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A review by straaawbs
This Book Will Change Your Mind About Mental Health by Nathan Filer
4.0
Between the hardback and paperback editions it looks like this book has had its name changed to This Book Will Change Your Mind About Mental Health.
And will it change your mind? That likely depends on the individual, but it’s definitely changed the way in which I’m going to think about some aspects of mental health going forward. For instance, Filer immediately cautions us to be critical of words like ‘schizophrenia’ given as it’s a word used to describe symptoms rather than an identifiable (yet) abnormality within the structure of the brain. Even mental health professionals can’t always agree whether someone has it or not. Filer uses a series of case studies to really bring a human face to this illness, some with happier endings than others. He then delves into the history of schizophrenia, how it can present, how it may be caused, and how it may be treated.
This is definitely a layperson’s book and it’s not very long but I really enjoyed some of the insights it had to offer. For instance, there’s a chapter which explores how delusions may have a lot more grounding in reality than one might think. Or that the antipsychotic effect of certain medications may be better described as a side-effect of the drugs’ other, less desirable main effects. (As an aside, I was once briefly put on an antipsychotic medication, although for reasons unrelated to psychosis. The effects of that medication were NOT fun. Sure these medications may alleviate symptoms of psychosis in some, but it couldn’t help but make me wonder at what cost.)
Always there’s a focus on the power of language and how the words we use shape how we think about things. That’s something any glance at a tabloid newspaper headline could tell you, but it’s important to be reminded now and again.
And will it change your mind? That likely depends on the individual, but it’s definitely changed the way in which I’m going to think about some aspects of mental health going forward. For instance, Filer immediately cautions us to be critical of words like ‘schizophrenia’ given as it’s a word used to describe symptoms rather than an identifiable (yet) abnormality within the structure of the brain. Even mental health professionals can’t always agree whether someone has it or not. Filer uses a series of case studies to really bring a human face to this illness, some with happier endings than others. He then delves into the history of schizophrenia, how it can present, how it may be caused, and how it may be treated.
This is definitely a layperson’s book and it’s not very long but I really enjoyed some of the insights it had to offer. For instance, there’s a chapter which explores how delusions may have a lot more grounding in reality than one might think. Or that the antipsychotic effect of certain medications may be better described as a side-effect of the drugs’ other, less desirable main effects. (As an aside, I was once briefly put on an antipsychotic medication, although for reasons unrelated to psychosis. The effects of that medication were NOT fun. Sure these medications may alleviate symptoms of psychosis in some, but it couldn’t help but make me wonder at what cost.)
Always there’s a focus on the power of language and how the words we use shape how we think about things. That’s something any glance at a tabloid newspaper headline could tell you, but it’s important to be reminded now and again.