Includes bibliographical references and index.

Up against the wall -- A nation's madness -- Frozen psychosis -- Free speech -- A magical bench -- Listening to a different logic -- Mind-blowing thoughts -- From history to mythology -- Leaving things alone -- Metasexuality -- Hearing voices -- Assumed knowledge -- Hiding the mind -- Dodging thought -- Somatoforms -- Dumbing down -- Where are you from? -- Change -- Lucy on an island.

"Many schizophrenics experience their condition as one of radical incarceration, mind-altering medications, isolation, and dehumanization. At a time when the treatment of choice is anti-psychotic medication, world-renowned psychoanalyst Christopher Bollas asserts that schizophrenics can be helped by much more humane treatments, and that they have a chance to survive and even reverse the process if they have someone to talk to them regularly and for a sustained period, soon after their first breakdown. In this sensitive and evocative narrative, he draws on his personal experiences working with schizophrenics since the 1960s. He offers his interpretation of how schizophrenia develops, typically in the teens, as an adaptation in the difficult transition to adulthood." -- Publisher's website