Facing the Unseen - by Damon Tweedy (Hardcover)

About the Book

"From the ... the author of Black Man in a White Coat comes a powerful and urgent call to center psychiatry and mental health care into the mainstream of medicine ... As much as we all might wish that mental health problems, with their elusive causes and unsettling behaviors, simply did not exist, millions of people suffer from them, sometimes to an extreme extent. Many others face addiction to alcohol and other drugs, as overdose and suicide deaths abound. Yet the vast majority of doctors receive minimal instruction in treating these conditions during their lengthy medical training. This mismatch ignores the clear overlap between physical and mental distress, and too-often puts psychiatrists on the outside looking in as the medical system continues to fail many patients. In Facing The Unseen, bestselling author, professor of psychiatry, and practicing physician Damon Tweedy guides us through his days working in outpatient clinics, emergency rooms, and hospitals as he meets people from all walks of life who are grappling with physical and psychological illnesses ... Tweedy argues for a more comprehensive and integrated approach where people with mental illness have a health care system that places their full well-being front and center"--

Book Synopsis

From the New York Times bestselling author of Black Man in a White Coat comes a powerful and urgent call to center psychiatry and mental health care into the mainstream of medicine

As much as we all might wish that mental health problems, with their elusive causes and unsettling behaviors, simply did not exist, millions of people suffer from them, sometimes to an extreme extent. Many others face addiction to alcohol and other drugs, as overdose and suicide deaths abound. Yet the vast majority of doctors receive minimal instruction in treating these conditions during their lengthy medical training. This mismatch ignores the clear overlap between physical and mental distress, and too-often puts psychiatrists on the outside looking in as the medical system continues to fail many patients.

In Facing The Unseen, bestselling author, professor of psychiatry, and practicing physician Damon Tweedy guides us through his days working in outpatient clinics, emergency rooms, and hospitals as he meets people from all walks of life who are grappling with physical and psychological illnesses. In powerful, compassionate, and eloquent prose, Tweedy argues for a more comprehensive and integrated approach where people with mental illness have a health care system that places their full well-being front and center.

Review Quotes

"[Tweedy's] compelling analysis of [a] desperate situation draws on vivid encounters in outpatient clinics, emergency rooms and hospitals."--Nature

"The personal anecdotes will help readers understand the view from the doctor's chair, and the argument for a 'collaborative care' model convinces. It's an edifying proposal for overhauling psychiatric treatment."--Publishers Weekly

"A charged, earnest argument for relaxing the distinction between body and mind in the treatment of both."--Kirkus Reviews

"Tweedy offers a moving reminder that no individual is merely ordinary and calls for more available and comprehensive mental health care."--Booklist

"Tweedy offers what feels like a personal invitation into his office, his expertise and, most of all, his hard-earned wisdom.... Tweedy is an excellent storyteller, making the people whom he treats unforgettably visible in all their complexities.... He uses powerful descriptions that yield keen insights, showing us how the health care system sets doctors up to fail their patients, and offering solutions that will help."--BookPage

"With both empathy and expertise, Damon Tweedy demonstrates why mental health cannot be siloed away from the rest of healthcare. Facing the Unseen is a rallying cry to reimagine how we care for patients, for centering mental health within "regular" medical care. A unified approach to care will not only address the urgent needs of patients, it will also help ease the burden on overstretched primary-care clinicians. Absolutely timely!"--Danielle Ofri, MD, PhD, author of When We Do Harm: A Doctor Confronts Medical Error

"Brims with insight and rare empathy. Damon Tweedy has written an essential book for this time of national and global mental health crisis. Facing the Unseen reads like a good novel while offering a much-needed corrective to our current systems of medical training and healthcare."--Louise Aronson, author of Elderhood: Redefining Aging, Transforming Medicine, Reimagining Life

"Facing the Unseen is a coming of age story, a psychiatry primer, and a policy brief all rolled into one. Riveting case studies. Compelling, honest prose. A strong battle cry for a more holistic approach to mental health treatment. Dr. Tweedy is one of the most important voices in psychiatry today."--Anna Lembke, MD, author of Dopamine Nation: Finding Balance in the Age of Indulgence

About the Author

DAMON TWEEDY, M.D. is a graduate of Duke University School of Medicine. He is an associate professor of psychiatry at Duke University School of Medicine and staff physician at the Durham Veteran Affairs Health System. He has published articles about race and medicine in the New York Times, Washington Post, and elsewhere, as well as in various medical journals. He lives outside Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina, with his family.