And most are confused when it comes to assisting them in any significant way. I hope to change this situation. By explaining our current understanding concerning the cause of mental illness, by demonstrating how the present treatment system functions and why it developed, this book aims to illuminate a bit of the darkness surrounding mental illness in America. A human story at heart, it's a look at the murky, dangerous world of the seriously mentally ill told by someone from the inside. I intend to illustrate how grave mental illness affects not only the people who suffer from its devastation but also the impact it has on their families and those who try to treat these diseases.
Mental illness touches nearly every American family.
Yet, this is a subject about which very few people talk. We don't understand and thus are alarmed by it, oftentimes thinking that, if ignored, perhaps it, and those disturbing people, will go away. The answer has roots as far back as the Greek philosophers Plato and Aristotle. It runs through Ancient Rome, the Middle Ages, the Renaissance, Nineteenth Century Idealism and the 1960s' radical social revolution. The tale is strange and circuitous.