No Such Thing as Normal: Disorders, Diagnoses and the Limits of Psychiatry
By (Author) Marieke Bigg
Profile Books Ltd
Profile Books Ltd
2nd September 2025
Main
United Kingdom
General
Non Fiction
Feminism and feminist theory
Coping with / advice about mental health issues
Coping with / advice about eating disorders
Coping with / advice about PTSD and other psychological traumas
Ethical issues: scientific, technological and medical developments
362.2
Hardback
336
Width 162mm, Height 238mm, Spine 34mm
540g
Within the scientific community, the field of Psychiatry has been in freefall for a number of years. Its treatments and medications rest on assumptions that are, at best, unsupported, and at worst, entirely false. There is increasing recognition that environmental factors play a far greater role in mental health than genetic inheritance or inherent brain structure. Despite this, we have never been more medicated.Disordered is a deeply researched, timely, essential book that will shine a light on the psychiatric industry: its genesis, its obsession with often ineffective, over-medicalised treatments, and its relationship with a pharmaceutical industry driven by profitability rather than meaningful social welfare and change. Above all, Bigg will highlight those who most get left behind by the psychiatric machine, laying out the steps for a mental health system that helps, rather than neglects the people it claims to serve, and calling for long-overdue, desperately needed change.
'PRAISE FOR MARIEKE BIGG'S PREVIOUS WORK:
She is balanced in her evidence analysis, forensic in her research' - Telegraph
'A vital subject that needs to be discussed' - Katy Hessel, author of THE STORY OF ART WITHOUT MEN
'A hugely informative and quietly furious call to arms' - Irish Times
'A valuable sociological perspective on women's bodies and health and an even more valuable (and optimistic) view of a better future for all' - Gina Rippon, author of THE GENDERED BRAIN
'Ground-breaking' - Evening Standard
Dr Marieke Bigg holds a PhD in sociology from the University of Cambridge. Her work focused on the role of biological models and biologists in public deliberations on biotechnology and reproductive medicine. She also writes fiction that deals with the intersection of art and the female body. Besides her writing, she runs writing workshops, lectures, and collaborates with scientists and artists to produce exhibitions that conjure new social worlds. She is currently training as a psychotherapist.