A review by bootman
Crazy Like Us: The Globalization of the American Psyche by Ethan Watters

5.0

As someone who reads a ton of psychology books and books about mental health, I have no clue how I never came across this book. This book is so important, and Ethan Watters did a phenomenal job. Watters highlights the fact that not only do we tend to pathologize everything in the United States, but we completely neglect that different countries and cultures address mental health in a different way. I used to think we don’t talk about mental health enough, but now it feels like we talk about it too much, and every person is being diagnosed with a different illness. While disorders are very real, this book really shows that sometimes we’re sold on the idea that we’re “supposed” to have certain symptoms after different events or “should” be a certain way.

I don’t know what it’s going to take to get this book out to more people, but I can’t recommend it enough to anyone who cares about the conversations around mental health.