Review of Understanding Troubled Minds by Sidney Bloch

The first edition of Understanding Troubled Minds: A guide to mental illness and its treatments came out in 1997, and was written by psychiatrists Sidney Bloch and Bruce Singh. They had just finished a textbook of psychiatry for medical students and realised that a version for the general public was needed. They wanted to provide a ‘clear, well-informed , objective assessment of the nature of mental illness and its treatment’ (viii) and Bloch, in this thoroughly updated second edition, has maintained and continued that goal.


Perhaps every household should have a copy of this book. The stigma of ‘madness’ is persistent, with news reports of disturbed people attacking members of the public doing little to alter fearful attitudes. The book methodically and clearly describes the variety of mental illness experience, how conditions are diagnosed and treated, and what drugs and psychotherapies are generally used. Bloch writes well, and includes many examples of literary references to mental illness, as well as case studies and personal experiences by public figures. This makes it an approachable reference book without jargon.


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