Shrinks

The Untold Story of Psychiatry

By: Jeffrey A. Lieberman, Ogi Ogas

Narrated by: Graham Corrigan

The inspiration for the PBS series Mysterious of Mental Illness, Shrinks brilliantly tells the "astonishing" story of psychiatry's origins, demise, and redemption (Siddhartha Mukherjee).

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, the former president of the American Psychiatric Association, reveals in his extraordinary and eye-opening audiobook, the path to legitimacy for "the black sheep of medicine" has been anything but smooth.

In Shrinks, 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. With fascinating case studies and portraits of the luminaries of the field - from Sigmund Freud to Eric Kandel - Shrinks is a gripping and illuminating listen, and an urgent call-to-arms to dispel the stigma of mental illnesses by treating them as diseases rather than unfortunate states of mind.

©2015 Jeffrey A. Lieberman (P)2015 Hachette Audio

Critic reviews

“A lucid popular history...At once skeptical and triumphalist. It shows just how far psychiatry has come.” (Julia M. Klein, Boston Globe)

"Jeffrey Lieberman has produced a masterful behind-the-scenes examination of psychiatry - and, by extension, the human condition. A wise and gripping book that tackles one of the most important questions of our time: what is mental illness?" (Andrew Solomon, author of Far from the Tree and The Noonday Demon)

"An astonishing book: honest, sober, exciting, and humane. Lieberman writes with the authority of an expert, but with the humility of a doctor who has learned to treat the most profound and mysterious forms of mental illnesses... This book brings you to the very forefront of one of the most amazing medical journeys of our time." (Siddhartha Mukherjee, author of The Emperor of All Maladies)

One of the best Psychology history books I've read

I bought this book as a hard copy originally and it was the reason I changed majors from music to psychology. I bought it as an audio book just so I could listen to again because it really showcases the rocky history of psychology and psychiatry. I would recommend this book to anyone who wants to learn a bit more about such a rich and fast growing field!

a must read for psychiatry residents!

great insight about the history of our profession. can't wait to listen to it again!

amazing history of psychiatry

I recommend this to any, really in depth enough to gain a grasp but not so much as to bore. as someone who delay with a whole hosts of mental illnesses in my family I was hooked the whole time .

Great history of a medical discipline

Dr Lieberman's book is a fascinating compendium of stories about a most misunderstood and much maligned medical discipline. Medical and Mental health professionals will enjoy the history and personal stories about the leaders in the field.

The performance seemed to have a lot of revisions. The reader's voice changed frequently and it was quite noticeable.

Must listen for Mental health workers & physicians

Would you listen to Shrinks again? Why?

Yes, It is well narrated and has enormous amount of interesting information about history of psychiatry.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Shrinks?

Whole history of how DSM came into field of psychiatry.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Sure if one has good focus and full free day. But I would not recommend as it is full of information, and one would enjoy it more if they would listen daily while driving to work.

Any additional comments?

A must listen for psychiatrist especially psychiatry residents. It would help younger generation psychiatrists understand the approach of older generation psychiatrists.

Interesting

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

If you have an interest in the history if psychiatry or just interested in how things come about, this is an interesting listen.

Great background history & detail

I really liked how the book discussed the evolution of the modern psychiatry in a very free flowing open manner. I took at least 25 descriptive bookmarks.

Today's psychiatrist aren't like your father's

Most of us today have a warped view of what psychiatry does based on its early history and the way it has been portrayed by popular media during earlier time periods. Psychoanalysis (think Freud) was pseudoscience. It thought that diseases of the mind and brain were caused by repressed memories and such, and that it had no empirical data to support it. The author really doesn't dance around the problems inherent within Psychoanalysis. Each psychoanalyst needed to be psychoanalyzed before becoming a psychoanalyst a perfect way to create a pseudoscience.

Psychoanalysts were arguing that all mental problems were behavioral problems and everybody suffered from some sort of mental problem. They had lost touch with reality. The media was right to mock the profession. Things started to change in the 1970s when Washington University in St. Louis, MO started emphasizing the role that data should play in diagnosis instead of tradition and intuition. They even started developing CBT (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy) as an antidote to the meaninglessness of blaming the patient for his neurosis. With data it was shown to work.

The first step in developing science is to first define categories. In this case, the DSM (Diagnostic Statistical Manual) III started insisting on scientific categories instead of the pseudo classifications that the psychiatrists (mostly psychoanalyst) had been using previously. The tenor of the times had tarnished the image of the psychiatrists and something needed to be done to put the profession back on a scientific basis.

The next step comes about through the realization that the mind and the brain both effect mental health. The first major step (early 1900s) was introducing malaria into patients who had severe mental problems due to advance syphilis. The ensuing fever cured the patients. Unfortunately, lobotomies started being performed, and had no data to support their efficacy. Ultimately, a whole slew of drugs are discovered which led to control of some mental related diseases.

The author shows how today the profession really does add value. Many people's perceptions about the profession were warped by what they saw in popular media while growing up, but the world has changed and so has the profession of psychiatry. For those who want to remain in the dark and only offer criticism they should skip this fine book, for all others who want to enter the 21st century and unlearn their misconceptions I would highly recommend this well written book.

Fantastic book.

I finally can put in perspective my own journey as a psychiatrist. A must-read for psychiatry residents.

The story of us

This is one of those well written, honest and captivating books that inspire me to continue. Great historical piece!