“Alastair Santhouse brilliantly illuminates the extraordinary and mysterious ways that our personal stories affect both our mental and our physical health. Compassionate, insightful, and riveting.”
—Lori Gottlieb, author of the New York Times bestseller Maybe You Should Talk to Someone: A Therapist, Her Therapist, and Our Lives Revealed
 
“A wonderful and humane look inside and outside the head of an experienced psychiatrist. Santhouse’s deep dive into how the mind shapes an individual’s perception of their body and illness is a welcome retreat, particularly in the age of ‘self.’ The chapter titles themselves express an original perspective on how people suffer: for example, Altruism, Exhaustion, Weight, Culture, and Belief. Well worth reading by anyone interested in a medical perspective on the modern mind.”
—Allan H. Ropper, MD, author of How the Brain Lost Its Mind and Reaching Down the Rabbit Hole

“Beautifully written and thoroughly enjoyable. This is a moving rallying call against the division of physical and psychological causes of disease, the stigma of ill health, and the medicalization of the normal. An important read for anyone with symptoms, anyone treating symptoms, and indeed anyone at all.”
—Guy Leschziner, professor of neurology, King’s College London and author of The Nocturnal Brain
 
“Dr. Santhouse takes us on his deeply personal journey of understanding the mind through the experience of his patients to ‘ask not what disease the person has, but rather what person the disease has.’ Powerful, poignant, and insightful.”
—James R. Doty, MD, author of Into the Magic Shop
 
“A fascinating deep dive into the mind of a seasoned psychiatrist and his remarkable patients. Head First examines why modern medicine so often fails us and reveals how it will ultimately succeed.”
—Matt McCarthy, MD, author of Superbugs