Understanding Troubled Minds: A Guide to Mental Illness and its Treatment

This text aims to provide a calm and authoritative guide to the full range of specific mental illnesses and available treatments. It deals with particular patterns of illness in women, children and the elderly, and stresses the value of partnership among psychiatrists, patients and their families. A sense of hope and optimism prevails, and the authors stress that great strides are being made in the treatment of mental illness. They also warn against the lure of the instant cure, acknowledging the complexity of human nature. Stories of real people and the insights of many writers are weaved together throughout the text.