This book was excellent!

There are quite a lot of modern authors (and people in previous centuries) who dismiss the idea that insanity is *real*, or that it is increasing. This book gives great detail as to why both of those are untrue.

Insanity DOES appear to have been increasing for at least the last 300 years. All of the arguments against this idea are thoroughly addressed in the book.

I did hope that the book would go more into the possible causes of this increase, but unfortunately the book is focused primarily on proving the actual incidence and increase of insanity through time. At least it very thoroughly established this.

I recommend this book for those interested in mental illness, especially those who think it is a social construct. The book won’t really help you do something about insanity (schizophrenia, bipolar, psychosis, etc), but it should clear up the common misconceptions about the problem.