Ten books

ABSTRACT

Specific books have shaped my professional interests, drawing me towards social justice, Eastern psychology and the history of psychiatry. Along the way, books led me to diverse places (Japan, Russia, India), diverse academic interests (epidemiology, governance, law, history, Buddhist studies) and diverse projects, ranging from a history of psychiatry in Ireland,1 to a 1-year meditation diary,2 to a book about coping with COVID-19.3 Initially, I doubted it would be possible to select ten books to reflect all of this, but I had no doubt about where to start Advice Not Given A Guide to Getting Over Yourself by Mark Epstein Mark Epstein is an American psychiatrist and clinical assistant professor of psychology at New York University. In Pathologies of Power Health, Human Rights, and the New War on the Poor, Paul Farmer writes about ‘structural violence’, which comprises forces such as poverty, racism, socioeconomic inequality and discrimination, which necessarily have an influence on people's health.12 While the concept of ‘structural violence’ had been usefully applied to specific medical and public health issues, it seemed to me a useful way to look at mental illness too.