A pelican original.The range of psychiatric illness is as large as the volume of patients and the volume ofp atients in many Western countries fills almost half the hospital beds. We urgently need to understand what psychiatric illness really is and what psychiatrists themselves actually do.The purpose of New Horizons in Psychiatry is to bring the general reader up to date with recent major advances. There is little theory in this the author's aim throughout is to bring home what in practice is being done. He deals with the solid centre of practical What causes schizophrenia? What is the role of neurosurgery and the new drugs? What can be done for addicts and alcoholics? What happens at the extremes of childhood and old age? The fullscale analysis in chapters 5 and 6 of new methods in psychiatric hospitals and the future of psychiatric services is perhaps of particular importance.