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Searching for Normal: A New Approach to Understanding Mental Health, Distress and Neurodiversity
How can we reconsider the way in which we think about, treat and care for those in distress?
More and more people are being diagnosed with ADHD and autism.
More and more people are being diagnosed with mental disorders.
Young people are being medicalised for behaviours that might be explained as entirely normal in other parts of the world.
Distress has been commodified over many decades by pharmaceutical companies, the media and the psychiatric establishment.
So how can we know when distress is normal and when it is something that needs to be treated?
In Searching for Normal, Sami Timimi explores the political and cultural context of these phenomena and presents a deeply humane approach that looks at the person as a whole – their family context, their culture, their personal resilience – and advocates for a reframing of how we think about and treat distress.
More and more people are being diagnosed with ADHD and autism.
More and more people are being diagnosed with mental disorders.
Young people are being medicalised for behaviours that might be explained as entirely normal in other parts of the world.
Distress has been commodified over many decades by pharmaceutical companies, the media and the psychiatric establishment.
So how can we know when distress is normal and when it is something that needs to be treated?
In Searching for Normal, Sami Timimi explores the political and cultural context of these phenomena and presents a deeply humane approach that looks at the person as a whole – their family context, their culture, their personal resilience – and advocates for a reframing of how we think about and treat distress.
344 pages, Kindle Edition
Published March 20, 2025
40 people are currently reading
230 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
August 17, 2025
This was super interesting and thought provoking: a psychiatrist’s take on the increased diagnoses of adhd and autism in terns and how this illustrates the mental health industrial complex that we now all live in and how mental health and its jargon has now been co opted by capitalism to keep us focused on ourselves and the labels we have rather than work to overcome our collective struggles.
It explores how behaviours, especially in youth, are increasingly pathologized as ADHD or autism, often reflecting cultural and political biases rather than objective medical needs. In diagnoses of these disorders the cultural context and individual’s coping strategie, i.e. resilience, is downplayed. He raises the issue of what is mental health/unhealth vs. what is resilience and coping/getting through it. All this is is cultural perception, patience and the ability to rest.
“A tautology is a circular thinking trap, a statement that repeats an idea effectively saying the same thing twice.
A description cannot explain itself. Low mood and depression are synonymous; you cannot use one to explain the other.”
“Because mental health ideology is carved out of subjectivity, it is vulnerable to what I call the elastic band effect - that diagnoses are elastic and can expand (or contract) in response to social forces.”
“Trauma itself can become a new source of mental health expansionism. It is com-modifiable and easier to marketise than a more nebulous and nuanced articulation of distress. It fits in perfectly with the cultural trend to notice our vulnerability more than our resilience.”
“Anything that has the scent of mental health and the idea of helping vulnerable and suffering people is an attractive balm for the guilt of the wealthy. I am not suggesting here that such concepts and interventions are not helpful for many people; I am suggesting that they may act to distract from socio-economic injustice.
Even something as apparently politically neutral as treating
'trauma' may provide protection from class injustice by providing a vehicle for do-gooding philanthropy.”
“Autism has become the new catch-all for young patients who don't follow the increasingly narrow boundaries of expected behaviours, and to such an extent that we overlook histories that would obviously have an impact on their presentations.”
“After years of trying to find the correct evidence-based model, eventually came to the realisation that (except for some aspects of psychoanalytic and systemic models) most psychotherapeutic models were just systematised versions of Western 'folk psychology': variants with a few rules and turns of language to create an aura of deverness, professionalism and science.”
“The first headline from the common factors literature is that the extra-therapeutic aspects - in other words, factors that have little or nothing to do with what directly happens within a therapy session - have a much bigger influence on outcomes than those within treatment. This is the whole range of things that the person walks into the consulting room with. From their personal history to their social, financial, employment, relationship circumstances and beliefs about therapy/treatment.”
“Some of the most effective interventions seem to have been when I am not trying to solve emotional pain, but helping people stay with, accept and, therefore, see aspects of their life beyond the pain they experience. Industrialised therapy seems to me at risk of mechanising emotions by trying to reason and appeal to the patient's rational side. When this doesn't work there is a risk that the patient will, often unintentionally, be blamed for being too stupid/uncooperative/bloody-minded/ill.”
Systemic philosphy: “It suggested that the systems of knowledge we use are relative and arise from those who have the power in any society to influence the common social narratives. It understood that our consciousness and even common sense' are products of our social and personal circum-stances, from our family to wider community histories and practices.
This means we have finite ways of making sense of our experiences, through using the stories our families and broader culture provide as meaning-making vehicles.”
“According to research, believing that one's depression is caused by a chemical imbalance tends to make people more pessimistic about recovery, leads them to believe they have less ability to deal with their moods, and to believe that medication is a more credible solution than therapy? Those who believe this disease theory of depression also have poorer recovery rates than those who don’t.”
“As the concept of depression sank into the minds of psychiatrists and psychotherapists, the nature of consultations no longer invited a person to talk about the social and historical context of their strug-gles. Distress was no longer part of a shared struggle, but one that pointed to something medically wrong within the person, which required treatment with drugs or therapy. Consultations now had a primarily educative function, teaching distressed patients the meaning of depression and convincing them to accept the 'correct' treatment. Rates of depression rose, and, thanks to MHIC, a rich and meaningful psychosocial history was buried.”
“There are many other consequences of collapsing and disappearing local idioms. It depoliticises social and economic sources of distress and suicide, as well as taking away the deeper cultural significance and meanings attached to mental suffer-ing, which in many traditions is a source of growth, a path to accepting the limits of human capacity, and a mechanism for strengthening social bonds.
This globalisation-led 'depression as a concept' helped its transformation from being an extremely rare diagnosis in much of the world to one that is thought to be one of the most common.”
Further it looks af how pharma companies, media, and psychiatric institutions are critiqued for transforming ordinary human distress into medical conditions to be diagnosed and treated.
My one critique point is that the point he makes about transition in teenagers and their sometimes wanting to go beyond gender norms is seen immediately as a reason to label them trans, rather than let them explore, which I think is true in some cases, but the way he frames it makes it seem like this is incredibly common, which I do not believe to be true. This whole section felt a little surface level/ dismissive of the trans experience but he has several comments throughout that reiternatr that he supports trans people and their rights, so this feels a bit more like he just wanted another example for his premise rather than that he wanted to be dismisive.
It explores how behaviours, especially in youth, are increasingly pathologized as ADHD or autism, often reflecting cultural and political biases rather than objective medical needs. In diagnoses of these disorders the cultural context and individual’s coping strategie, i.e. resilience, is downplayed. He raises the issue of what is mental health/unhealth vs. what is resilience and coping/getting through it. All this is is cultural perception, patience and the ability to rest.
“A tautology is a circular thinking trap, a statement that repeats an idea effectively saying the same thing twice.
A description cannot explain itself. Low mood and depression are synonymous; you cannot use one to explain the other.”
“Because mental health ideology is carved out of subjectivity, it is vulnerable to what I call the elastic band effect - that diagnoses are elastic and can expand (or contract) in response to social forces.”
“Trauma itself can become a new source of mental health expansionism. It is com-modifiable and easier to marketise than a more nebulous and nuanced articulation of distress. It fits in perfectly with the cultural trend to notice our vulnerability more than our resilience.”
“Anything that has the scent of mental health and the idea of helping vulnerable and suffering people is an attractive balm for the guilt of the wealthy. I am not suggesting here that such concepts and interventions are not helpful for many people; I am suggesting that they may act to distract from socio-economic injustice.
Even something as apparently politically neutral as treating
'trauma' may provide protection from class injustice by providing a vehicle for do-gooding philanthropy.”
“Autism has become the new catch-all for young patients who don't follow the increasingly narrow boundaries of expected behaviours, and to such an extent that we overlook histories that would obviously have an impact on their presentations.”
“After years of trying to find the correct evidence-based model, eventually came to the realisation that (except for some aspects of psychoanalytic and systemic models) most psychotherapeutic models were just systematised versions of Western 'folk psychology': variants with a few rules and turns of language to create an aura of deverness, professionalism and science.”
“The first headline from the common factors literature is that the extra-therapeutic aspects - in other words, factors that have little or nothing to do with what directly happens within a therapy session - have a much bigger influence on outcomes than those within treatment. This is the whole range of things that the person walks into the consulting room with. From their personal history to their social, financial, employment, relationship circumstances and beliefs about therapy/treatment.”
“Some of the most effective interventions seem to have been when I am not trying to solve emotional pain, but helping people stay with, accept and, therefore, see aspects of their life beyond the pain they experience. Industrialised therapy seems to me at risk of mechanising emotions by trying to reason and appeal to the patient's rational side. When this doesn't work there is a risk that the patient will, often unintentionally, be blamed for being too stupid/uncooperative/bloody-minded/ill.”
Systemic philosphy: “It suggested that the systems of knowledge we use are relative and arise from those who have the power in any society to influence the common social narratives. It understood that our consciousness and even common sense' are products of our social and personal circum-stances, from our family to wider community histories and practices.
This means we have finite ways of making sense of our experiences, through using the stories our families and broader culture provide as meaning-making vehicles.”
“According to research, believing that one's depression is caused by a chemical imbalance tends to make people more pessimistic about recovery, leads them to believe they have less ability to deal with their moods, and to believe that medication is a more credible solution than therapy? Those who believe this disease theory of depression also have poorer recovery rates than those who don’t.”
“As the concept of depression sank into the minds of psychiatrists and psychotherapists, the nature of consultations no longer invited a person to talk about the social and historical context of their strug-gles. Distress was no longer part of a shared struggle, but one that pointed to something medically wrong within the person, which required treatment with drugs or therapy. Consultations now had a primarily educative function, teaching distressed patients the meaning of depression and convincing them to accept the 'correct' treatment. Rates of depression rose, and, thanks to MHIC, a rich and meaningful psychosocial history was buried.”
“There are many other consequences of collapsing and disappearing local idioms. It depoliticises social and economic sources of distress and suicide, as well as taking away the deeper cultural significance and meanings attached to mental suffer-ing, which in many traditions is a source of growth, a path to accepting the limits of human capacity, and a mechanism for strengthening social bonds.
This globalisation-led 'depression as a concept' helped its transformation from being an extremely rare diagnosis in much of the world to one that is thought to be one of the most common.”
Further it looks af how pharma companies, media, and psychiatric institutions are critiqued for transforming ordinary human distress into medical conditions to be diagnosed and treated.
My one critique point is that the point he makes about transition in teenagers and their sometimes wanting to go beyond gender norms is seen immediately as a reason to label them trans, rather than let them explore, which I think is true in some cases, but the way he frames it makes it seem like this is incredibly common, which I do not believe to be true. This whole section felt a little surface level/ dismissive of the trans experience but he has several comments throughout that reiternatr that he supports trans people and their rights, so this feels a bit more like he just wanted another example for his premise rather than that he wanted to be dismisive.
June 22, 2025
Very interesting read. Completely agree that for SOME people a diagnosis/label can reinforce problems and make improvements less likely but also would’ve been good to touch on the perspectives of those who share what a positive impact a diagnosis has on their sense of self/identity and helped them process and remove self blame for previous experiences
Also in a dream world people wouldn’t need a ‘label’ to receive the support they need and deserve ie in schools but unfortunately we don’t live in a dream world
Also in a dream world people wouldn’t need a ‘label’ to receive the support they need and deserve ie in schools but unfortunately we don’t live in a dream world
June 2, 2025
In his most comprehensive book to date, Timimi has delivered another blistering critique of the contemporary yet predominant “medical model of mental health.” Though sure to challenge some people’s ingrained beliefs, it needs to be known. As Vasily Grossman put it, “It is the writer's duty to tell the terrible truth, and it is a reader's civic duty to learn this truth.”
March 28, 2025
This is such an excellent book - with so many examples drawn from the author’s many years of practice and experience which bring his sage advice to life. The present approach which the various professions, institutions and the wider culture have adopted is clearly exacerbating mental health problems widely, and not helping families - the crucible of mentally healthy humans - through difficult issues which can be paralysing, and impact people adversely their whole life. I’ve found it brilliant in improving how I approach dealing with my children, and will continue to turn to Dr Timimi as they continue to grow in a world which is more and more difficult for children to thrive in. It is by far the very best I have come across, reading very many books about it. On the one hand had he offers no easy solution, and indeed I will moist certainly resist the solutions proffered by well-meaning professionals (diagnosis and medication) in future. When Dr Tamimi lays out the actual scientific evidence for it, I cannot consider that giving ADHD child amphetamines is an effective solution to behavioural and concentration problems. I consider it completely unethical too, although Dr Timimi is too polite to put it quite this strongly. But on the other hand he shows us the way, tough though it is, to vastly improve the context for children and teenagers whose personalities and abilities deviate from more ‘normal’, easier to handle specimens of humanity to thrive and live the best lives they can - relatively immunised against the vicissitudes of a UK (indeed more widely Western) society undergoing various crises - not least crises of mental health and adopting healthily to new, ubiquitous technologies etc.
August 16, 2025
Brilliant and very readable book which not only explains how psychiatric diagnoses and terms such as 'Austism' and 'ADHD', have no scientific basis but more importantly why this matters; how relating to our human experience in this way and creating a whole 'industry' of 'treatment' around them is in itself harmful.
Timimi clears articulates how we should understand the increasing pathologising of human distress within the context of the world we live in, how our hyper- individualist competitive economy leaves more and more people feeling they 'don't fit in' or can't achieve what they believe they should, thus they search for 'answers' which the 'mental health industrial complex', as he describes it, purports to provide.
I have worked within the UK mental health system for 18 years, have direct experience within my family of severe mental distress and diagnoses of 'Autism' and learning disabilities, I have read widely and explored deeply around these themes and find this one of the best books on this subject.
Timimi clears articulates how we should understand the increasing pathologising of human distress within the context of the world we live in, how our hyper- individualist competitive economy leaves more and more people feeling they 'don't fit in' or can't achieve what they believe they should, thus they search for 'answers' which the 'mental health industrial complex', as he describes it, purports to provide.
I have worked within the UK mental health system for 18 years, have direct experience within my family of severe mental distress and diagnoses of 'Autism' and learning disabilities, I have read widely and explored deeply around these themes and find this one of the best books on this subject.
August 20, 2025
The description of this book really perked my interest as someone who has been harmed by psychiatric systems, medication, labelling etc. But I’ve been shocked by this book and I in fact could not continue to force myself to read it to the end because of how much I disagree and how much upset this book raised inside me.
I read a fair chunk of this book though, one awful point was calling Autism a brand. Neurodiverse people were also likened to an anti religious cult.
I know from other people that at no point in this book is the people benefiting from a diagnosis of autism or adhd explored.
I was also deeply bothered by a part where the author mentions not taking responsibility for behaviour and it being like ‘oh that’s just my adhd’.
Correct me if I’m wrong but if I had say arthritis and said ‘oh gosh my knees sore today it must be the arthritis’ that would, using this authors logic, also be wrong?
I could say more but I’ll stop. This book let me down.
I read a fair chunk of this book though, one awful point was calling Autism a brand. Neurodiverse people were also likened to an anti religious cult.
I know from other people that at no point in this book is the people benefiting from a diagnosis of autism or adhd explored.
I was also deeply bothered by a part where the author mentions not taking responsibility for behaviour and it being like ‘oh that’s just my adhd’.
Correct me if I’m wrong but if I had say arthritis and said ‘oh gosh my knees sore today it must be the arthritis’ that would, using this authors logic, also be wrong?
I could say more but I’ll stop. This book let me down.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 8, 2025
valuable and interesting exploration of how capitalism and for-profit medicine influence people's individual health journeys and even understanding of themselves and their intersecting identities. major marks off though for a misguided section on transgender identity which focuses heavily on the tiny population of people who have de-transitioned, at the expense of the many whose lives have been saved by gender affirming care. I think there's absolutely something to be said for understanding gender as a culture-bound phenomenon, and Dr Timimi does not come across as a bigot here but does seem to fall for some anti-trans talking points common to UK culture. I hope he revisits this portion of the book with deeper understanding.
June 24, 2025
An interesting read, I liked the way this book was put together with real-life examples and conversations. For me it felt a little longer than it needed to be though.
Thank you to Vintage for sending me a copy.
Thank you to Vintage for sending me a copy.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews