Individuals struggling with mental illness have long been dosed with drugs and sent to therapy. Their conditions were considered their own, the result of a chemical imbalance, and they alone were given treatment. Begel and Keith have turned those practices on end by focusing on the people in the patient's life. It’s the doctors’ premise that often more than one person involved is depressed or anxious, that imbalances can be found in relationships, not only internally. Using examples from their practices, the doctors present a series of cases to support their theory. Each chapter follows three groups of clients sharing similar challenges, including marital affairs, sexless marriages, kids with ADHD, and teens who threaten self-harm. Readers are allowed to sit in on the sessions as interactions between family members and the therapist are detailed and interpreted. While there are some successes, not all encounters end happily or by resolving the issues involved. The authors admit to taking gambles to spark emotions in their patients, an approach with mixed results, but they contend that, nonetheless, healing begins. A provocative and revealing perspective.

Booklist

To a society increasingly relying on prescription drugs that promise to improve one person's behavior without inconveniencing others, Begel and Keith offer a more humane alternative: let us look less at what happens inside our brains, and more at what happens between us. And let the way we dance together change our inner wiring, rather than the other way around. An enlightening read for couples and parents, as well as for clinicians.

Jorge Colapinto, structural family therapist and co-author of Working with Families of the Poor

Diagnosis Human is a critical book for our time. While we, as doctors, have been focusing on the individuals’ mental health we have forgotten that individuals exist in relationships with family and friends and that oftentimes, the problems that individuals’ face can be addressed by bringing the family together with experts in family therapy. The stories in this book are truly fascinating, and once you start to read them, you will quickly see the important role that highly skilled family therapists can play in improving the life of a family and every individual within it. Begel and Keith take us inside their offices and show us that what we see as an individual’s "symptoms" is actually the result of subtle family dynamics. As a family physician with many years of experience. I am grateful that we have this precious chance to gain important insight’s from these authors' experiences. Every family will see themselves somewhere in these stories as the authors bring peace and healing where there was turmoil and dysfunction. As a family physician for over 40 years, I highly recommend this book to professionals and struggling families alike.

Neil Calman, MD, FAAFP, president and CEO of the Institute for Family Health, professor and chair of Family Medicine and Community Health at Mount Sinai Hospital

As a marriage and family therapist for over thirty years, and a parent for over forty years, I applaud the authors for finally saying what so many systemic therapists know…that problems are relational. This book is a breath of fresh air, providing those who read it with new ways of envisioning problems, by healing relationships, which then heal behaviors. Parents who read this book will be reassured that things are not hopeless, when diagnoses are given out too freely to their children. That hope may result in better interactions at home, as hope emerges and worry decreases. Children will benefit when their parents focus on the family’s relationships and watch those they love restore peace at home. This book offers a glance at what magic can occur when we look beyond a person’s issue, into the interactions of the family system for solutions.

Linda Metcalf, PhD, author of Parenting Toward Solutions

Diagnosis Human by Amy Begel and David Keith offers an intelligent window into the workings of psychotherapy. Understanding the mechanisms that empower psychotherapy enables consumers to more easily benefit from treatment.

Diagnosis Human presents reparative relationships as a refreshing alternative to a medical model. Symptoms are multifaceted and can be the result of underlying ruptures in family relationships. Symptoms are not merely biochemical abnormalities requiring medication.

Jeffrey K. Zeig, PhD, director of The Milton H. Erickson Foundation

This book is healing! With vivid storytelling, this book is an illuminating dive into family therapy and can help us all unlearn the rigid patterns that prevent us from connecting with our partners and families.

Katie O'Grady, MD, family medicine physician