Losing our minds The challenge of defining mental illness

"The absence of knowledge about mental health creates a vacuum that is filled by inaccuracies and half-truths," writes psychologist Foulkes in her compassionate debut. While mental illness has become part of the mainstream conversation over the past decade thanks to destigmatization campaigns, celebrity memoirs, and global efforts such as an official World Mental Health Day, Foulkes writes, "this message to speak about our mental illness is only useful if... the person listening actually understands what the problem is." To that end, she endeavors to fill in the gaps. Destigmatization efforts, though well-intended, have made people more comfortable using mental health terms, she notes, but they've also led to a conflation between normal discomfort and disorders: people often use the term OCD flippantly, for example, without understanding what the disorder actually entails. She covers the complicated nature of diagnoses and the biological and environmental factors behind conditions, and tactfully examines reasons that mental illness rates are rising (notably because young people are more willing to talk about their problems and diagnostic criteria have expanded). Foulkes's research is thorough, and her explanations of mental health are accessible: "This topic defies any simple explanation. To recognize its complexity puts us in a far better position than pretending any of this is easy." There's plenty of insight on offer in this comprehensive survey. (Jan.)

A potent examination of mental illness and its understanding "in the research world and in society at large." British academic psychologist Foulkes addresses readers with a mix of pedagogical and colloquial language. "We know mental illness exists," she writes, "we know it's widespread, but few people really know what any of this means." The author dismantles misperceptions while sharing her thoroughly researched opinions of matters related, primarily, to depression and anxiety, and she poses questions that she seeks to answer: "What are the core deficits or issues that are familiar across many different mental illnesses?"; "What happens outside the body that increases our risk of mental illness?"; "What impact does social media really have on mental health?" Foulkes credits Dutch psychologist Denny Borsboom's network theory of mental disorders as being "the best explanation of what mental illness really 'is.' " It suggests that biological, psychological, and environmental components affect one another; eventually, this web can become self-sustaining, even after a trigger has disappeared. Not only does Foulkes relay studies, she casts through them with direct summations: "If you're ever going to develop a mental illness, more likely than not, it will start in your adolescent years." In opposition to simplistic, alarmist headlines about social media causing depression in adolescents, the author looks at longitudinal studies of not just how much time people spend on apps, but also how they use them and the ensuing underlying psychological behaviors. "I think part of the reason that social media has been so demonized boils down to one truth: it's new," she writes. Foulkes also integrates reports of current events and published personal accounts of mental suffering and healing to take aim at pop-culture language used in conversation around mental illness. Foulkes is a compassionate, rational guide through modern-day mental issues that are neither easily categorized nor treated. "Time," she writes, "teaches that recovery is not linear." Helpful to anyone interested in a deeper understanding of psychological distress. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.