Originally published in 1975, this book examines the various types of psychological disturbance, shows how they have come to be regarded as illnesses, and examines critically the notion of psychiatric diagnosis. It describes how clinical psychology has grown up within psychiatry to support a conceptual system antithetical to it.

The author goes on to describe the theories and therapies that do not adhere particularly to the notion of mental illness. Today it can be enjoyed in its historical perspective.