Description
Book SynopsisWhat is Madness? is Darian Leader''s probing study of madness, sanity, and everything in between
What separates the sane from the mad? How hard or easy is it to tell them apart? And what if the difference is really between being mad and going mad?
In this landmark work Darian Leader undermines common conceptions of madness. Through case studies like the apparently ''normal'' Harold Shipman, he shows that madness rarely conforms to standard models. What is Madness? explores the idea of quiet madness - that at times many of us live interior lives that are far from sane but allow us to function normally and unthreateningly - he argues that we must seek a new way to assess, treat and deal with those suffering mental health problems.
What is Madness? is Darian Leader''s radically insightful and masterfully convincing exploration of a painful, complex but endlessly fascinating area of humanity.
''A terrific intellectual stylist'' J
Trade Review
Engrossing and enlightening . . . Leader is as much a philosopher as a psychoanalyst * Metro *
Fascinating, humane and timely . . . Leader forces us to rethink our assumptions about 'mental health' with a formidable grasp of psychiatric history and a storyteller's flair for detail -- Lisa Appignanesi * New Statesman *
Witty, probing . . . A myth-busting diagnosis of the method in our madness * Independent *
Wonderful * Bookseller *
[Says] something that very much needs to be said * Irish Times *
