Desperate Remedies

Author Andrew Scull
Narrator Jonathan Keeble
Publisher Penguin Books Ltd
Run Time 17 hours and 27 minutes
Format Audio
Genre Abnormal psychology, History of science, Psychiatry, Psychological methodology, Psychological theory, systems, schools and viewpoints.

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What to expect

Brought to you by Penguin.

For more than two hundred years, disturbances of reason, cognition and emotion - the sort of things that were once called 'madness' - have been described and treated by the medical profession. Mental illness, it is said, is an illness like any other - a disorder that can treated by doctors, whose suffering can be eased, and from which patients can return. And yet serious mental illness remains a profound mystery that is in some ways no closer to being solved than it was at the start of the twentieth century.

In this clear-sighted and provocative exploration of psychiatry, acclaimed sociologist Andrew Scull traces the history of its attempts to understand and mitigate mental illness: from the age of the asylum and unimaginable surgical and chemical interventions, through the rise and fall of Freud and the talking cure, and on to our own time of drug companies and antidepressants. Through it all, Scull argues, the often vain and rash attempts to come to terms with the enigma of mental disorder have frequently resulted in dire consequences for the patient.

Deeply researched and lucidly conveyed, Desperate Remedies masterfully illustrates the assumptions and theory behind the therapy, providing a definitive new account of psychiatry's and society's battle with mental illness.

© Andrew Scull 2022 (P) Penguin Audio 2022

Critics Review

This fascinating picture of psychiatry since 1900 is absolutely essential, deeply felt and absorbing
The Times
An erudite, precise and impassioned history of 200 years of psychiatry … five stars
The Sunday Telegraph
The chilling truth about mental illness: opportunists, asylums and big pharma – there are few heroes in this enraging study of a great failing. Fascinating
The Sunday Times
Desperate Remedies, which tells the story of mental illness over the past two centuries, is meticulously researched and beautifully written, and even funny at times, despite the serious content
Guardian
A vital rallying cry. Scull convincingly conveys the long search for a better take on mental disorder
TLS
A blistering critique. Scull’s arguments are passionately delivered and while some might sound radical, they also have common sense
New Statesman
An indisputable masterpiece…a comprehensive, fascinating, and persuasive narrative of the past 200 years of psychiatry. Scull is unsparing in his critiques when motives of money, power, and fame have tempted psychiatrists to disregard the welfare of those under their care.
Wall Street Journal
I would recommend this fascinating, alarming and alerting book to anybody. For anyone referred to a psychiatrist it is surely essential
The Spectator
Brimming with wisdom and brio, this masterful work spans the history of modern psychiatric practice, from the abject horrors of Victorian asylums to the complexities surrounding the diagnosis and treatment of mental illness to this day. Exceedingly well-researched, wide-ranging, provocative in its conclusions, and magically compact, it is riveting from start to finish. Mark my words, Desperate Remedies will soon be a classic.
Desperate Remedies is a harrowing, heart-pounding history that will leave you gasping. Andrew Scull vividly transports us to the dismal asylums and experimental operating rooms that haunt psychiatry’s past and then links that tragic era with our prescription-happy present. Dryly witty, but always compassionate, he shines a light on a century of medical mayhem and the horror it inflicted on the innocent. This is a riveting, powerful and utterly astonishing read.
Andrew Scull weighs American psychiatry in the balance and finds it seriously wanting. So this may not be the best introductory text for an aspiring medical student. But it is required reading for anyone who appreciates great writing, insight and outstanding scholarship – just the kind of people we want doing psychiatry
A riveting chronicle of faulty science, false promises, arrogance, greed, and shocking disregard for the wellbeing of patients suffering from mental disorders. An eloquent, meticulously documented, clear-eyed call for change.
An immensely engaging — if often dismaying — account of American psychiatry. Scull impressively balances the social reality that constitutes ‘mental illness’ with the ever-shifting rationales used to explain such unsettling behaviors and emotions and justify the social function of those who manage these elusive ills. Desperate Remedies is an important contribution to our understanding of a fundamental and still-contested aspect of human experience.
An important plea for psychiatrists not to be seduced into offering a cure that is worse than the disease…Scull’s engaging account of the development of psychiatry and psychiatric treatments since the 19th century shows history repeating itself many times over…The grisly part of Scull’s story is not gratuitous. It is the context from which modern drugs such as antidepressants and antipsychotics emerged…Desperate Remedies is a reminder of the tragic and barbarous measures that have often been inflicted on people in the name of curing mental disturbance
Literary Review
A provocative and often persuasive analysis of psychiatry…A must-read for those who have been – or fear they will be – touched by mental illness. If psychiatry is to survive, Scull concludes, psychiatrists must be more candid about the limits of their knowledge
Psychology Today
Scull is well aware that psychiatry has vacillated between treating ‘the mind’ with therapeutic dialogue and treating ‘the body’ with surgery and psychotropic drugs…The medical discipline has never known and still does not know what it is treating. Scull directs the reader’s attention to the fact that after decades of research and billions of dollars spent, not a single biomarker for psychiatric sickness has been discovered
Washington Post
An intensely skeptical history and analysis of psychiatry. The gist of his argument is: although there have been undeniable advancements, mental illness remains baffling, and no discipline has done a great job of treating symptoms and understanding causes. Scull has written the best kind of ‘feel-bad’ book, lashing offenders left and right with his whip of evidence.
New York Times
For me the greatest value of Desperate Remedies is the brilliant spotlight that Scull shines on historical and current truths about psychiatry. There is an implicit plea that is interwoven throughout the book for a measure of relief from the ‘devastating tragedy’ that envelops people with mental illness. Medical students intending to train in psychiatry would be well served by the masterful perspective Scull provides and the penetrating questions he raises for the profession.
The Lancet
Scull delivers a remarkable history of psychiatry in America…The final section…is a devastatingly effective chronicle of the rise of psychopharmacology and its tendency to regard all mental illnesses as potentially treatable with the right medication…This sweeping and comprehensive survey is an impressive feat
Publishers Weekly
A carefully researched history of psychiatry, it provides a critical assessment of the psychiatric enterprise. In the rush to find cures for psychiatric illnesses, Scull believes that there has been a disappointing lack of focus on patients
Psychiatric News

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