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Lecture

Jeffrey A. Lieberman, M.D., Malady of the Mind: Schizophrenia and the Path to Prevention, with Andrew Solomon

Monday, February 27, 2023 - 6:00 PM | Members' Room and livestream | open to the public

Of the many myths and misconceptions that obscure our understanding of schizophrenia, the most pernicious is that there is no effective treatment or cure. Though that may have been true in the past, the current reality couldn’t be more different: today’s treatments have the potential to be game-changing—and often lifesaving.

This powerful portrait of schizophrenia, the most malignant and mysterious mental illness, by renowned psychiatrist Jeffrey Lieberman, interweaves cultural and scientific history with dramatic patient profiles and clinical experiences to impart a revolutionary message of hope. For the first time in history, we can effectively treat schizophrenia, limiting its disabling effects—and we’re on the verge of being able to prevent the disease’s onset entirely.

In this rigorously researched, profoundly compelling biography of schizophrenia, Dr. Jeffrey Lieberman draws on his four-decade career to illuminate the past, present, and future of this historically dreaded and devastating illness. From his vantage point at the pinnacle of academic psychiatry, informed by extensive research experience and clinical care of thousands of patients, Dr. Lieberman explains how the complexity of the brain, the checkered history of psychiatric medicine, and centuries of stigma combined with misguided legislation and health care policies have impeded scientific advances and clinical progress. Despite this, there is reason for optimism: by offering evidence-based treatments that combine medication with psychosocial services and principles learned from the recovery movement, doctors can now effectively treat schizophrenia by diagnosing patients at a very early stage, achieving a mutually respectful therapeutic alliance, and preventing relapse, thus limiting the progression of the illness. Even more auspiciously, decades of work on diagnosis, detection, and early intervention have pushed scientific progress to the cusp of prevention—meaning that in the near future, doctors may be able to prevent the onset of this disorder.

A must-read for fans of medical histories, psychology, and those whose lives have been affected by schizophrenia, this revelatory work offers a comprehensive scientific portrait, crucial insights, sound advice for families and friends, and most importantly, hope for sufferers now and in the generations to come.

Over his 40-year career, world renowned psychiatrist and best-selling author Dr. Jeffrey A. Lieberman’s groundbreaking research on the neurobiology and pharmacology of behavioral brain disorders has advanced our understanding and treatment of mental illness, and pioneered a transformative strategy for the early detection and prevention of schizophrenia. Dr. Lieberman is a member of the National Academy of Medicine and recipient of the Lieber Prize for Schizophrenia Research from the Brain & Behavior Research Foundation, the American Psychiatric Association’s Adolf Meyer Award, and the Research Award from the National Alliance of Mental Illness, among others. A frequent public spokesperson on mental illness and psychiatry, Dr. Lieberman has contributed to health care policy and federal legislation to improve access and quality of mental health care while reducing the stigma associated with mental illness. He is the author of Shrinks: The Untold Story of Psychiatry, which became the basis for the four-part PBS series Mysteries of Mental Illness.

Andrew Solomon, Ph.D., is a Professor of Clinical Psychology at Columbia University, a Lecturer in Psychiatry at Yale University, and past President of PEN American Center. He is a writer, lecturer, and activist in mental health, politics, the arts, and LGBTQ rights. He writes regularly for The New Yorker and the New York Times. His bestselling 2012 book, Far from the Tree: Parents, Children, and the Search for Identity won the National Book Critics Circle Award for Nonfiction. Far and Away: How Travel Can Change the World, published in 2016, has been named a New York Times Notable Book. He previously wrote The Noonday Demon: An Atlas of Depression, which won the 2001 National Book Award and was a finalist for the 2002 Pulitzer Prize.  Most recently, he made an award-winning film of Far from the Tree and an audio book called New Family Values. He is a trustee of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the New York Public Library, PEN America, the National LGBTQ Task Force, Yaddo, and the Alex Fund. He lives with his husband and son in New York and London and is a dual national. He also has a daughter with a college friend. Photo by Annie Leibovitz