The Couch, the Clinic, and the Scanner: Stories from Three Revolutionary Eras of the Mind
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At a glance
- Condition
- New
- Dimensions
- 6.2 x 1.1 x 9.4 in
- Weight
- 1.2 lb
- Publisher
- Columbia University Press
- Publication date
- May 9, 2023
- Language
- English
- Print length
- 272 pages
Description
Winner, 2023 Choice Outstanding Academic Title Over the past several decades, psychiatry has undergone radical changes. After its midcentury heyday, psychoanalysis gave way to a worldview guided by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, which precisely defined mental disorders and their treatments; more recently, this too has been displaced by a model inspired by neuroscience. Each of these three dominant models overturned the previous era’s assumptions, methods, treatment options, and goals. Each has its own definitions of health and disease, its own concepts of the mind. And each has offered clinicians and patients new possibilities as well as pitfalls. The Couch, the Clinic, and the Scanner is an insightful first-person account of psychiatry’s evolution. David Hellerstein―a psychiatrist who has practiced in New York City since the early 1980s, working with patients, doing research, and helping run clinics and hospitals―provides a window into how the profession has transformed. In vivid stories and essays, he explores the lived experience of psychiatric work and the daunting challenges of healing the mind amid ever-changing theoretical models. Recounting his intellectual, clinical, and personal adventures, Hellerstein finds unexpected poetry in hallways and waiting rooms; encounters with patients who are by turns baffling, frustrating, and inspiring; and the advances of science. Drawing on narrative- medicine approaches, The Couch, the Clinic, and the Scanner offers a perceptive and eloquent portrayal of the practice of psychiatry as it has struggled to define and redefine itself. Read more
Specs 8
| Publisher | Columbia University Press |
|---|---|
| Publication date | May 9, 2023 |
| Language | English |
| Print length | 272 pages |
| ISBN-10 | 0231207921 |
| ISBN-13 | 28 |
| Item Weight | 1.2 pounds |
| Dimensions | 6.2 x 1.1 x 9.4 inches |
No specs match.
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Top Amazon Reviews
Excellent book!
Format: Hardcover
Gives compelling, behind-the-scenes perspective on the role of the psychiatrist and its evolution over the past fifty years. Written by a leading, thoughtful practitioner and researcher; Dr. Hellerstein is as critical of the profession as he is hopeful for what it can do to truly heal people. For the latest in psychiatric thinking, read this book!
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Reviewed in the United States on May 29, 2023 by Laurie Manfra
A very enjoyable read!
Format: Hardcover
As a psychotherapist who also started my career in the 1980s, I could relate to the many changes experienced in the field of mental health over the decades. We are fortunate that Dr Hellerstein is such a talented writer and brings these fascinating changes to vibrant life! a very enjoyable read even if you're not in the field
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Reviewed in the United States on July 6, 2024 by brigid bruce
A Fascinating Look at Psychiatry’s Evolution
Format: Hardcover
The Couch, the Clinic and the Scanner provides a compelling account of how psychiatry has changed as experienced by a practitioner (from1980 to the present). It is a fascinating inside and candid look at Dr. Hellerstein’s life, his patients and his research. What makes The Couch, the Clinic and the Scanner especially captivating is that Hellerstein’s career and experiences mirrors the evolving science of psychiatry. The Couch, the Clinic and the Scanner is not at all technical or clinical. In fact, it reads more like a memoir, which it sort of is, while also reporting on the recent history of psychiatry. The title aptly captures the three stages of psychiatry’s recent evolution and Dr. Hellerstein’s career. The Couch refers to the “talking cure” advanced by Freud. Hellerstein discusses his early training and his experiences applying psychoanalysis. When the DSM-III was released in 1980, psychiatry went through a major transformation. This third version of the DSM was so revolutionary because it replaced psychodynamic information with explicit diagnostic criteria and utilized a neutral approach with respect to the causation of the illness. The Clinic stage brought about new treatments including psychotherapies to target particular diagnoses. The third and current stage consists of brain imaging (MRI and Petscans) and alternative therapies that are more personalized treatment of the individual. Neuro-imaging techniques are becoming useful diagnostic tools but the research here is ongoing. This approach considers that mental illness causes damage to the brain if untreated and that proper treatment may include a healing of sorts. Treatments include supplements, yoga, mindfulness, exercise, and psychedelics. Dr. Hellerstein, besides sharing his experiences and his patients, also asks thoughtful questions throughout his book, such as Has psychiatry improved through these three eras? Does each one build on the former? Are patient treatments more successful? Anyone interested in psychology or psychiatry would like this book and find it to be very interesting and informative. Due to my own background in psychology, I found Dr. Hellerstein’s account to be an important record of how both diagnoses and treatments have changed over the years and where we are headed. I hope that in a few years or so, Dr. Hellerstein will inform us of the progress made in the Age of the Scanner
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Reviewed in the United States on June 14, 2023 by Zgirl
Introspective view on the past, present, and future of psychiatry
Format: Hardcover
This book is a wild, introspective ride, and not anything I would have expected given the docile cover. I expected a tour through the history of psychiatry, but I received worlds more. I got the tour of an amazing man's career, starting from his training and early attempts at psychoanalysis, the emergence of the DSM, to the heigh of big pharma pushing pills on everyone for everything, to the age of brain imaging, and finally to the him starting his own psilocybin (aka, magic mushrooms) center at Columbia University! All along the way, there are incredible personal stories about his career and personal life, client stories (some sad, some lighthearted and entertaining-- perfect balance of both), and a thought-out connection of how one same case could be interpreted and treated across all three different ages of psychiatry. Above all, David Hellerstein's rollercoaster career path is inspiring and relatable to anyone who ended up in a job they never expected but one they couldn't imagine their lives without. He trained as a psychoanalyst at Payne Whitney (the center famous for having clients like Marilyn Monroe!), realized that wasn't a great fit for his personality or abilities, decided to be a clinician at a city hospital, succeeded at that path to the point of gettin a leadership position, before transitioning into academic research, something he vowed to never do. Regardless of this nonlinear career trajectory, Hellerstein still made a huge impact on psychiatric research, late starts aside. He is a well-established researcher with over 100 publications, 4,000+ citations, and collaborates with field giants like Brad Peterson. Throughout the book, Hellerstein is stunningly open, honest, and blunt about his life, career, and the past, present, and future of the field of psychiatry. This book felt like having a really long lunch chat with a senior professor rather than reading a history nonfiction book. 10/10, highly recommend.
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Reviewed in the United States on June 1, 2023 by Dea
Great Exposition of the Evolution of Psychiatry
Format: Hardcover
The Couch, the Clinic, and the Scanner is a very good description of the evolution of psychiatry from the not too recent past to present. With hearing Hellerstein talking about his initial training and his experiences, then him having to adapt to a change in how psychiatry is practiced multiple times, I am left understanding why many people have left the field and why many people refuse to go into the field. I think Hellerstein is trying to point this out. He starts with discussing his initial training which ran parallel to psychoanalysis to what is now neuropsychiatry. He goes into fantastic description as to what each stage has been like, what he has been able to take from one stage and apply to another, and where everything has coalesced and left him now. It shows that he is, and psychiatrists today in general, must be adaptable. I need to add something else - one thing Hellerstein points out without actually fully coming out and say it - psychiatrists are human too, and like other doctors, they want to be there for their patients and give them the best possible care. However, at present best possible care in psychiatry is totally and has been totally different than the rest of medicine. Personally, I'm glad to hear a psychiatrist's actual story. To people outside of the mental health system, I think this will give them some perspective as to what really goes on in psychiatry whereas to most people, well, they're clueless.
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Reviewed in the United States on June 13, 2023 by Andrea R.
A most enjoyable trip!
Format: Hardcover
I purchased the book, interested in the trends in psychology. Hence, I was expecting some boring textbook but was fully engaged in this memoir by a road warrior clinical psychotherapist on his journey up from the couch to his admirable clinical work and onto the latest in brain activity exploration then as a disciple of the therapeutic psychedelic pioneers and yogic masters. Should be a dramatic Netflix series, but read it first!
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Reviewed in the United States on September 26, 2023 by Indiana Steven
Learning to Ease Suffering
Format: Kindle
The Couch, The Clinic, and the Scanner describes three hospitals, three phases of the author Dr. Hellerstein’s life and psychiatric career, and three eras of psychiatry. Hellerstein’s career path crossed the heyday of psychoanalysis, the rise of the DSM and clinical diagnosis, and now inhabits the advent of neuroscience. Few writers have his skill in decoding medical jargon for the public and communicating the experience of interacting with patients who suffer from psychiatric disorders. These sequential essays often read as moving short stories, acknowledging the dilemmas and uncertainties that psychiatrists in all three eras have had to face. Mental health professionals, patients, and the intellectually curious will enjoy and learn from this book.
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Reviewed in the United States on May 24, 2023 by John Markowitz
Great Read!
Format: Hardcover
I am not a leisure reader at all, but this book was so captivating and addicting. I would read it again.
Reviewed in the United States on July 22, 2023 by Lorenzo Losbanos