Join us as we welcome the always-brilliant and ever-insightful Gavin Francis to celebrate his latest book: The Unfragile Mind.
Between a quarter and a fifth of young people in the UK now suffer a mental disorder. One in four adults are prescribed psychiatric medication. These numbers represent a huge and recent expansion in mental health labelling, but reveal nothing of the experience of those seeking help. In The Unfragile Mind, Gavin draws on conversations with patients, colleagues, and his thirty years of practice to explore the chequered history of psychiatry, the nature of mental health and ill-health, and the problems – including mood disorders, trauma, anxiety and addiction – that he addresses daily. The mind, he argues, is dynamic and adaptive – better addressed not with rigid labels and protocols, but with curiosity, kindness, humility and hope.
Dr Gavin Francis is a GP and urgent care physician with a special interest in mental health. He is the bestselling author of Adventures in Human Being, Shapeshifters and Intensive Care. He writes about health and medicine for the Guardian, London Review of Books and the Times, among others.