If you've found yourself caught in conversations where the reality of mental illness is questioned or you're curious about psychiatry's stance on the controversial subject, this book could be illuminating. Roth and Kroll provide a well-evidenced counterargument to the viewpoint that mental illness is simply a social deviation. For anyone looking to deepen their understanding of psychiatric practice, or gain historical and cultural context on mental health, this comprehensive exploration could be both enlightening and thought-provoking.

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This book is psychiatry's reply to the diverse group of antipsychiatrists, including Laing, Foucault, Goffman, Szasz, and Bassaglia, that has made fashionable the view that mental illness is merely socially deviant behavior and that psychiatrists are agents of the capitalist society seeking to repress such behavior. It establishes, by the use of evidence from historical and transcultural studies, that mental illness has been recognized in all cultures since the beginning of history and goes on to explore the philosophical and medical basis for psychiatry's diagnosis and treatment of mental illness. Finally, it tackles two issues where psychiatry has been seen as at odds with the values prevailing in society: involuntary hospitalization and the insanity defense. The Reality of Mental Illness does not pretend to offer simple answers to the complex problems it discusses but will leave the reader with a much greater understanding of psychiatry's aims, practices, and problems.

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