Press: My Interview on NPR's 1A

Without a biological basis, how reliably can we diagnose and treat mental illness?

This post is part of the exclusive serialization of Cured. Each subscription sends a message to the media, publishers, the American Psychiatric Association, the World Health Organization, and all mental health professionals that we want to learn and talk more about mental health recovery.

Today, I bring you my interview for NPR’s 1A: Without a biological basis, how reliably can we diagnose and treat mental illness?

I write about this issue extensively in my first memoir Pathological: The True Story of Six Misdiagnoses, but I also touch on it in Cured. This interview goes more in-depth. Plus, NPR’s Jenn White is a fantastic interviewer (one of the best).

The interview is surprising. I was joined by Dr. Thomas Insel—psychiatrist, neuroscientist, former director of the National Institute of Mental Health (2002-2015), and author of “Healing: Our Path from Mental Illness to Mental Health”—whom I’ve featured here on Cured. And Dr. Paul Appelbaum—psychiatrist and chair of the DSM-5 Steering Committee and the American Psychiatric Association.

Our conversation is far from combative. In a moment that I see as a triumph for everyone who’s been diagnosed with a psychiatric disorder, Dr. Appelbaum agrees that people deserve to know the truth about diagnoses, i.e., that they have no scientific validity and little reliability. Recovery comes from having agency and all the information we need to heal.

Enjoy!

Read ‘Pathological’ (HarperCollins), the prequel to ‘Cured’