This book addresses an important point in modern mental healthcare - the stigma of having mental illness and receiving treatment for it. The author observes that, while many mental healthcare professionals understand that stigma is unjustified, as a treatment community we have not done enough to combat it. Through the author's point-by-point approach, the book effectively breaks down several long-standing arguments that have traditionally perpetuated stigma in mental healthcare. Overall, this is a welcome and highly needed addition to the existing literature.
Recent studies have found that the vast majority of the public believes that mental illness is real and that it is treatable. And yet, fewer than half of people with diagnosable mental illnesses get treatment in any given year, and of those who do, only half adhere to it.
Underlying this perception, Daniel Morehead, M.D., suggests there are unrebutted critiques of psychiatry that have promoted the idea that mental health treatment is deeply flawed. In Science Over Stigma, he cogently lays out the science behind mental illness and mental health care, candidly discussing both what is known and what remains unknown. He also delves into the prevalence of mental illness and the social and physical consequences that make it such a pressing issue to tackle.
In accessible language and with practical tips offered throughout, this book invites all readers to be advocates for the destigmatization of mental illness and mental health care.
From the Back Cover
Recent studies have found that the vast majority of the public believes that mental illness is real and that it is treatable. And yet, fewer than half of people with diagnosable mental illnesses get treatment in any given year, and of those who do, only half adhere to it.
Underlying this perception, Daniel Morehead, M.D., suggests there are unrebutted critiques of psychiatry that have promoted the idea that mental health treatment is deeply flawed. In Science Over Stigma, Dr. Morehead argues that it is time for a full-throated defense of mental health treatment, and that it falls to everyone, from medical and mental health professionals to the general public, to advocate on its behalf. He cogently lays out the science behind mental illness and mental health care, candidly discussing both what is known and what remains unknown. He also delves into the prevalence of mental illness and the social and physical consequences that make it such a pressing issue to tackle.
In accessible language and with practical tips offered throughout, this book invites all readers to be advocates for the destigmatization of mental illness and mental health care.
About the Author
Daniel Morehead, M.D., is a psychiatrist in private practice in Austin, Texas, and Boston, Massachusetts. He speaks regularly for mental health advocacy and is clinical assistant professor of psychiatry at Tufts University Medical Center. He is board certified in General Psychiatry and Neuropsychiatry and maintains interests in brain science, psychotherapy, and spirituality.
