Through fascinating case histories and revelatory encounters with
patients, Dr. Peter Kramer captures the essence of contemporary
psychiatric practice, allowing the reader to "look over the shoulder" of
a doctor in order to discover the ways in which those who deal daily
with the probelms of the mind think of the mind now. He also conveys
what it feels like to be inside a changing profession and defines the
roles of each of the tools--from medicine to empathy--used to help
patients change. With drama, wit, and a breadth of learning that extends
from Freud to neurobiology to the novels of Mark Twain and Virginia
Woolf, Kramer allows us to see how psychiatry, that mystifying amalgam
of science, art, and simple empathy, works.