Understanding Mental Disorders aims to help current and future psychiatrists, and those who work with them, to think critically about the ethical, conceptual, and methodological questions that are raised by the theory and practice of psychiatry.

Daniel Lafleur, MD, CM, FRCPC is a clinical associate professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver.

Christopher Mole, BA (Hons), PhD is a professor of philosophy, and chair of the Cognitive Systems Program, at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver.

Holly Onclin, BA (Hons) is a graduate of the Honours in Philosophy program at the University of British Columbia and a freelance illustrator in Vancouver.

Part I: Mental disorder 1.1 What is mental disorder? 1.2. What makes a mental disorder mental? 1.3. What makes a mental disorder disordered? Part II: Psychiatry and society 2.1. Two ways in which social factors can contribute to mental disorder 2.2 Are we changing people when we should be changing societies? 2.3 Sexuality and disobedience Part III: Dodging nosology 3.1 Psychiatric diagnosis 3.2 Psychiatry without diagnostic categories? 3.3 Categories unlike chemistry's 3.4 Giving the brain no more than its due