Psychiatry is now a highly visible activity - care in the community, compulsion, suicide, drug and alcohol abuse mean that few people are not touched by it. Indeed, one in four of us will consult a psychiatrist in our life time. This book explains what psychiatry is, and what it is not. It starts with the identification of the major mental illnesses and why they are no longer considered just variations of 'normality'. It charts the flourishing of psychoanalysis and its later transformation into more accessible psychotherapies.
Author Biography
Tom Burns is Professor of Social Psychiatry at the University of Oxford and a practicing consultant psychiatrist in the NHS. His research has centred on community care of severely ill psychotic patients and, in addition to over a hundred and fifty scientific articles, he has written books on Assertive Outreach and Community Mental Health Teams.
