Saving Normal

Authoritative. ... Valuable. ... This is a detailed, nicely constructed account by a highly qualified and well-connected psychiatrist with intimate knowledge of the process. The book is clearly written and surprisingly easy reading. --The Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists A valuable assessment. ... A no-holds-barred critique. --Kirkus Reviews Allen Frances's book is fascinating. ... Entertaining. --Metapsychology An indispensable guide for professional and lay readers --Library Journal Few are as well-equipped as Frances to map the dynamic field of psychiatry, and his rendering of its shifting contours is timely, crucial, and insightful--as are his solutions for navigating it. --Publishers Weekly Frances delves deeply into the history of mental illness, makes his arguements crisply, and has good personal stories to tell. He's articulate and learned. ... He's in favor of not medicating, and thus muffling, all the offbeat pain and beauty out of existance. ... [A] piece of intellectual skywriting. --Dwight Garner, New York Times Frances is largely credited with spearheading the anti-DSM-5 efforts. --CNN.com An extraordinarily candid and important book. Allen Frances has written a fascinating account of the apparent explosion in psychiatric disorders in the United States.--MARCIA ANGELL, M. D., Senior Lecturer in Social Medicine at Harvard Medical School, and former Editor-in-Chief, New England Journal of Medicine Saving Normal is a riveting and important book, written with great flair and precise passion. This is a book every psychiatrist, every general practitioner, every student swallowing meds--in fact everyone--needs to read. --Dr. LISA APPIGNANESI, Chair of the Freud Museum, London, and author of Mad, Bad and Sad Saving Normal is a clear, convincing, and essential discussion of the twin epidemics facing modern psychiatry: under-treatment of the truly ill and overtreatment of the basically well. It holds immense potential to improve patients' lives. --JOSH BAZELL, M.D., New York Times bestselling author of Beat the Reaper: A Novel With Solomon-like wisdom, Frances justly doles out blame and offers reasonable remedies. His decree: don't medicalize human difference; celebrate it. --Booklist (starred review)