Losing Our Minds The Challenge Of Defining Mental Illness Dr Lucy Foulkes by Dr. Lucy Foulkes instant download after payment.

A compelling & incisive book that questions the overuse of mental health terms to describe universal human emotions

Public awareness of mental illness has been transformed in recent years, but our understanding of how to define it has yet to catch up. Too often, psychiatric disorders are confused with the inherent stresses & challenges of human experience. A narrative has taken hold that a mental health crisis has been building among young people. 

In this profoundly sensitive & constructive book, psychologist Lucy Foulkes argues that the crisis is one of ignorance as much as illness. Have we raised a 'snowflake' generation? Or are today's young people subjected to greater stress, exacerbated by social media, than ever before? Foulkes shows that both perspectives are useful but limited. The real question in need of answering is: how should we distinguish between 'normal' suffering & actual illness?

Drawing on her extensive knowledge of the scientific & clinical literature, Foulkes explains what is known about mental health problems—how they arise, why they so often appear during adolescence, the various tools we have to cope with them—but also what remains unclear: distinguishing between normality & disorder is essential if we are to provide the appropriate help, but no clear line between the two exists in nature. Providing necessary clarity & nuance, Losing Our Minds argues that the widespread misunderstanding of this aspect of mental illness might be contributing to its apparent prevalence.

Dr. Lucy Foulkes is a lecturer in psychology at the University of York, specializing in social psychology & mental health. She is an editor at Aeon magazine & has written for the Guardian & appeared in several programs for the BBC on adolescence & mental health. She lives in the UK with her famil