Revealing Psychiatry... From an Insider: Psychiatric stories for open minds

THIS VOLUME contains the principal elements preoccupying modern Psychiatry. The author introduces the reader into all mental illnesses, on the one hand through real examples deriving from his rich clinical experience and on the other explaining in simple terms the 'fault' that is the underlying cause. It is in essence an interesting investigation into the magical world of the human brain. Using easily comprehended language, the author provides convincing explanations for the diverse mental functions. The models he expounds on bring mental illness down to earth from the mists of Philosophy to the realities of Medicine. He compares schizophrenia to a minor short-circuit, and Anorexia Nervosa to the activation of a programme in reserve in the brain. He gives reasons for the necessity for sleep and dreams.


Other than a doctor, however, Pavlos Sakkas is a person intensively querying social behaviour. His many years of practice of psychiatry and his experience of human pain give him the potential to be of assistance to those who arrive at crucial crossroads in their life. His charitable attitude and the unconventional viewpoints he develops provide interesting answers to the greatest existentialist questioning of human beings. He speaks of his own questioning and recounts what he answers when his patients ask him about the meaning of life.


In this book the reader will be able to find useful directions to be guided in the great and thrilling journey of life: Guidelines for relations with parents, siblings, companions and one's children.


The author has a way of transmitting such knowledge to his layman reader as would be envied by an experienced psychiatrist. But the book's best achievement is to bring the reader into the head and the thoughts of a psychiatrist. His way also at the same time gives advice in the correct practice of clinical Psychiatry as well as of Medicine in general.


It is a book addressing every challenged and questioning person who cogitates a problem, including professionals of mental health, who will find in it new methods of approach along the hazardous paths of the human soul.

Pavlos Sakkas grew up in the milieu of psychiatry as his father was also a psychiatrist. Pavlos has practised psychiatry on the front lines for the last thirty years and is a Professor of Psychiatry at the Medical School of the University of Athens. He has also been a Visiting Professor at the University of Illinois in Chicago. He has obtained prestigious scholarships and has accomplished substantial works in research, with hundreds of publications in international scientific journals.
However, despite these great professional achievements, his greatest fondness is for teaching. He has spent his long academic career initiating thousands of medical students and hundreds of specialised psychiatrists into the world of psychiatry. Furthermore, featured in the media on numerous occasions, he tries to familiarise the general public with the messages of modern psychiatry and the significant developments achieved in recent decades.
Pavlos Sakkas' inquisitive spirit has formulated fresh and enterprising points of view concerning certain aspects - that are still obscure - of psychiatry. In his clinical work, which has been met with high esteem, he has, meanwhile, applied special personal techniques of approach to a patient. It is these views and employed techniques that are set out in his present book, which represents the distillation of his knowledge and experience.