Losing Our Minds: The Challenge of Defining Mental Illness -- Lucy Foulkes, Hardcover

A compelling and 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 and challenges of human experience. A narrative has taken hold that a mental health crisis has been building among young people. In this profoundly sensitive and 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 and actual illness?

Drawing on her extensive knowledge of the scientific and 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 and disorder is essential if we are to provide the appropriate help, but no clear line between the two exists in nature. Providing necessary clarity and nuance, Losing Our Minds argues that the widespread misunderstanding of this aspect of mental illness might be contributing to its apparent prevalence.

Author: Lucy Foulkes
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Published: 01/25/2022
Pages: 272
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 1.00lbs
Size: 9.40h x 6.30w x 1.10d
ISBN: 9781250274175

Review Citation(s):
Publishers Weekly 11/08/2021
Kirkus Reviews 12/15/2021

About the Author
Dr Lucy Foulkes is an academic psychologist at UCL and the Anna Freud Centre in the UK. Her research focuses on mental health and social development, particularly in adolescence. She lives in London