Paul and David go further beyond their areas of expertise than usual and discuss the field of clinical psychology--the part of psychology interested in understanding and treating psychological dysfunction. What are mental illnesses? How do we come up with the categories of various psychopathologies? Are mental illnesses the same sort of thing as other diseases, or is the term "disease" more like a metaphor? Are disorders like schizophrenia best understood as discrete categories (either you have it or you don't) or are they continuous? How should we understand personality disorders? Finally, are we making progress on understanding and treating mental illness? Read the book that inspired the podcast: "Psych: The Story of the Human Mind" [amazon.com] Email us with your psychology questions for a future episode!: [email protected] Sponsored By: Givewell.org: Givewell's goal is to provide the best research on the most effective charities. And they make this free, for everyone. They also provide recommendations for a small number of charities that do an incredible amount of good. To get your charitable donation matched up to $500 (until funds last), simply select "podcast" at checkout and write "Psych".