Interesting read of a psychiatrist explaining mental illnesses in layman terms. Crossed more into a memoir than I expected. ( )

Well-written book in which a psychiatrist discusses various categories of psychiatric maladies by profiling the cases of patients she's treated. The author also offers insights into the ethical dilemmas she faces in her profession. ( )

My library sends out a newsletter called Wowbrary every Wednesday listing the week's latest additions. The description of this book made it sound fascinating so I arranged to grab a copy. Sadly for me the book didn't live up to my expectations for it. The author, Christine Montross, writes about some of her more unusual psychiatric cases. They include a woman who will swallow literally anything left within reach when she gets distressed, a man who is so beaten down that he can remain asleep even when subjected to pain, and people who want their healthy limbs amputated. The cases themselves are endlessly fascinating but other than relating them no real insight is provided. I don't think these people ever became cured of their mental illness. My impression when I got done with this book is that the field of psychiatry has not made tremendous progress in the past two hundred years. They can medicate the heck out of you but that is treating the symptoms not solving the problem. Weighing down the book is the author's personal asides into her family life that did not add anything to the reason I picked up the book in the first place. I couldn't care less about her family life. I wanted to see people with complex problems getting real help. I hope the people portrayed here eventually did. The alternative is too sad to think about. ( )