Faber scoops Burnett's 'brilliantly witty' mental health investigation

Guardian Faber is to publish Psycho-Logical by Dean Burnett, a "unique insight" into understanding mental health. 

Fred Baty, commissioning editor, acquired world all language rights from Chris Wellbelove at Aitken Alexander. Baty said: "Psycho-Logical combines Dean’s brilliantly witty and approachable style with a practical, clear-headed primer on what’s actually going on in our brains when our mental health goes awry. It’s a genuinely helpful, fascinating and often reassuring insight into a subject of global relevance, and I’m thrilled to be bringing it into print on Guardian Faber."

The synopsis states: "One in four people experiences a mental health problem each year, with depression and anxiety alone afflicting over 500 million people. Why are these conditions so widespread? What is it about modern life that has such an impact on our mental health? And why is there still so much confusion and stigma around these issues?

"In Psycho-Logical, first published as an Audible exclusive in October 2019, Dean Burnett sets out to answer these questions and more. Drawing on extensive scientific research, along with revealing insights from those who deal with mental health issues on a daily basis, the result is an expertly written and extremely accessible primer on how and why these problems arise, and what we can do to tackle them."
 
Burnett is a neuroscientist, blogger, sometimes-comedian and author. He lives in Cardiff, and is currently an honorary research associate at the Cardiff University Psychology School. His previous books, The Idiot Brain and The Happy Brain, were also released by the Faber imprint.
 
Burnett said: "Mental health awareness campaigns are increasingly widespread these days, and that’s brilliant. But they invariably focus on spreading the message that mental disorders are genuine problems. Very few go further to explain why this is so. In my experience, explaining how and why something happens makes it far more likely to be taken seriously. And as a qualified neuroscientist with experience in the fields of psychology, psychiatry, media and campaigning, I figured I could offer a unique insight into our understanding of mental health and how it goes wrong, what’s happening when our brains turn against, and why it happens so often."
 
Psycho-Logical will be published in paperback on 4th February 2021.