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Mind Fixers

Psychiatry's Troubled Search for the Biology of Mental Illness

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Mind Fixers

Written by: Anne Harrington
Narrated by: Joyce Bean
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The story of the unfulfilled quest to find the biological basis of mental illness, and its profound effects on patients, families, and American society.

In the 1980s, American psychiatry announced that it was time to toss aside Freudian ideas of mental disorder because the true path to understanding and treating mental illness lay in brain science, biochemistry, and drugs. This sudden call to revolution, however, was not driven by any scientific breakthroughs. Nor was it as unprecedented as it seemed. Why had previous efforts stalled? Was this latest call really any different?

In Mind Fixers, Anne Harrington offers the first comprehensive history of the troubled search for the biological basis of mental illness. She makes clear that this story is not just about laboratories and clinical trials, but also momentous public policies, acrid professional rivalries, cultural upheavals, grassroots activism, and profit-mongering. Harrington traces a consistent thread of over-promising and frustrated hopes. Above all, she helps us understand why psychiatry’s biological program is in crisis today, and what needs to happen next.

©2019 by Anne Harrington. (P)2019 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved. Mental Health Psychology Psychology & Mental Health
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A good story but the author fails to note that the struggles of Psychiatry are similar to struggles of any other branch of medicine. She doesn't include the achievements of Psychiatry and the relief that it has got to countless people. The point about prescribing rights is absurd. One would understand a pharmacist prescribing meds but a social worker? Would you let a social worker perform surgeries without proper training?

Somewhat one-sided

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