An astonishing book: honest, sober, exciting, and humane...Shrinks] brings you to the very forefront of one of the most amazing medical journeys of our time. --Siddhartha Mukherjee Psychiatry has come a long way since the days of chaining lunatics in cold cells. But, as Jeffrey Lieberman, MD, reveals in his eye-opening book, the path to legitimacy for the black sheep of medicine has been anything but smooth. Dr. Lieberman traces the field from its birth as a mystic pseudo-science to its late blooming maturity--beginning after World War II--as a science-driven profession that saves lives. With fascinating case studies and portraits of the fields luminaries--from Sigmund Freud to Eric Kandel--SHRINKS is a gripping read, and an urgent call-to-arms to dispel the stigma of mental illnesses by treating them as diseases rather than unfortunate states of mind.