The mind and the moon my brother's story, the science of our brains, and the search for our psyches
In the early 1960s, JFK declared that science would take us to the moon. He also declared that science would make the "remote reaches of the mind accessible" and cure psychiatric illness with breakthrough medications. We were walking on the moon within the decade. But today, psychiatric cures contin...
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| Format: | Books Print Book |
| Language: | English |
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New York, NY :
Ecco, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers,
[2022]
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| Edition: | First edition. |
| Subjects: | |
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| Summary: | In the early 1960s, JFK declared that science would take us to the moon. He also declared that science would make the "remote reaches of the mind accessible" and cure psychiatric illness with breakthrough medications. We were walking on the moon within the decade. But today, psychiatric cures continue to elude us, as does the mind itself. Why is it that we still don't understand how the mind works? What is the difference between the mind and the brain? And given all that we still don't know, how can we make insightful, transformative choices about our psychiatric conditions? When Daniel Bergner's younger brother was diagnosed as bipolar and put on a locked ward in the 1980s, psychiatry seemed to have achieved what JFK promised: a revolution of chemical solutions to treat mental illness. Yet as Bergner's brother was deemed a dire risk for suicide and he and his family were told his disorder would be lifelong, he found himself taking heavy doses of medications with devastating side effects. Now, in recounting his brother's journey alongside the gripping, illuminating stories of Caroline, who is beset by the hallucinations of psychosis, and David, who is overtaken by depression, Bergner examines the evolution of how we treat our psyches. He reveals how the pharmaceutical industry has perpetuated our biological view of the mind and our drug-based assumptions about treatment, despite the shocking price paid by many patients and the problematic evidence of drug efficacy. And he takes us into the pioneering labs of today₂s preeminent neuroscientists, sharing their remarkably candid reflections and fascinating new theories of treatment. |
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| Physical Description: | 313 pages ; 24 cm |
| Bibliography: | Includes bibliographical references. |
| ISBN: | 9780063004894 0063004895 |
| Author Notes: | While covering the annual Louisiana State Prison at Angola rodeo, he discovered corruption in the form of Warden Burl Cain, who requested a payment of $50,000 and the right of editorial control on Bergner's project. Bergner's eventual book on the affair, God of the Rodeo: The Search for Hope, Faith and a Six-Second Ride in Louisiana's Angola Prison, deals in part with the fact that not all public servants are as helpful or as dedicated as his parents were. (Bowker Author Biography) |
