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The Disordered Mind: What We Now Know About Schizophrenia
A compendium of current information about schizophrenia includes recent research, treatment methods, and the problems of misdiagnosis
304 pages, Paperback
First published September 1, 1978
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April 17, 2013
This book is an incredible resource for anyone interested in schizophrenia. It immediately points out all of the myths often associated with the illness such as that people don't recover from it or that it's like the affected individual lives in another world.
The book then goes on to explain how it is diagnosed and how it has often been misdiagnosed due to the disease being one of exclusion when it comes to diagnosis. The book does a great job of going through every single symptom that could possibly be associated with the illness and it goes through the guidelines of determining if it is actually schizophrenia and what type of the disorder it may be.
O'Brien also offers an entire section that compares schizophrenia to other mental illnesses that are often mistaken for schizophrenia. This allowed me to not only learn more about schizophrenia, but also a great deal about other mental illnesses and has caused me to buy more literature on the subject.
The author also goes through the different treatments for schizophrenia such as the tranquilizers such as Thorazine, electroshock therapy, and hospitalization. This section is incredibly interesting, though the reader may have to do some extra research as some of these treatments have changed since the book's 70's release.
This brings me to the only con I found with this book: it's a bit outdated. However, our knowledge on schizophrenia hasn't changed all that much since this book was written (unfortunately) and the reader can easily get by with just a bit of research. I would recommend this book to anyone interested in psychology or mental illnesses in a second as a must-read.
The book then goes on to explain how it is diagnosed and how it has often been misdiagnosed due to the disease being one of exclusion when it comes to diagnosis. The book does a great job of going through every single symptom that could possibly be associated with the illness and it goes through the guidelines of determining if it is actually schizophrenia and what type of the disorder it may be.
O'Brien also offers an entire section that compares schizophrenia to other mental illnesses that are often mistaken for schizophrenia. This allowed me to not only learn more about schizophrenia, but also a great deal about other mental illnesses and has caused me to buy more literature on the subject.
The author also goes through the different treatments for schizophrenia such as the tranquilizers such as Thorazine, electroshock therapy, and hospitalization. This section is incredibly interesting, though the reader may have to do some extra research as some of these treatments have changed since the book's 70's release.
This brings me to the only con I found with this book: it's a bit outdated. However, our knowledge on schizophrenia hasn't changed all that much since this book was written (unfortunately) and the reader can easily get by with just a bit of research. I would recommend this book to anyone interested in psychology or mental illnesses in a second as a must-read.
Displaying 1 of 1 review