PSYCHIATRY IN CRISIS:

AT THE CROSSROADS OF SOCIAL SCIENCES, THE HUMANITIES, 

AND NEUROSCIENCE

 

by VINCENZO DI NICOLA and DROZDSTOJ STOYANOV 

(Cham, Switzerland: Springer Nature, 2021)

 

From the Afterword, "Saving Psychiatry"

 

"This book provides a wonderful corrective to the reductionisms that bedevil and divide psychiatry. It is beautifully written, well organized, deeply felt, and carefully thought out – a thinking person’s guide to combining the psychiatric arts with the psychiatric sciences. I especially like the way it digs beneath the surface to explore the epistemological foundations of the most important questions facing our field today.

 

"Will the book’s important bridge-building message have the readership and influence it deserves? I certainly hope so, but must admit to doubts. More than almost any other endeavor, psychiatry is cursed by wars among stubborn true believers – true believer medication types vs true believer anti-medication types; diagnostic enthusiasts vs diagnostic nihilists; biological reductionists vs psychosocial reductionists; and psychotherapists who are rigid, true believers of one particular school and implacable antagonists to all others.

 

"The people who most need this book are probably too stuck in their trenches to ever read or fully understand it. But for those of open mind and heart, Psychiatry in Crisis provides precious insights that enrich understanding and promote more effective practice."

 

- Allen Frances, Past Chair and Emeritus Professor of Psychiatry, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA; Former Chair of APA's DSM-IV