The Maudsley Reader in Phenomenological Psychiatry

'[The Reader] brings together texts from both philosophers and clinicians which are otherwise difficult to access; many are newly translated … I found it absorbing and illuminating.' Baroness Mary Warnock, House of Lords
'I wish every psychiatrist would buy it, read it, and (most importantly) apply its teachings in contemporary practice.' Professor Nancy Andreasen, University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine
'From these essays the reader will learn of methods and forms of understanding that should have a place in the thinking of all practitioners, and also of anyone who wants to know how self-consciousness really works.' Professor Roger Scruton, University of Oxford and University of St Andrews
'… the material gathered here stems from widely dispersed and often not readily available sources.' Steven Crowell, Joseph and Joanna Nazro Mullen Professor of Philosophy, Rice University
'This remarkable book covers a wide range of authors and topics in philosophical phenomenology and phenomenological psychiatry, from Brentano to Merleau-Ponty, from Jaspers to Blankenburg, from obsessions to schizophrenia. Indispensable for young clinicians who, coming into the field, want to leave behind the presumed objective certainties of the biomedical model and are interested in the life-worlds real patients live in.' Professor Giovanni Stanghellini, G. d'Annunzio University, Italy
'People get sad, angry, euphoric, delusional - and sometimes they are sick. How can we tell whether someone has a disease or not? How can these experiences be understood as part of psychiatric diagnoses? When are they simply human experiences? These important questions - which are the basis of phenomenology - are infrequently asked in a psychiatry of checklists and drugs for symptoms. The Maudsley Reader [in Phenomenological Psychiatry] provides classic historical sources that can begin the process of asking these questions again, and beginning to answer them.' Professor Nassir Ghaemi, Tufts Medical Centre, Boston
'It is traditional in a book boost to recommend all one's fellow professionals to buy it and read it. In this instance it is my heartfelt prayer.' Professor Paul E. Mullen, Monash University, Victoria
'… a marvellous book … Buy it, whoever you are, and dip into its richness.' Dr John Cutting, Appraisal
'Far from merely anthologizing some historical fascinomas, the editors of The Maudsley Reader in Phenomenological Psychiatry have provided a service to those involved in contemporary psychiatric practice, investigation, and training. The Reader can - with the editors' encouragement - be browsed according to one's interests and needs.' Journal of Clinical Psychiatry
'The editors have performed a great service to readers in selecting and organising this work in a meaningful way … the book represents a formidable piece of scholarship.' British Journal of Psychiatry
'The Reader is deserving of wide readership among all those with an interest in mental disorder: a tool to enhance, rather than undermine current psychiatric practices.' Journal of Mental Health