What is the psyche?
Psychiatry today rarely pauses to ask this question. It measures symptoms, assigns diagnoses, and prescribes treatments — often without considering what, in essence, it is caring for.

This book dares to return to the beginning.

Drawing on almost two decades of work in medicine, psychiatry, and psychotherapy, alongside lifelong study of depth psychology, philosophy, and transgenerational trauma, Dr. Fabiano Zamel invites readers into a broader conversation about the human psyche and what it means to care for it.

The book begins with a clear critique of contemporary psychiatry and the limits of diagnostic categories, working through questions that touch us all.

But critique is only the starting point. At its heart lies the central question — what is the psyche? — and here the author offers fresh perspectives and concrete answers, illuminating this question with insights drawn from science, philosophy, depth psychology, clinical practice, and lived experience. This weaving allows the book to unfold as a map of contrasts, a conversation between different grammars of human life, and a guide toward a fuller vision of the psyche.

Written with clarity and depth, What Is the Psyche? is a book for all people: for psychiatrists, psychologists, therapists — and equally for the general reader. Profound yet accessible, it is both a critique and an invitation to look again at ourselves, at one another, and at the vast, unfinished work of being human.