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The Unbalanced Mind
Julian Leff
New York: Columbia University Press, 2001
YEARS AGO, Leon Eisenberg (1987) wrote a wonderful article on the "mindlessness and brainlessness" prevalent in the mental health field. He argued that the two forces at work in mental health research and practice, the biological and the psychological, were in danger of both losing out if they could not find some way to integrate or recognize the benefits of the other. Since that article, the biological forces have come to dominate mental health research and treatment. The decade of the brain brought important advances in our understanding of the neurological underpinnings of severe mental illness and the development of new pharmacological interventions. However, the biological forces have so dominated the discourse on mental health, that the other systems at work in peoples' lives, the psychological and the social, have been put aside. In many ways, Julian Leff's new book is a return to Leon Eisenberg's thesis. The title itself, The Unbalanced Mind, has a double meaning that addresses this thesis. Unbalanced is a term used to describe mental illness and is the perspective a person will have if only the biological or the psychological force is considered. Similar to Eisenberg's article, Left uses several decades of research to support his contention that the social environment is just as important to peoples' mental health as their biological makeup.
For many years, Leff has been at the forefront of social psychiatry. He has participated in research around the world that has addressed cultural and...