Human Nature Review

In Healing the Soul in the Age of the Brain, Elio Frattaroli presents an extended argument against the medical model of treatment for mental disorders and especially focuses on the limitations of psychotropic medications. His theoretical perspective is deeply rooted in psychoanalysis and he argues for a psychotherapeutic model of treatment. Many of his criticisms of mainstream psychiatry will be familiar to those aware of the history of psychiatry of the last fifty years. Furthermore, the well-known concerns about the evidential basis of psychoanalysis are directly applicable to the claims of Frattaroli. The battle-lines in those arguments are extremely well-entrenched, and have been defended more eloquently and concisely by other writers. (Those wanting to investigate the literature might do well to start with the recent publication, The Freud Encyclopedia, which provides many perspectives on the value of psychoanalysis.) The central question for potential readers of this book is whether Frattaroli has anything new to add to the debate. He does have some interesting ideas which he argues for at great length, but his argument is riddled with implausible and unsupported claims as well as incorrect interpretations of philosophers and scientists. The book is written in a popular style, with many lapses into discussion of Frattaroli's personal and professional experiences, long discussion of some particular cases, and finishes with a detailed account of the process of writing and revising the text of the book itself, including his email exchanges with his editors. Frattaroli was a student of Bruno Bettelheim, to whom he refers as "Dr. B." The particular brand of psychoanalysis that Frattaroli defends derives from Bettelheim's teachings. Frattaroli puts great emphasis on the idea that "the end is always the beginning," with which he suggests that the taking a psychological rather than a medical approach to a patient is more open-ended and open-minded. Bettelheim recommended taking an "I-Thou" attitude toward a patient rather than a dehumanizing "I-It" attitude. Frattaroli also explains that "falling down is