He has edited and written several books, most notably "Madness Explained", which was winner of the British Psychological Society Book Award in 2004. In this book, he advocates a psychological approach to the psychoses, rejects the concept of schizophrenia and considers symptoms worthwhile investigating in contrast to the Kraepelinian syndromes. (Refuting "Kraepelin's big idea" that serious mental illness can be divided into discrete types is the starting chapter of the book.) A review by Paul Broks in "The Sunday Times" summarised its position as: "Like Szasz, Bentall is firmly opposed to the biomedical model, but he also takes issue with extreme social relativists who would deny the reality of madness." In the book, Bentall also argues that no clear distinction exists between those diagnosed with mental illnesses and the "well". While this notion is more widely accepted in psychiatry when it comes to anxiety and depression, Bentall insists that schizotypal experiences are also common.