Origins of Mental Illness: Temperament, Deviance and Disorder [signed]

What determines the form of mental illness from which particular people suffer? Professor Claridge's central theme is that "psychiatric" disorders--even in their most severe forms--are abnormal manifestations of temperamental and personality characteristics we all possess to a greater or lesser degree. Examining the major forms of abnormality from this point of view, the author puts particular emphasis on the continuity between schizophrenia and normal behavior.