Shrinks : the untold story of psychiatry / Jeffrey A. Lieberman ; 
with Ogi Ogas.

Psychiatry has come a long way since the days of chaining "lunatics" 
in cold cells and parading them as freakish marvels before a gaping 
public. But, as Jeffrey Lieberman, MD, reveals, the path to 
legitimacy for "the black sheep of medicine" has been anything but 
smooth. Here, Dr. Lieberman traces the field from its birth as a 
mystic pseudo-science through its adolescence as a cult of "shrinks" 
to its late blooming maturity--beginning after World War II--as a 
science-driven profession that saves lives. It's a history full of 
fanciful theories--from Franz Mesmer's nineteenth-century notion of 
"animal magnetism" to the classification of homosexuality as a mental 
disorder as late as the 1970s--and reckless treatments, including 
"coma therapies" and ice-pick lobotomies. It's also the story of a 
field divided against itself, torn between mind-focused psychiatrists 
like Sigmund Freud, whose theory of psychoanalysis dominated American 
psychiatry for more than half a century, and brain-focused 
neuroscientists like Eric Kandel, whose pioneering research helped 
bring the reign of Freud, his hero, to a close. At its heart, Shrinks 
is a detective tale, propelled by the central questions, what is 
mental illness and how can it be treated? The true heroes of this 
tale are the men and women who dared to challenge the status quo in 
pursuit of answers.--From publisher description 



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