Healing

Our Path from Mental Illness to Mental Health

By: Thomas Insel MD

Narrated by: Thomas Insel MD

A bold, expert, and actionable map for the reinvention of America’s broken mental health care system.

As director of the National Institute of Mental Health, Dr. Thomas Insel was giving a presentation when the father of a boy with schizophrenia yelled from the back of the room, “Our house is on fire and you’re telling me about the chemistry of the paint! What are you doing to put out the fire?” Dr. Insel knew in his heart that the answer was not nearly enough. The gargantuan American mental health industry was not healing millions who were desperately in need. He left his position atop the mental health research world to investigate all that was broken - and what a better path to mental health might look like.

In the United States, we have treatments that work, but our system fails at every stage to deliver care well. Even before COVID, mental illness was claiming a life every 11 minutes by suicide. Quality of care varies widely, and much of the field lacks accountability. We focus on drug therapies for symptom reduction rather than on plans for long-term recovery. Care is often unaffordable and unavailable, particularly for those who need it most and are homeless or incarcerated. Where was the justice for the millions of Americans suffering from mental illness? Who was helping their families?

But Dr. Insel also found that we do have approaches that work, both in the US and globally. Mental illnesses are medical problems, but he discovers that the cures for the crisis are not just medical, but social. This path to healing, built upon what he calls the three Ps (people, place, and purpose), is more straightforward than we might imagine. Dr. Insel offers a comprehensive plan for our failing system and for families trying to discern the way forward.

The fruit of a lifetime of expertise and a global quest for answers, Healing is a hopeful, actionable account and achievable vision for us all in this time of mental health crisis.

This audiobook includes a downloadable PDF that contains charts and graphs.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2022 Thomas Insel (P)2022 Penguin Audio

Critic reviews

“The outcomes for people treated for serious mental illness are often poor.... Why? A psychiatrist and neuroscientist who headed the National Institute of Mental Health in 2002-15 and has since returned to the private sector, Dr. Insel is well-positioned to answer the question...traveling widely to identify the crisis of care and look for solutions. Healing is the product of this odyssey—and a compelling summary of all that he learned along the way.”—Sally Satel, The Wall Street Journal

“[Insel’s] recollections give depth and provide a human face to the problems he articulates and offer hints at possible solutions.... Like a good doctor, Insel identifies symptoms and prescribes solutions to the problems that plague the country’s mental health infrastructure...our country’s soul is in a decidedly bad place. Healing suggests a path toward a better one.”—Benjamin F. Miller, Science

“Insel’s reflective and heartfelt book is an important contribution to the ongoing debate about how to address the current crisis that prevents so many Americans saddled with a serious mental illness from rebuilding their lives.”—Joshua C. Kendall, Undark

Great insights and historical context

I really enjoyed all of the context that Dr. Insel provides to illustrate how the mental health care system has become what it is. He outlines several aspects or challenges of our current system, such as medication efficacy, therapy, bed shortages, insurance, care models etc. His insight into these topics is greatly appreciated. I am a psychiatric resident and am very glad to have read this book as it helped me to better concetualize many of my own concerns with our care system. It also gave me hope that we can make progress towards a solution.

the hope

such an important topic. We in the US are experiencing so much suffering and there are pathways to improve our care. we need to institute systems to take care of all of our nation.

Outstanding analysis and roadmap forward for mental health systems improvement

Great historical context for how we got here and have great personal stories to illustrate the voice of so many with serious mental illness and their families. Not only that, real solutions that I know will work if we have the political will to care!

Absolutely beautiful, HOPE

Dr. Insel’s book is not only informative and insightful, he offers actual solutions to bring about hope and healing. I have used his teachings in my Practice. I am grateful for this book and highly encourage anyone who wants to be a part of the social change on mental illness/health to listen carefully to the insights of his teachings.

Wide Ranging Insights from a Psychiatric Pioneer

This illuminating book by the former Director of NIMH is a superb overview of what “ails” the American mental healthcare system - hardly a “system”, because it is so fragmented - and a set of “prescriptions” for improving it. Dr Insel shares his vast fund of knowledge and experience, weaving together the history of mental healthcare policies, the history of major psychiatric and psychological theories and practice patterns, numerous stories of individual patients, and examples of best practices that deserve close attention from health system leaders and government officials; yet all the while he maintains a humble tone, demonstrating a consistent willingness to update his thinking and set aside his own past convictions. It is clear that Dr Insel has had a lifelong interest to raise mental health care standards and accountability to be comparable to medical conditions such as heart disease or pediatric cancer. The book further benefits from his sharing about being California’s mental health czar for a year. During that time he learned from the homeless, skid row psychiatrists, law enforcement, and many others. Dr Insel’s many faceted background in psychoanalysis, clinical research, the neurobiology of attachment, administration, technology, being a parent of two children with mental health challenges, all combined with a keen eye and the warmth of a caring clinician, make this book a gem and must-read for anyone who cares about advancing the future of mental health. Make sure to listen or read through to the end; I personally found the FutureProof program for youth mental health promotion in Australia to be particularly inspiring. Thank you Dr Insel!

Mental health care in the US

An eloquent analysis of the current mental healthcare system in the United States with tangible thoughts and constructs for improving care and outcomes.

PMHNP -Enjoyed it

I’m a psych mental health nurse practitioner. Selected this book on whim and thoroughly enjoyed it.

Extraordinary insight Into mental health care as it exists today and what is needed to fix it

Dr. Insel explains how our nation is failing those living with serious mental illness and offers solutions to improving this utilizing techniques and programs that have been proven to produce good results. The challenges for treating mental illness equally with physical illness are clear, but there is hope in realizing we know what to do if we can only find the will to do it. This is a must read for anyone with an interest in improving life for people living with serious mental illness, including healthcare providers, policy makers, healthcare academics, politicians, and families dealing with the issue.

Forward-looking. Hopeful. Helpful.

For families of loved ones in the throes of mental illnesses, Dr Inslee is a credible prophet of hope. For other fellow citizens, please don't wait till mental illness breaks your heart. Join the fight to support practical changes that can save and change lives.

This book is a Game Changer

Dr. Insel's book is a game changer. In it he combines his expertise, personal lived experience, powerful stories, and the breadth of the history of mental health care and couples all that with a vision of the future of care in a compelling narrative that gives hope and a new paradigm of the need for the 3 P's: People (connection) Place (safety/shelter) and Purpose. It should be read by anyone in the field or anyone needing support for mental health--which means everyone!