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A timely, layered approach to the evolution of our current mental health climate—from a medical practitioner and internationally acclaimed author—that makes the case for navigating a worldwide issue with compassion and curiosity
According to the National Institute for Mental Health, over fifty-nine million adults and nearly a fifth of adolescents in the US have been diagnosed with some form of mental illness, with about 50 percent receiving treatment. But for a population that’s experienced an explosion of labeling and diagnoses over the last ten years, there remains a chasm between our cultural conversations about mental health and its real-life treatment by medical practitioners—and the drug and insurance companies who rule them.
Drawing on thirty years of medical experience, Dr. Gavin Francis delves into the tangled history of psychiatry and the problems that he addresses daily in his patients’ lives: mood disorders, trauma, anxiety, and addiction. Expertly reckoning with the historical treatment of mental illness and how it has evolved to reflect our current medical climate, Dr. Francis takes into consideration the multitude of roadblocks for those with mental health challenges, made worse by a system that seeks to benefit corporations, not patients.
Including case studies and conversations with therapists, psychologists, and psychiatrists, Dr. Francis takes a multifaceted approach to the constantly shifting landscape of mental health and makes an argument that centers the mind as something best treated with compassion, flexibility, and curiosity. The Unfragile Mind blends experience, history, and contemporary perspectives in a comprehensive assessment of how we can continue to evolve our perception of common—but often invisible—illnesses for the better.
“Fascinating and beautifully written . . . a winning combination of pragmatism and compassion. His message is that mental health is more cultural and social, and less medical, than we often think.”—The Times
“Elucidating. . . . Offers new perspectives on the maintenance of mental health.”—Sunday Post
“A manifesto against an atomized society. . . . a really hopeful book.”—Evening Standard
“Excellent—beautifully written, moving, and wise. Everybody with an interest in mental health should read it.”—Henry Marsh, neurosurgeon and bestselling author of And Finally
“I thought Gavin Francis couldn’t get any better, but I was wrong. This is his best and most important book.”—Bill Bryson, New York Times–bestselling author of A Walk in the Woods and The Body
“Dr. Gavin Francis writes with empathy, fluency, and elegance about one of the most important medical topics of our times. This is a book to change lives—and save them.”—The GuardianSir Ian Rankin, New York Times–bestselling author
“Gavin Francis, a wonderful writer and compassionate physician, shines a beacon of hope into the darkness of contemporary mental health care. Instead of quickly reaching for the diagnostic handbook and prescription pad, Francis does the hard but rewarding work of understanding people, seeing our healing journey as becoming ‘more tolerant of uncertainty, more comfortable with paradox, more compassionate and open-hearted about the fuzzy edges of the categories we try to impose on the world.’ Focusing on strengths rather than pathologies, Francis encourages to recognize that our minds are not only capable of breaking, but of healing, and that unfragility is more common than fragility in the face of our daily suffering.”—David R. Kopacz, MD, author of Caring for Self & Others: Transforming Burnout, Compassion Fatigue, and Soul Loss and Re-Humanizing Medicine
“Gavin Francis’ thoughtfulness shines in this meditation on the mind. . . . a clear and hopeful exploration of what it means to think and feel.”—Grace Spence Green, author of To Exist As I Am
