Mad, Bad And Sad: A History of Women and the Mind Doctors from 1800 to the Present - Tapa blanda

A tantalising mix of polemic and history, of ideology and fact . . . A gripping read . . . In a league far above any other book of its kind on this topic (SUNDAY BUSINESS POST)

Subtle, textured and enthralling . . . One of the great strengths of this book is the way in which it charts the uncanny relationship between fashions in psychiatric theory and sufferers' symptoms (SUNDAY TIMES)

Marvellous. At last! A serious, well-researched book on this important subject (Pamela Stephenson)

The triumph of MAD, BAD AND SAD is to mix evocative case studies with potted histories of the great and good of psychology and psychiatry . . . intelligent and academically rigorous (OBSERVER)

** 'Informative in startling ways, and never dull in the academic way, Appignanesi's genuinely new History of the Mind Doctors is a subtle and accessible account of that perhaps most daunting of modern relationships, the one between the Mind Doctor and his female patient. Because Appignanesi has a complex story to tell there is no blaming at work in this wonderful book, but a shrewd and sympathetic apprehension of what is at stake in the difficult histories of both the Mind Doctors and those they seek to help. It is a remarkable achievement (Adam Phillips)

** 'A tantalising mix of polemic and history, of ideology and fact . . . A gripping read . . . In a league far above any other book of its kind on this topic (SUNDAY BUSINESS POST)

** 'Endlessly fascinating (THE INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY)

** 'Subtle, textured and enthralling . . . One of the great strengths of this book is the way in which it charts the uncanny relationship between fashions in psychiatric theory and sufferer s' symptoms (SUNDAY TIMES)

Lisa Appignanesi was born in Poland and grew up in France and Canada. A novelist and writer, she is visiting professor of Literature and the Medical Humanities at King's College London. She was chair of the Freud Museum from 2008-2014 and is a former president of English PEN. She was awarded an OBE for services to Literature in 2013. Her published work includes Mad, Bad and Sad, All About Love and Losing the Dead. @LisaAppignanesi