Description
Book SynopsisThe Couch, the Clinic, and the Scanner is an insightful first-person account of psychiatry’s evolution. In vivid stories and essays, David Hellerstein explores the lived experience of psychiatric work and the daunting challenges of healing the mind amid ever-changing theoretical models.
Trade ReviewWhat is the self to itself? In this wise and beautifully written book, psychiatrist David Hellerstein suggests that we are the tools we use to measure and medicate ourselves. Over a few decades, the same anxious patient has been interpreted as having father issues, a chemical imbalance, and troubles embodied in a brain scan. All may be true and useful. All may deceive and keep patients from getting help. Must we see some views of self as showing progress over others? Hellerstein‘s personal and provocative narrative will spark necessary conversations. -- Sherry Turkle, Abby Rockefeller Mauzé Professor of the Social Studies of Science and Technology, MIT, and
New York Times best-selling author of
Alone Together, Reclaiming Conversation, and
The Empathy DiariesDavid Hellerstein began his career by learning psychoanalysis. Forty years later, he conducts groundbreaking research on brain imaging, neuroplasticity, and personalized therapeutics. In this warm, insightful, and honest book, Hellerstein tells two coming of age stories: a fascinating account of the evolution of modern psychiatry and a deeply moving memoir of his own growth as a psychiatrist and as a human being. -- Suzanne Koven, author of
Letter to a Young Female PhysicianDavid Hellerstein provides engaging and remarkably honest insider’s perspectives on the past few decades of psychiatry in America, a fascinating period of struggles to understand one of the last great scientific frontiers—the human brain. His personal and professional experiences shed important light on this complex world. -- Robert Klitzman, author of
In a House of Dreams and Glass: Becoming a Psychiatrist and
When Doctors Become PatientsThe Couch, The Clinic, and the Scanner is a well-written autobiographical account of the transformations of psychiatric practice over the past four decades. -- Allan V. Horwitz, Board of Governors and Distinguished Professor Emeritus, Rutgers University
Hellerstein tells a thrilling story of the paradigm shifts that have swept the field of psychiatry over the last 50 years. The author superbly shows how each of the three models presented [in the book] engages a unique set of explanations—and treatments—for psychological distress. Highly recommended. * Choice Reviews *
Highly recommended. * American Library Association (ALA) *
Table of ContentsPreface
Part I. The Couch, 1980–19941. The Work: Learning to Do Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy, 1980–1984
2. Tigers in the Night: A Therapist’s Own Therapy, 1981–1988
3. The Enchanted Garden: Psychoanalysis in the Psychiatry Marketplace, 1985
4. Dreams of the Insane Help Greatly in Their Cure: Demolition of the Psychoanalytic Mothership, 1994
Part II. The Clinic, 1985–20005. Treating the City:
DSM Psychiatry in the Real World of the City Hospital, 1989
6. Reinventing the Egg: Translating the
DSM Across Cultures and Languages, 1990–1994
7. The Red Box: Digging Deep Into the
DSM, Late 1990s
8. Call: Testing the
DSM Off Hours, 1998
9. Less with Less: Stripping the
DSM to the Essentials or Beyond, 1998–2000
Part III. The Scanner, 1997–202310. Flights Into Health: Learned Safety and the New Neuropsychiatry, 2000–2007
11. Curing Families: Genes, Circuits, and the Frontiers of Treatment, 2005–2009
12. Off Label: Revisioning Drugs in the Age of Neuroscience, 1997–2023
13. Mind Wandering, Then and Now: New Views Over Three Eras, 2005–2023
14. Floating Brains and Magic Mushrooms: Ancient Psychedelics Test the Progress of Psychiatry, 2019 to Today
Afterword
References
Index
