Book Review: "Masters of the Mind" by Theodore Millon

by Joshua Packard, General Mental Health Journal

To anyone involved in the mental health or psychology and related fields, or anyone interested in how humanity has attempted to understand the mind, and mental illness and how to respond to issues regarding it, I highly recommend "Masters of the Mind: Exploring the Story of Mental Illness from Ancient Times to the New Millennium" by Dr. Theodore Millon.  I won't go heavily into detail of the book.  My primary purpose is to just briefly describe what it is about and the information and education the author provides, and to praise this work as worth the effort to read.

Dr. Millon essentially goes through the history of mankind from earliest sources in ancient time up through to the present, giving a very good survey of all the prominent and influential thinkers and authorities and how various persons have understood and tried to respond to mental illness and those who suffer from it.  He sets up his work according to seven categorical threads and trends for how mental illness has been understood.  These "stories" are in the approaches of philosophy, humanitarianism, neuroscience, psychoanalysis, psychoscience, socioculture, and personology.  Practically every major contributor, and a variety of secondary figures in each field is touched upon, laying out each school and each persons critical contribution to the field being mentioned and discussed.  What I especially like is the very broad and balanced inclusion of almost every opinion and philosophy, and the inclusion of so many persons, which made me interested in delving further into many of the works of those being introduced.

For anyone wanting a good summary and survey of most of the major figures in the development of psychology and mental illness, this is a good place to start.  If you have an interest in the subject, not only will this book help you get a general overview of all aspects of the field, but you will probably be interested in following up and doing more research and reading of the various contributors and their works.  There is something in this book for everyone interested in any aspect of mental health or psychology and related disciplines.

You can buy "Masters of the Mind: Exploring the Story of Mental Illness from Ancient Times to the New Millennium" from Amazon.

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