Origins of Mental Illness
Gordon Claridge
Gordon Claridge
Gordon Sidney Claridge is a British psychologist and author, best known for his theoretical and empirical work on the concept of schizotypy or psychosis-proneness.
Origins of Mental Illness
Gordon Claridge
“He presents research data and a historical perspective not readily available to the clinician in the United States.”
—Journal of the American Medical Association
What determines the form of mental illness from which particular people suffer? Professor Claridge’s central theme is that “psychiatric disorders” even in their most severe forms are abnormal manifestations of temperamental and personality characteristics we all possess to a greater or lesser degree. Examining the major forms of abnormality from this point of view, the author puts particular emphasis on the continuity between schizophrenia and normal behavior.
“In an immensely readable fashion, Claridge brings to life important studies on the nature of our personality, mental illness, and madness. He links the normal with the abnormal, the creative and the mad, the workaday research of psychology with the florid experiences of the mentally ill. And he does it with humility, sense and brilliance. This is an important book, because it brings to the general reader and the professional an unrivaled range of experience, competence, and understanding. A triumph!”
—Robert Ornstein
