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The Unfragile Mind: A Physician's Call for Restoring Hope and Humanity to Mental Health Care
Not yet published
Expected 5 May 26A timely, layered approach to the evolution of our current mental health climate—from a medical practitioner and internationally acclaimed author—that makes the case for navigating a worldwide issue with compassion and curiosity
According to the National Institute for Mental Health, over fifty-nine million adults and nearly a fifth of adolescents in the US have been diagnosed with some form of mental illness, with about 50 percent receiving treatment. But for a population that’s experienced an explosion of labeling and diagnoses over the last ten years, there remains a chasm between our cultural conversations about mental health and its real-life treatment by medical practitioners—and the drug and insurance companies who rule them.
Drawing on thirty years of medical experience, Dr. Gavin Francis delves into the tangled history of psychiatry and the problems that he addresses daily in his patients' mood disorders, trauma, anxiety, and addiction. Expertly reckoning with the historical treatment of mental illness and how it has evolved to reflect our current medical climate, Dr. Francis takes into consideration the multitude of roadblocks for those with mental health challenges, made worse by a system that seeks to benefit corporations, not patients.
Including case studies and conversations with therapists, psychologists, and psychiatrists, Dr. Francis takes a multifaceted approach to the constantly shifting landscape of mental health and makes an argument that centers the mind as something best treated with compassion, flexibility, and curiosity. The Unfragile Mind blends experience, history, and contemporary perspectives in a comprehensive assessment of how we can continue to evolve our perception of common—but often invisible—illnesses for the better.
According to the National Institute for Mental Health, over fifty-nine million adults and nearly a fifth of adolescents in the US have been diagnosed with some form of mental illness, with about 50 percent receiving treatment. But for a population that’s experienced an explosion of labeling and diagnoses over the last ten years, there remains a chasm between our cultural conversations about mental health and its real-life treatment by medical practitioners—and the drug and insurance companies who rule them.
Drawing on thirty years of medical experience, Dr. Gavin Francis delves into the tangled history of psychiatry and the problems that he addresses daily in his patients' mood disorders, trauma, anxiety, and addiction. Expertly reckoning with the historical treatment of mental illness and how it has evolved to reflect our current medical climate, Dr. Francis takes into consideration the multitude of roadblocks for those with mental health challenges, made worse by a system that seeks to benefit corporations, not patients.
Including case studies and conversations with therapists, psychologists, and psychiatrists, Dr. Francis takes a multifaceted approach to the constantly shifting landscape of mental health and makes an argument that centers the mind as something best treated with compassion, flexibility, and curiosity. The Unfragile Mind blends experience, history, and contemporary perspectives in a comprehensive assessment of how we can continue to evolve our perception of common—but often invisible—illnesses for the better.
Kindle Edition
Expected publication May 5, 2026
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About the author
Gavin Francis
21 books138 followersGavin Francis was born in Scotland in 1975, and has travelled widely on all seven continents. He has crossed Eurasia by motorcycle, and spent a year in Antarctica. He works as a medical doctor as well as a writer.
When travelling he is most interested in the way that places shapes the lives and stories of the people who live in them.
His first book, True North: Travels in Arctic Europe, explores the history of Europe's expansion northwards from the first Greek explorers to the Polar expeditions of the late 19th and 20th centuries. It was nominated for a William Mills Prize for Polar Books. Of it Robert Macfarlane wrote: 'a seriously accomplished first book, by a versatile and interesting writer... it is set apart by the elegance and grace of its prose, and by its abiding interest in landscapes of the mind. Francis explores not only the terrain of the far North, but also the ways in which the North has been imagined... a dense and unusual book.'
In 2011 he received a Creative Scotland Writer's Award towards the completion of a book about the year he spent living beside a colony of Emperor Penguins in Antarctica. Empire Antarctica will be published by Chatto & Windus in November 2012.
When travelling he is most interested in the way that places shapes the lives and stories of the people who live in them.
His first book, True North: Travels in Arctic Europe, explores the history of Europe's expansion northwards from the first Greek explorers to the Polar expeditions of the late 19th and 20th centuries. It was nominated for a William Mills Prize for Polar Books. Of it Robert Macfarlane wrote: 'a seriously accomplished first book, by a versatile and interesting writer... it is set apart by the elegance and grace of its prose, and by its abiding interest in landscapes of the mind. Francis explores not only the terrain of the far North, but also the ways in which the North has been imagined... a dense and unusual book.'
In 2011 he received a Creative Scotland Writer's Award towards the completion of a book about the year he spent living beside a colony of Emperor Penguins in Antarctica. Empire Antarctica will be published by Chatto & Windus in November 2012.
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
December 5, 2025
Thanks to Wellcome Collection for the advance copy of this title in return for an honest review.
This is a heavy book and it's hard work, I won't pretend otherwise, but it was what I expected. It's not really a book you can pick up and flick through whilst watching the telly, this needs your complete focus and attention in order to understand it, and even then I struggled with some bits, particularly in the first section as it's very heavy on the technical and science.
It is less about how to manage mental health and instead focussing on the science behind it, which was very interesting to read. The first half is focussed on the history and science behind mental health, and the second is more about individual mental health, so there is a nice balance.
It's a relatively short book which is good, because I think if it was any longer then it would definitely feel too heavy and too much, this pitches it just right, I think.
I have a neurological condition that straddles the physical and psychological, and so I really enjoyed his explorations of mental and physical health and how they affect each other. The brain, mind, soul, consciousness, and physical body are not all separate entities, and should be approached as one.
There are some images, photos, sketches and the like, I'd have liked a few more as I am quite a visual learner, but I do think they add extra depth to his explanations.
You can tell that medicine is not just his job, but his passion, and this is a compassionate, powerful, layered, learned piece of writing. And not only that, there's a kindness to it, this understanding that whilst this might all be in a day's work for someone working in the field, to other people, these physical and mental issues are top priority and can cause distress, and he's just approached that so sensitively.
This is my second Gavin Francis book, and whilst they're not easy books to read, they are definitely interesting, and I will keep my eye out for more.
This is a heavy book and it's hard work, I won't pretend otherwise, but it was what I expected. It's not really a book you can pick up and flick through whilst watching the telly, this needs your complete focus and attention in order to understand it, and even then I struggled with some bits, particularly in the first section as it's very heavy on the technical and science.
It is less about how to manage mental health and instead focussing on the science behind it, which was very interesting to read. The first half is focussed on the history and science behind mental health, and the second is more about individual mental health, so there is a nice balance.
It's a relatively short book which is good, because I think if it was any longer then it would definitely feel too heavy and too much, this pitches it just right, I think.
I have a neurological condition that straddles the physical and psychological, and so I really enjoyed his explorations of mental and physical health and how they affect each other. The brain, mind, soul, consciousness, and physical body are not all separate entities, and should be approached as one.
There are some images, photos, sketches and the like, I'd have liked a few more as I am quite a visual learner, but I do think they add extra depth to his explanations.
You can tell that medicine is not just his job, but his passion, and this is a compassionate, powerful, layered, learned piece of writing. And not only that, there's a kindness to it, this understanding that whilst this might all be in a day's work for someone working in the field, to other people, these physical and mental issues are top priority and can cause distress, and he's just approached that so sensitively.
This is my second Gavin Francis book, and whilst they're not easy books to read, they are definitely interesting, and I will keep my eye out for more.
Displaying 1 of 1 review