This book presents an integrative, dualist model of mental disorder for psychiatry, as a counter to the so-called "biomedical" approach that dominates the field today. Starting with the humanist concept that mental disorder is real, it uses a computational approach to build a genuinely bio-psycho-social model. This shows that mental disorder is primarily psychological in nature, not biological. The historical background extends as far as Descartes, and proceeds via some of the revolutionary thinkers who have shaped modern society. In particular, it builds on the work of George Boole, Alan Turing and Claude Shannon to construct a radically new concept of the mind as a real, informational space which, for better off for worse, can malfunction. It extends this idea to build models of personality, of personality disorder, and then of mental disorder. Finally, the concepts are tested against a variety of themes from other fields to show its generality. Based in the philosophy of science and of mind, this work represents a radical departure from anything in the history of psychiatry. Its purpose is to provide a formal, articulated model of mental disorder to fill the theoretical void at the core of modern psychiatry. This book is written for medical students and recent graduates, for psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers and, broadly, anybody with an interest in human affairs, such as philosophy, politics and other related fields.

Cracking the Mind-Body Cipher
Dr. Niall (Jock) McLaren is an Australian psychiatrist who uses philosophical analysis to show that modern psychiatry has no scientific basis. This startling conclusion dovetails neatly with the growing evidence that psychiatric drug treatment is crude and damaging. Needless to say, this message is not popular with mainstream psychiatrists. However, in this book, he shows how the principles of information processing give a formal theory of mind that generates a model of mental disorder as a psychological phenomenon.
This book shows...
How, for ideological reasons, modern philosophy misses the point of the duality of mind and body; How to resolve the mind-body problem using well-defined principles; Why the entire DSM project is doomed to fail; Why the ideas of Thomas Szasz have failed to influence psychiatry; Where we go from here.
""The Mind Body Problem Explained" is a thoughtful, insightful and provocative exploration of the nature of the human mind, and sets forth a powerful argument for rethinking the medical model of mental disorders. The current paradigm of psychiatric care has failed us, and Niall McLaren's book will stir readers to think of new possibilities."
--Robert B. Whitaker, author "Mad in America: Bad Science, Bad Medicine, and the Enduring Mistreatment of the Mentally Ill"
"It is impossible to do justice to this ambitious, erudite, and intrepid attempt to dictate to psychiatry a new, 'scientifically-correct' model theory. The author offers a devastating critique of the shortcomings and pretensions of psychiatry, not least its all-pervasive, jargon-camouflaged nescience."
--Sam Vaknin, PhD, author "Malignant Self Love: Narcissism Revisited"
From Future Psychiatry Press www.FuturePsychiatry.com
MED105000 Medical: Psychiatry - General
PHI026000 Philosophy: Criticism
PSY018000 Psychology: Mental Illness

Cracking the Mind-Body Cipher
Dr. Niall (Jock) McLaren is an Australian psychiatrist who uses philosophical analysis to show that modern psychiatry has no scientific basis. This startling conclusion dovetails neatly with the growing evidence that psychiatric drug treatment is crude and damaging. Needless to say, this message is not popular with mainstream psychiatrists. However, in this book, he shows how the principles of information processing give a formal theory of mind that generates a model of mental disorder as a psychological phenomenon.
This book shows...
How, for ideological reasons, modern philosophy misses the point of the duality of mind and body; How to resolve the mind-body problem using well-defined principles; Why the entire DSM project is doomed to fail; Why the ideas of Thomas Szasz have failed to influence psychiatry; Where we go from here.
""The Mind Body Problem Explained" is a thoughtful, insightful and provocative exploration of the nature of the human mind, and sets forth a powerful argument for rethinking the medical model of mental disorders. The current paradigm of psychiatric care has failed us, and Niall McLaren's book will stir readers to think of new possibilities."
--Robert B. Whitaker, author "Mad in America: Bad Science, Bad Medicine, and the Enduring Mistreatment of the Mentally Ill"
"It is impossible to do justice to this ambitious, erudite, and intrepid attempt to dictate to psychiatry a new, 'scientifically-correct' model theory. The author offers a devastating critique of the shortcomings and pretensions of psychiatry, not least its all-pervasive, jargon-camouflaged nescience."
--Sam Vaknin, PhD, author "Malignant Self Love: Narcissism Revisited"
From Future Psychiatry Press www.FuturePsychiatry.com
MED105000 Medical: Psychiatry - General
PHI026000 Philosophy: Criticism
PSY018000 Psychology: Mental Illness

During their careers, many students become aware that, lurking in the background, there are complex and conceptually difficult questions that, all too often, their teachers either can't answer, or can't even understand. These are traditionally the questions addressed by philosophy, and this little primer is the result of another student's journey over many years. Niall McLaren MD has spent over three decades banging his head against the Really Difficult questions behind psychiatry, and offers his a personal view of how these questions should be approached. Very deliberately, he simplifies the convoluted language and reasoning that set philosophers apart, making it accessible to students of scientific fields in particular.
In this book, you will gain a background in the following fields:
Religion and the origins of philosophy Mentalism, antimentalism and behaviorism Epistemology, as the study of knowledge itself Philosophy and the nature of science Philosophy and the nature of ethics
Included is a glossary explaining some of the many "-isms" that can be so daunting to non-philosophers because philosophers too have their jargon but it is not meant to intimidate. True, it can be complex, but the issues involved are complex. The goal of this book is to show that, with clear thinking, the complexities need not be overwhelming.
"This is one of the very few books I have every intention of reading several times in rapid succession. It is such a bounty of iconoclastic observations emanating from an in-depth acquaintance with psychiatry and a love of philosophy that no single reading can do it justice: it just keeps giving." ---Sam Vaknin, PhD, author of "Malignant Self-love: Narcissism Revisited" From Future Psychiatry Press www.FuturePsychiatry.com

Does psychiatry have a future?
Assailed from many directions, under constant attack for its reliance on "a drug for all problems" and increasingly unable to attract bright new trainees, the specialty is showing every sign of terminal decline. The reason is simple: modern psychiatry has no formal model of mental disorder to guide its daily practice, teaching and research. Unfortunately, the orthodox psychiatrists who control this most conservative profession are utterly antagonistic to criticism. Despite the evidence, they maintain a blind faith that "science will deliver the goods" by a biological examination of the brain. This book argues that their faith is entirely misplaced and is contributing to the destruction of an essential part of civilized life, the fair and equitable treatment of people with mental disorders. The author offers a rational model of mental disorder within the framework of a molecular resolution of the mind-body problem. Fully developed, this model will have revolutionary consequences for psychiatry--and the mentally-afflicted.
Acclaim for the writing of Niall Mclaren, M.D.
"This book is a tour de force. It demonstrates a tremendous amount of erudition, intelligence and application in the writer. It advances an interesting and plausible mechanism for many forms of human distress. It is an important work that deserves to take its place among the classics in books about psychiatry."
--Robert Rich, PhD, AnxietyAndDepression-Help.com
"Dr. McLaren brilliantly wields the sword of philosophy to refute the modern theories of psychiatry with an analysis that is sharp and deadly. His own proposed novel theory could be the dawn of a new revolution in the medicine of mental illness."
--Andrew R. Kaufman, MD, Chief Resident of Emergency Psychiatry, Duke University Medical Center
"I found Niall McLaren's book to be an incredibly well-written and thoughtprovoking. It is not, by any means, easy reading. It is also not for someone who doesn't have some form of background in understanding the various psychological theories and mental health conditions. I think that this would make an excellent textbook for a graduate class that allows students to question the theories that we already have."
--Paige Lovitt for "Reader Views"
About the Author
The author is a psychiatrist of some 35 years standing. He writes philosophy in the bush outside Darwin, northern Australia, with his family as critics. For six years, while working in Western Australia, he was the world's most isolated psychiatrist.
For more information please visit www.FuturePsychiatry.com
PSY018000 Psychology: Mental Illness
MED105000 Medical: Psychiatry - General
PHI015000 Philosophy: Mind & Body

An application of the philosophy of science to psychiatry

Although it's been 140 years since Maudley's groundbreaking treatise, modern psychiatry is in a state of intellectual collapse. No psychiatrist practicing today can point to a universally agreed model of mental disorder which explains the common observations of mental disorder, dictates a research program and ordains a form of management.
This book, the result of thirty years research in the philosophy of science, takes each of the major theories in psychiatry and demonstrates conclusively that it is so flawed as to be beyond salvation. It goes further, in that the author outlines a model of mental function which both satisfies the essential requirements of any scientific model, and shows how the phenomena of mental disorder can be described in a parsimonious dualist model which leads directly to a humanist form of management of the most widespread form of disability in the world today.
"This book is a tour de force. It demonstrates a tremendous amount of erudition, intelligence and application in the writer. It advances an interesting and plausible mechanism for many forms of human distress. It is an important work that deserves to take its place among the classics in books about psychiatry." -Robert Rich, PhD, AnxietyAndDepression-Help.com
About the Author
Niall McLaren has been an M.D. and practicing psychiatrist since 1977. Since then, he has undertaken a far-reaching research program, some of which has previously been published. For six years, while working in the Kimberley Region of Western Australia, he was the world's most isolated psychiatrist. He is married with two children and lives in a tropical house hidden in the bush near Darwin, Australia.
From Future Psychiatry Press www.FuturePsychiatry.com
an imprint of Loving Healing Press

An application of the philosophy of science to psychiatry

Although it's been 140 years since Maudley's groundbreaking treatise, modern psychiatry is in a state of intellectual collapse. No psychiatrist practicing today can point to a universally agreed model of mental disorder which explains the common observations of mental disorder, dictates a research program and ordains a form of management.
This book, the result of thirty years research in the philosophy of science, takes each of the major theories in psychiatry and demonstrates conclusively that it is so flawed as to be beyond salvation. It goes further, in that the author outlines a model of mental function which both satisfies the essential requirements of any scientific model, and shows how the phenomena of mental disorder can be described in a parsimonious dualist model which leads directly to a humanist form of management of the most widespread form of disability in the world today.
"This book is a tour de force. It demonstrates a tremendous amount of erudition, intelligence and application in the writer. It advances an interesting and plausible mechanism for many forms of human distress. It is an important work that deserves to take its place among the classics in books about psychiatry." -Robert Rich, PhD, AnxietyAndDepression-Help.com
About the Author
Niall McLaren has been an M.D. and practicing psychiatrist since 1977. Since then, he has undertaken a far-reaching research program, some of which has previously been published. For six years, while working in the Kimberley Region of Western Australia, he was the world's most isolated psychiatrist. He is married with two children and lives in a tropical house hidden in the bush near Darwin, Australia.
From Future Psychiatry Press www.FuturePsychiatry.com
an imprint of Loving Healing Press

The long-awaited final installment of the Biocognitive Model Series
"Humanizing Psychiatists" is the third of a series directed at developing the Biocognitive Model of Psychiatry as the replacement for the three nineteenth century models of mental disorder, psychoanalysis, behaviorism and biological psychiatry. In this volume, the author continues to explore the logical status of theories used in psychiatry. He shows that Dennett's functionalism and Searle's biological naturalism cannot be used as the basis for a theory for biological psychiatry. He argues that phenomenology is a valuable technique but can never form a genuine theory. in addition, he shows how orthodox psychiatry uses its publishing industry to suppress criticism of itself, which is a gross breach of scientific ethics. He then shows how his Biocognitive Model of Mind can be applied to clinical practice with dramatic results.
Praise for Niall McLaren's Biocognitive Model of Mind
"This book is a tour de force. It demonstrates a tremendous amount of erudition, intelligence and application in the writer. It advances an interesting and plausible mechanism for many forms of human distress. It is an important work that deserves to take its place among the classics in books about psychiatry."
--Robert Rich, PhD, AnxietyAndDepression-Help.com
"Dr. McLaren brilliantly wields the sword of philosophy to refute the modern theories of psychiatry with an analysis that is sharp and deadly. His own proposed novel theory could be the dawn of a new revolution in the medicine of mental illness."
--Andrew R. Kaufman, MD Chief Resident of Emergency Psychiatry Duke University Medical Center
About the Author
Niall McLaren, M.D. is a psychiatrist practicing in Darwin, in the far north of Australia. He has long had an interest in the philosophical and logical status of theories used in psychiatry.His work is radical in the extreme but he sees no option if psychiatry is to move beyond its present status as an ideology and finally into the realm of the sciences.
For more information please visit www.NiallMcLaren.com