This book aims to open
up the debate on mental disorders, to get people interested and talking, and to
get them thinking. For example, what is schizophrenia? Why is it so common? Why
does it affect human beings but not other animals? What might this tell us
about our mind and body, language and creativity, music and religion? What are
the boundaries between mental disorder and 'normality'? Is there a relationship
between mental disorder and genius? These are some of the difficult but
important questions that this book confronts, with the overarching aim of
exploring what mental disorders can teach us about human nature and the human
condition.