"Combining extraordinary true stories with the latest research, Joel and Ian Gold take us on a wild journey through the delusional brain to explore the intersection of neuroscience, biology, and culture. Mr. A. was admitted to Dr. Joel Gold's inpatient unit at Bellevue Hospital in 2002. He was, he said, being filmed constantly, and his life was being broadcast around the world like The Truman Show, the 1998 film depicting a man who is unknowingly living out his life as the star of a popular soap opera. Over the next few years, Gold saw a number of patients suffering from what he and his brother, Dr. Ian Gold, began calling the 'Truman Show Delusion,' launching them on a quest to understand the nature of this particular phenomenon, of delusions more generally, and the nature of madness itself. The current view of delusions is that they are the result of biology gone awry, of neurons in the brain misfiring. In contrast, the Golds argue, delusions are in fact the result of the interaction between the brain and the social world. By exploring the major categories of delusion via fascinating case studies and marshaling the latest research in schizophrenia, the brothers reveal the role of culture and the social world in the development of psychosis, notably delusions. A fascinating study about just how dramatically our surroundings can influence our brains. Joel Gold is a clinical associate professor of psychiatry at New York University School of Medicine. Ian Gold is the Canada Research Chair in Philosophy and Psychiatry at McGill University"--Provided by publisher.