SOLVING PSYCHIATRIC PUZZLES

Book excerpt: SOLVING PSYCHIATRIC PUZZLES Please visit this this book’s official website at www.solvingpsychiatricpuzzles.com for more information. Despite revolutionary advances in the field of diagnosis and treatment of mental illness, psychiatry is still shrouded in mystery and those facing mental illness are often stigmatized. What does a psychiatrist do? How are mental illnesses diagnosed and treated? Does mental illness run in families? Do people with mental illness function normally? SOLVING PSYCHIATRIC PUZZLES gives readers an unprecedented look into the entire experience of mental illness – from patient to doctor, from diagnosis to treatment. In this book, Dr. Sethi describes stories of 28 patients with mental disorders, in their own words, and from the hospital and office notes. These stories are universal, and they resonate with patients from all races, classes, genders and socio-economic backgrounds throughout the world. There are no uniform standards for the treatment of mental illness in the United States or abroad. Dr. Sethi presents a model for successful treatment based on the art of empathic listening. The art of listening is the primary tool a psychiatrist has to diagnose and treat mental illness with the help of increasingly complex spectrum of old and new psychiatric medications. Dr. Sethi also describes common psychiatric disorders and psychiatric medications, as well as evolution of history of psychiatry in the United States. Dr. Sethi then invites readers into psychiatric sessions, first hearing patients, then explaining the hospital and office notes taken during sessions so as to educate patients about their diagnosis and rationale for treatment. SOLVING PSYCHIATRIC PUZZLES enables us to better understand mental illness through lucid and powerful descriptions from the perspectives of both patients and clinicians. It reminds us that, despite the lingering stigma of mental illness, 90 percent of all mental illness is treatable like any other physical illness.