In this provocative book, Kirk (social welfare, UCLA), Gomory (social work, Florida State U.), and Cohen (public health, Florida International U.) challenge nearly every aspect of the modern psychiatric establishment. They argue that the conceptual constructs of mental illnesses are flawed, that improvements in effective diagnosis and treatment have been exaggerated, that motivation to accept treatment is often coercive, and that pharmacological treatments in particular are frequently backed by weak efficacy results and strong economic motives. Written with enough hard numbers and citations for a specialist to evaluate, the text is also informal enough to be accessible to the interested layman. Ultimately, the authors advocate for a new model of mental illness as a valid part of the range of human experience, to be responded to as a legal issue when socially dangerous behavior results, but otherwise only with fully voluntary treatment. Annotation ©2013 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)