For good or ill, psychiatry is a polemical battleground, criticized on the one hand as an instrument of social control, while on the other, trumpeted when new developments in neuroscience yield lasting solutions to mental illness. Which of these opposing positions should we believe? Reviewing the historical development of psychiatry, Tom Burns argues that the drive to relieve the suffering caused by mental illnesses is a deep and noble calling, and psychiatry, for all its flaws, represents our best attempt to heal and help.

"Provocative, well-researched, and well-suited to interested lay readers looking for insight into medicine and the mind."—Publisher's Weekly