"How can we better understand and treat people affected by schizophrenia and manic-depressive illnesses? This important new book takes us into the world of those suffering from such disorders. Using self descriptions, its emphasis is not on how we view sufferers, but on how the patients themselves experience their disorder. Central to the book is the idea that schizophrenic people live like disembodied spirits or deanimated bodies. As disembodied spirits, they feel like abstract entities which contemplate their own existence and the world from outside. As deanimated bodies, schizophrenic people feel deprived of the possibility of living personal experiences - perceptions, thoughts, emotions - as their own."--Jacket.