Francis argues that the new edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders threatens to destroy what is considered normal and that grief, sorrow, stress, disappointment, and other feelings are part of life, not a psychiatric disease.

Part I: Normality under siege. What's normal and what's not? ; From shaman to shrink ; Diagnostic inflation -- Part II: Psychiatric fads can be bad for your health. Fads of the past ; Fads of the present ; Fads of the future -- Part III: Getting back to normal. Taming diagnostic inflation ; The smart consumer ; The worst and the best of psychiatry.