Has Medicine Lost Its Mind? by Robert C. Smith (Hardback)

£19.99
Out of stock
Product Ref. (e.g. ISBN, SKU)
9781493087655
Published:
04 May 2025
Format:
Hardback
Number of pages:
200 pages
Dimensions:
228.6x152.4mm
Weight:
0.413kgs
Author:
Poor mental care reverberates throughout America. The familiar problems of unnecessary prescription overdose deaths and deaths by suicide pale before the more widespread but less-recognized effect on patients with undiagnosed and untreated mental illnesses-depression, anxiety, and substance abuse the most common. The disability from these illnesses harms not only individual patients but also their families, communities, and society; astronomical, unnecessary healthcare costs result, in the range of hundreds of billions, even trillions of dollars, and society picks up the tab. Because medicine fails to recognize the problem, the author recommends that the public and its decision-makers take charge. Politicians and policy makers must exert strong pressure and insist that, via policy and funding leverage, medicine include mental disorders on an equal footing with physical diseases.

Modern health care wreaks havoc on patients with mental disorders. Sadly, only 25 percent of patients with a mental disorder, such as depression or drug abuse, receive any care at all. Worse yet, medical physicians conduct over three-fourths of this care, but it's almost universally characterized as low quality because they have not been trained in mental illnesses. Contrast this to 60 to 80 percent of patients who receive high quality care for their physical diseases, such as diabetes and heart disease, from the same doctors.

One fact illustrates the societal impact of compromised mental health care: mental illnesses are the most common health condition in the US. Most don't realize this, but the number of people with mental disorders exceed those of heart disease and cancer combined. And one in four Americans will have a major mental illness in any 12-month period, totaling some 90,000,000 individuals; twice that number, one in two, will suffer over their lifetime.

Why Society Should Take Note: Poor mental care reverberates throughout America. The familiar problems of unnecessary prescription overdose deaths and deaths by suicide pale before the more widespread but less-recognized effect on patients with undiagnosed and untreated mental illnesses-depression, anxiety, and substance abuse the most common. The disability from these illnesses harms not only individual patients but also their families, communities, and society; astronomical, unnecessary healthcare costs result, in the range of hundreds of billions, even trillions of dollars, and society picks up the tab.

Because medicine fails to recognize the problem, the author recommends that the public and its decision-makers take charge. Politicians and policy makers must exert strong pressure and insist that, via policy and funding leverage, medicine include mental disorders on an equal footing with physical diseases.

To operationalize this change, a Presidential Commission, a Congressional Commission, or the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine would analyze present medical education practices to determine how well they adhere to modern scientific understanding. The modern systems view of science is presented in Chapter 6. It integrates patients' mental and social dimensions with their physical illnesses, thus correcting modern medicine's isolated focus on physical disorders. Based on this evaluation, they would make recommendations to policy makers about the necessary changes needed to ensure a new direction in medicine that included training medical students and residents to be competent in mental health care and other psychological and social features of patients. That is, to return humanity to medicine. This high-level review mechanism to induce change was successful in changing medicine over 100 years ago in what was called the Flexner Report of 1910. Hence, the author calls for a "New Flexner Report."

About the Author: Nationally and internationally recognized for his evidence-based teaching innovations in mental health care and the doctor-patient relationship, Robert C. Smith, MD has received the prestigious appointment of University Distinguished Professor of Medicine and Psychiatry at Michigan State University. Originally in private medical practice, Dr. Smith undertook additional training in mental health and patient-centered medicine, as well as research in mental health care, and has been in academics since 1978. Dr. Smith developed the first evidence-based patient-centered method to guide teachers and their medical and nursing students and residents to master a physician's single most important skill: the ability to communicate and form a strong partnership with the patient.Among many awards, Dr. Smith has received the Master recognition from the American College of Physicians, the George Engel Award for Outstanding Research from the Academy on Communication in Healthcare, and the Career Teaching Achievement Award from the Society of General Internal Medicine. To date Dr. Smith has about 150 publications and receives from 350 to 400 Google Scholar citations per year to his published works. He has obtained major grant support from, for example, the private Fetzer Institute and federal institutions such as Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) and the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH).

More Information
Number of pages 200

We will despatch your order as quickly as we can. If, for whatever reason, a product is out of stock we will contact you to discuss the likely delivery time or an alternative product.

  First Item 2 Items & Over
UK £3.75 £5.00
EU £15.00 £30.00
USA & Canada £30.00 £50.00
Rest of the World £45.00 £60.00
Collect in Store free free

Additional Delivery Information (and some really important bits):

UK Delivery

Orders for delivery in the UK are normally despatched by Royal Mail, using the RM 48 Tracked Service with most orders delivered to you within a few days of placing your order with us. For larger parcels, Courier and Signed For delivery services may be used. Signed Books are shipped in our specially made book mailing cartons, with the books themselves wrapped in paper to protect them. Sometimes we may ship your order in several parts, particularly if you have 'Pre-Order' titles in your order or titles which are held in stock with our publishing partners.

The Really Important Bit: Because we use tracked, courier and signed for delivery services, please use an address at which your parcel can be received during the normal working day, for example, you may want to have your order delivered to your work address if you're not at home during the day.

First Item @ £3.75 (sometimes a shipping supplement may be added for particularly heavy books or specific postcodes*)
2 Items & over @ £5.00 in total

Another Really Important Bit: There are a number of Postcodes in the UK for which we will need to charge a shipping supplement, this will be calculated once we know the size and weight of the shipment. For these orders we will contact customers to agree a suitable and economic method of shipping. There may also be additional time required for delivery to some areas of the United Kingdom. Where possible, we will ship book orders (under 2kg) by Royal Mail to all UK postcodes. Large multiple book orders and books over 2kg are often shipped via APC Overnight or similar, regardless of Postcode.

Overseas Delivery

Shipments to EU countries:

First Item @ £15.00 (sometimes a shipping supplement will be added for particularly heavy books)
2 Items & over @ £30.00 in total

A really, really important Brexit bit: From 1st January 2021 shipments to EU addresses may incur additional costs which could be requested by Fed Ex at the time of delivery. These costs may vary from country to country and are not within our control and will be in addition to the costs paid to us for your delivery. If in any doubt, please check with your local Fed Ex office what, if any, additional costs will be applicable to your order - https://www.fedex.com
From 1st July 2021, VAT will be applicable to those EU countries where VAT is applied to books - this additional charge will be collected by Fed Ex (or the Royal Mail) at the time of delivery.

Shipments to the USA & Canada:

First Item @ £30.00
2 Items & over @ £50.00 in total

A really, really important USA Tarriff bit: From 29th August 2025 shipments to the USA are likely to incur additional duties, taxes and/or tarriffs which will be requested by the courier at the time of delivery. These costs may vary from state to state and are not within our control. These local duties, taxes and/or tarriffs will be in addition to the costs paid to us for your delivery. If you are in any doubt, please check with your local Tax Official or Fed Ex office what, if any, additional costs will be applicable to your order. The primary HTS (Harmonized Tariff Schedule) Code for a hardback book is 4901.99.0070 - https://www.fedex.com

Shipments to the Rest of the World:

First Item @ £45.00
2 Items & over @ £60.00 in total

All overseas orders are shipped using a 'signed for' courier service - please provide an address at which your parcel can be signed for on receipt. We use the same packaging materials for our overseas deliveries as we do those in the UK. In some cases, particularly large and heavy books, or books being shipped to remote areas, may incur an additional shipping charge - if this is the case with your order, we'll notify you as quickly as possible of these charges and to arrange the additional payment. You can of course cancel your order with an immediate refund should you not wish to accept these additional costs. Shipments to overseas territories may incur additional Duty & Tax costs which could be requested by Fed Ex at the time of delivery. These costs may vary from country to country and are not within our control and will be in addition to the costs paid to us for your delivery. If in any doubt, please check with your local Fed Ex office what, if any, additional Tax & Duty costs will be applicable to your order - https://www.fedex.com

Collect in Person at Coles Books

We're open Monday - Saturday, 9:00am - 5:30pm. If you're collecting your order, please wait until you get the text, phone call or email from us, just to be on the safe side and to ensure we have your order ready for you on arrival (we'll use the contact information provided during checkout). Not everything on our website is available for immediate collection, please do wait for the text, call or email - if time is of the essence, we'd suggest you call us on 01869 320779 and check availability prior to placing your order. You can pick up your order from the till, please bring a copy of your email receipt (electronic or printed is fine).

Coming by Car

If you're coming to Coles by car, why not take advantage of the 2 hours free parking at Sainsbury's Pioneer Square - just follow the signs for Pioneer Square as you drive into Bicester and park in the multi-storey car park above the supermarket. Come down the travelators, exit Sainsbury's, turn right and follow the pedestrianised walkway to Crown Walk and turn right - and Coles will be right in front of you. You don't need to shop in Sainsbury's to get the free parking!

Where to Find Us

Coles Books
22 Crown Walk
Pioneer Square
Bicester, Oxfordshire
OX26 6HY, United Kingdom

It was the most impressive packaging that I have EVER SEEN!!! The books were in perfect condition!!!!!

Super fast delivery and well packaged. Quality item and service!

Copyright © Coles Books - a Danny Boy Trading Company. All rights reserved.