What is Madness?

The widely acclaimed author of The New Black returns with this brilliant exploration of madnessWhat separates the sane from the mad? How can we tell them apart? And what if the difference is really between being mad and going mad?In this landmark work Darian Leader undermines common conceptions of madness. Through case studies like the apparently ‘normal’ Harold Shipman, he shows that madness rarely conforms to standard models. And by exploring the idea of quiet madness – that at times many of us live interior lives that are far from sane but allow us to function normally and unthreateningly – he argues that we must seek a new way to assess, treat and deal with those suffering mental health problems.

Darian Leader is a psychoanalyst and the author of many books, including The New Black, What Is Madness? and Is It Ever Just Sex?. He practises psychoanalysis in London, and he is a founding member of the Centre for Freudian Analysis and Research and a member of the College of Psychoanalysts UK.