, and patients to work to end stigma. His media and speaking schedule will provide the huge audience; this book will contain his message. Dr. Lieberman is Psychiatrist in Chief at Columbia-Presbyterian and Chairman of Psychiatry at Columbia University’s College of Physicians and Surgeons.