This book gives an intimate, personal account of those living with serious psychotic disorder in the United States, India, Africa, and Southeast Asia. It introduces the notion that social defeat--the physical or symbolic defeat of one person by another--is a core mechanism in the increased risk for psychotic illness. Furthermore, "care-as-usual" treatment as it occurs in the United States actually increases the likelihood of social defeat, while "care-as-usual" treatment in a country like India diminishes it.