Includes bibliographical references (p. 289-349) and index.
Contents
I. An illusion of progress. A smashing success? -- The appliance of science: the emergence of psychiatry as a medical discipline -- Therapeutic innovation at the end of the asylum era -- Dissent and resolution: the triumph of biological psychiatry -- II. Three myths about mental illness. People or plants?: the myth that psychiatric diagnoses are meaningful -- The fundamental error of psychiatry: the myth that psychiatric disorders are genetic diseases -- Brains, minds and psychosis: the myth that mental illnesses are brain diseases -- III. Medicine for madness. Science, profit and politics in the conduct of clinical trials -- Less is probably better: the benefits and costs of antipsychotics -- The virtue of kindness: is psychotherapy effective for severe mental illness? -- What kind of psychiatry do you want?