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Searching for Normal

A New Approach to Understanding Mental Health, Distress and Neurodiversity

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Searching for Normal

By: Dr Sami Timimi
Narrated by: Philip Ishak Arditti
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About this listen

Brought to you by Penguin.

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, Dr Sami Timimi explores the political and cultural context of these phenomena and presents, instead, 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.

©2025 Dr Sami Timimi (P)2025 Penguin Audio Attention Deficit Disorders Mental Health Psychology Psychology & Mental Health Social Psychology & Interactions
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Critic Reviews

A brilliant book. I said “Hurrah!” and “Yes!” to every point Sami Timimi makes. A welcome antidote to the dangerous cult of overdiagnosis and the commodification of normal distress (Philippa Perry)
Sami Timimi is one of the most brave and wise voices in Britain. Everyone interested in thinking in a deeper way about what’s ailing us – and what isn’t ailing us! – should read this terrific, thought-provoking book (Johann Hari)

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Insight to a sustainable approach

An eminent psychiatrist takes a hard look at the way our contemporary society co-opts us all into diagnosing what’s wrong with us, what mental health labels we identify with, and which medications we should start taking for the rest of our lives. Powerfully illustrates why an intersection of commercial, industrial and professional self-interests is invested in selectively using evidence to make many people feel like they won’t be able to survive without the ongoing purchased support of professionals and drugs.

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