No Such Thing as Normal: Disorders, Diagnoses, and the Limits of Psychiatry
Marieke Bigg
May 2025 · Profile Audio · Narrated by Sarah Durham
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9 hr 27 min
Unabridged
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About this audiobook
Exposing the false promises of psychiatry and the crumbling foundations on which it was built
Psychiatry rests on the belief that mental distress can ultimately be explained by biology: brain structures, chemical imbalances and genetics. Treatments from lobotomies to electroconvulsive therapy to prescription drugs have been touted as cures for 'disorder'. And somewhere along the way, the pharmaceutical industry has leapfrogged its patients, making millions designing drugs to treat disorders, then billions dreaming up disorders that require drugs.
We are now diagnosed and treated for mental disorders more than ever, despite increasing evidence that environmental factors play a far greater role than biological ones. Laying out the steps for a mental health system that helps rather than harms, Marieke Bigg asks: how can we heal when faced with an industry that banks on keeping us sick?
Psychiatry rests on the belief that mental distress can ultimately be explained by biology: brain structures, chemical imbalances and genetics. Treatments from lobotomies to electroconvulsive therapy to prescription drugs have been touted as cures for 'disorder'. And somewhere along the way, the pharmaceutical industry has leapfrogged its patients, making millions designing drugs to treat disorders, then billions dreaming up disorders that require drugs.
We are now diagnosed and treated for mental disorders more than ever, despite increasing evidence that environmental factors play a far greater role than biological ones. Laying out the steps for a mental health system that helps rather than harms, Marieke Bigg asks: how can we heal when faced with an industry that banks on keeping us sick?
About the author
Marieke Bigg holds a PhD in sociology from the University of Cambridge where her research focused on the role of biological models in society. She is currently retraining as a psychotherapist and works as a peer support coordinator at the mental health charity Mind.
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