A review by alfboyreads
Desperate Remedies: Psychiatry and the Mysteries of Mental Illness by Andrew Scull

5.0

this is one of the most comprehensive, well written, and genuinely instructive books about mental illness that i have ever read. scull keeps even the quieter points of psychiatry engaing constantly and condenses an entire history so so well. i have genuinely learnt the most i ever have about psychiatry bar maybe the noonday demon by andrew solomon. it captured the horrors of early 20th century psychiatry without being gratuitous or flashy for the hell of it and balanced that really well with the more modern happenings. a beautiful conclusion with a surprising amount of criticism, without being conspiratorial and staying empathetic. incredible piece of work