in "Has Medicine Lost its Mind?", Dr. Robert C. Smith does an incredibly job of explaining the crux of an oddity within modern medicine's: why do we separate mental health from physical health?

Dr. Smith takes us through a sufficiently detailed survey of exactly how that separation came to be. In a semi-humorous nod to the quite literal separation of mental and physical health in medieval times, Dr. Smith describes the severe limits the Church imposed on medical research.

In this short piece, Dr. Smith argues that medical research must wholly reverse this centuries-long schism of mental and physical health, so we can truly address the patient as a whole.

Patients are not cars. Human organs are not car parts. We must not treat medical patients as anything less than a human being in need of help from another.

Dr. Smith argues that medical schools do not adequately train physicians in mental health care. He rightly points out that untreated mental illness imposes an immense economic toll, totaling hundreds of billions of dollars. Additionally, untreated or inadequately treated mental illness places an enormous strain on families and caregivers.

In order to correct these massive challenges, Dr. Smith offers highly specific and prescriptive changes to our approach in medical training and in our larger communities.

I highly recommend Dr. Robert Smith's "Has Medicine Lost its Mind?"

*Thank you The Globe Pequot Publishing Group, Inc. | Prometheus Books and NetGalley for an advance reader copy of this book.*

Why is adequate mental healthcare so hard to find in the US? What would it take to change the mind/body duality philosophy and treat patients as whole people? How can the medical school education model be changed to institute a new way forward? This book addresses these issues, and provides practical steps for turning the mental healthcare crisis around.

As someone about to graduate medical school and start training as a psychiatrist, this book is incredibly timely. Dr. Smith is now known among medical school students and educators as the author behind “Smith’s Patient Centered Interviewing” which is where medical students are taught to approach medical care and patient interviewing with a more wholistic, patient, and humane approach than the stiff and formal methods of the generation prior. Now, Dr. Smith writes about how medicine’s chronic devaluing of mental health, mental health care, and psychiatric disorders has led to a national crisis in the way we approach psychiatric care. Psychiatry as a specialty in medicine is deeply undervalued and prone to negative stereotypes that bring detriment to the field not only from fellow providers but from the public as well.

This book highlights the rise of modern medical philosophy as we know it, the understanding of how psychiatry as a field came to be today, and how medicine has to continue to move forward and adopt new philosophies in order to ever remain relevant. This is a really good read for anyone in the health care field, particularly mental health. While the last two Appendixes are meant for health care professionals and medical school educators to read, the general public could also benefit from learning how their future doctors are trained. In all, I highly recommend this book, and would want to use it as a resource for medical school education in the rest of my career!

Thank you for this ARC!

Smith dives deep into the mental health crisis in America, and his exploration of the disconnect between mental and physical health care left me convinced that medicine has truly lost its way. Using personal stories, historical context, and solid research, he explains why so many people are left without needed help. He offers bold ideas for change, like improving medical training and fully integrating mental and physical health care. While some parts of the book feel more tailored to professionals, it still provides valuable insight into how we ended up here and what needs to happen to create a better system.

As the rates of depression, anxiety, and other mental health conditions are increasing globally, this book is a timely perspective of our current medical system and what is wrong with it. The book explores how the lack of understanding of mental health has left countless individuals without adequate care.

Dr. Smith begins by highlighting the stark differences between mental and physical health care and outlines some of the reasons for this: insufficient training for medical practitioners and the marginalization of psychological conditions. Dr. Smith begins by narrating numerous incidents which he witnessed while he was a student and new to practice and how often the history of the patients are ignored and how the patient’s mental health are interwoven with their physical symptoms. Dr. Smith goes on to offer actions that can be taken to fix this, including a holistic approach for treating patients, policy changes and so on.

I was engrossed in the first half of the book, while reading the real-life incidents of the patients. The second half of the book was a bit too dry for me, as I felt I was not the audience. Integrated care models, policy changes are needed, but as a reader, there is little I can do. However, having read this book, it helps to understand how the current medical system works and to bring my doctor’s attention to my mental health or pivotal incidents in my life which could be influencing my physical health. Though the book focuses on US healthcare system, ones in the other countries wouldn’t be far too different. However, some of the measures mentioned in the book are not universal.

This book is a good read for those who are curious or interested about our healthcare system and want to understand the challenges it faces. It not only identifies the issues with the system but also offers ways to fix them.

Thanks to the publisher for providing ARC.