The getting of wisdom

At 35, Lorna Martin had come to a crisis in her life. Turning to therapy for some answers, she recorded her progress in a weekly column that is now being published as a book. But, wonders Zoe Williams, is she really any the wiser?

Second-hand spooks

Do we need another look at Victorian spiritualism, asks Kathryn Hughes, after reading Servants of the Supernatural by Antonio Melechi

Disturbed lives

Salley Vickers applauds an acute and sobering account of the treatment of mentally ill women in Mad, Bad and Sad: A History of Women and the Mind Doctors from 1800 to the Present by Lisa Appignanesi

Maybe baby

Peggy Orenstein's Waiting For Daisy captures the pain of infertility, says Anushka Asthana

What’s up doc?

Max Pemberton's Trust Me, I'm a (Junior) Doctor jokingly reveals the reality of working in the NHS, says Katie Toms

A little of what you fancy …

... is the only sensible response to the craziness surrounding our diet. Kathryn Hughes puts Michael Pollan's In Defence of Food and Bee Wilson's Swindled on the menu

Who are you calling mad?

Lisa Appignanesi's richly researched Mad, Bad and Sad asks why women are perceived as being more prone to mental illness than men, says Viv Groskop

Anatomy of melancholy

Darian Leader's The New Black and Sally Brampton's Shoot the Damn Dog suggest we have got depression all wrong, says Hilary Mantel