The Divided Mind: Uncovering psychiatry's dark past and reimagining its future

“A brilliant history of psychiatric ideas which suggests we are on the cusp of a transformation in our understanding of severe mental illness.” - The Guardian

For centuries, mental and physical health have been divided, and disorders of the mind and body have been treated as if they were poles apart. But what if this mind/body split is not only outdated – but dangerously misleading?

In this groundbreaking book, psychiatrist and neuroscientist Edward Bullmore confronts one of medicine’s most enduring assumptions.

Through the lens of schizophrenia – perhaps the most misunderstood of all psychiatric disorders – he lifts the lid on psychiatry’s dark past. He highlights how the horror of the Nazi eugenics programme magnified a split between brain and mind theories which persists to this day.

Illuminated by his personal experiences and the latest scientific research, The Divided Mind builds the case for a radical rethink of how we understand, and treat, so-called “mental” illness in the 21st century.