To Wrestle With Demons: A Psychiatrist Struggles to Understand His Patients and Himself

Rating:
Summary: A deliciously contrarian view of the psychiatric profession.
Review: The authors will be familiar to any regular reader of alt.flame.psychiatry. Ablow and Coles have a long-standing reputation as two of the most provocative--and talented--investigators of the region where social norms, criminal activity, and the human brain meet. That's brain, not mind, and the distinction is an important one when approaching A & C's body of work. Wielding an informed position best described as "neo-materialism," the authors masterfully unearth the links between doctor and patient, criminal and victim, normalcy and deviance. In particular, this work puts to rest many of the issues raised in Danielski's "The Relationship of the Physician and the Trauma Patient," [1986] and Bearden's "Shrinks and Other Friends" [1992]. Please don't get the impression that A & C's work is simply another dry academic work on patient/doctor interaction, though. This is also a penetrating first-person account of one doctor's frightening but ultimately redemptive plunge into the nightmarish world of the mentally disturbed. A tasty read, and highly recommended for everyone, from fans of true-crime to serious academics hungering for the latest in therapeutic theory.