Schizophrenia: A Very Short Introduction

"This book describes the history, concepts, symptoms, importance, environmental and biological factors of schizophrenia. The authors included several boxes of illustrating cases, DSM-IV criteria, drawings of patients, newspaper fragments, ...

Schizophrenia is a terrible condition that can ruin people's lives and since there are a lot of misunderstandings it's important to read books like this: it provides you a clear and interesting overview of what schizophrenia really is about.

It doesn't seem to be organized as a textbook for a psychiatry course (so I wouldn't recommend it for that purpose) - it's rather intended as a source for background reading.

Although there is a brief chapter about drugs, a bit more information concerning the pharmacological, clinical and social aspects of antipsychotics would have made it complete. But overall: good book."
~ Written on 2008-04-08

"An excellent book for somebody like me who knew nothing about schizophrenia apart from the cliches and the bad taste jokes.

It covers all the bases- the history of the disorder, the different explanations that have been suggested for its cause, a variety of accounts from schizophrenics about how it feels, a fair amount of detail about the science of the brain under schizophrenia, modern day opinions about treating people with schizophrenia, and more.

All of this is perfectly well balance, clear and easy-to-read, and I found it to contain just the right amount of depth. An excellent, and short (not very short!) introduction."
~ Written on 2008-02-17

"The book is an interesting read. I particularily liked the last chapter "The importance of Schizophrenia", which raises many intriguing questions on what we can learn from the schizophrenia. I would recommend it to someone who wants to know more about the disease (but not too much). "
~ Written on 2007-10-31

"A really interesting book giving a good overview of the condition. And as the book is quite small and compact it is not too off putting when you start to read!!!!"
~ Written on 2003-10-08