Neil Armstrong is a medical anthropologist. He is a Fellow of Harris Manchester College, Oxford and Research Associate at Kings College London, UK. He is also a former psychiatric patient.
"""Each chapter has a clear message and offers conceptual insight unmasked by anthropologists’ usual convoluted prose. The focus on bureaucracy in practice, and its internal effects, has wide implications for clinical research, opening the lid on that which is neglected in usual intervention-focused studies. In this sense, the book is a major cross-disciplinary bridge-building contribution. Indeed, I think the book makes clear in a way that few others have, why ethnographic research is important to getting to the heart of contemporary dilemmas in psychiatric care; especially by taking seriously the everyday experience and representational practices of patients and staff. The book avoids polarising debate around psychiatry, and taking a fresh viewpoint provides a common platform of shared concern about real challenges."" -- David Mosse, Professor of Social Anthropology, SOAS, University of London, UK"