Folktales from the Gambia Book

The author says that if his arguments are correct than many of the 50 million Americans who meet the criteria for a mental disorder in community studies do not have valid disorders but suffer from distress that is rooted in stressful social arrangements and that will disappear when these situations improve. I believe the author does indeed prove his point.

I think the author does not come out strong enough with his conclusions, but this could be because the book was written in 2002. Many studies done since then strengthen his arguments and show that our society's understanding of mental illness only fits a small number of people.

Basically psychological well-being & distress commonly originate from social factors. Happiness, sadness and the like arise from acute life events, chronic lifer circumstances, social roles and collective systems of meaning, all of which the author explains very well throughout the book. Most people who have been labeled mentally ill are not they are actually responding appropriately. In other words they should be sad, experiencing grief, and anxiousness, etc.

Psychological conditions that fluctuate with social situations indicate normality, not mental illness.

It is an important book but ones published since 2010 do a better job and offer better, clearer and stronger conclusions.