Mental health has become the health issue that dominates debate above all others, but it remains poorly understood. One in four people will suffer a mental health issue in the course of each year, and most of them will not seek help because of the stigma that still attaches to mental ill health. Suicide rates are growing year on year. But why? Are we in the grip of a modern epidemic? And if so, how did we get here?

To get under the skin of this, Psykhe throws new light on the history of mental health, offering a compelling description and analysis of how events from Classical times to the capitalist age have by turn shaped, reshaped, advanced, stultified and advanced again the course of human progress in this most difficult of medical disciplines.

This is a gripping narrative that discusses not only how these events have defined todays attitudes towards mental ill health, and the modern-day services with which we seek to treat it, but also ultimately offers a fresh perspective on one of life’s most fundamental questions – just what does it mean to live well as a human in the twenty-first century?

Foreword by: Norman Lamb