Not as good as Self Made Man, but still extremely engaging and well worth the read. ( )

Stunt memoir about mental illness treatment facility? Should be right up my alley. Yet, no. ( )

I could not make up my mind between giving this book 3 or 4 stars but decided to be generous and give it 4.
Having a recent ( first and definitely last ) 4 day stay in the psych ward of a local hospital ( not a City owned hospital - supposed private, but nothing like her 2nd ward ), I found the conditions, rules, patients and behavior of the staff has mirrored her first hospital to a 't'. I hated every living breathing second of it and spent those 4 days alternatively slamming doors, starving as I would not eat that garbage they classified as food and strangling the staff with the bra that they had confiscated from me upon admittance (along with my my drawers, rest of my clothes, my jewelry including my cross and religious medals ). After much tussling, eye rolling, starving, phone calls, I got sprung in 4 days and am scarred for life. I am home 5 weeks now and am only now beginning to use the bathroom like a normal person and have learned to never ever fully trust anyone in that profession again, they have too much power and control over your destiny.

I understand that we all have 'nice' points and ' not so nice ' ones, but some of her descriptions of the more pleasant staff irritated me. She called the office staff at St Luke ' menopausal mommies with fat fingers ' - not necessary. Her descriptions of the patients came across as mean spirited rather than just describing unpleasant traits and behavior. Having OCD and needing multiple showers a day did not make a bad situation better being around people all day who would not/could not shower and all the unpleasantness of unwashed hair and bodies entailed. So in one regard I get where her descriptions are coming from but .......

I am also not a fan of using scatological terms for anything one does in the bathroom, not because I am anti-cursing, I curse myself, so it is not a matter of prudery, but crassness and crudeness are not my bag.

I differed from her assessment of which of the 3 places were the 'best ' - I though Sr Pete, the social workers, the head shrink and support staff were lovely at St Luke's and a gazillion miles away from where I was locked up. There was no library where I was, no artwork, stripped down dull and boring rooms and no chapel for the patients but oddly one for the staff, which elicited a mega eye roll from me and my saying ' well, what the hell good is that ?? '.

3.5 stars. ( )

I liked this book. Unlike some other reviewers I found a lot of dry humour in this memoir. And I found it intensely personal. What started out as an immersion journalism project, sort of an expose of the current state of psychiatric hospitals and our over-reliance on drugs to treat mental illness, clearly became an authentic inner journey for the authour. The three hospitals she visited (is that the right word when you voluntarily commit yourself someplace?) progressively became more therapeutic, and in the last one she let down her defences and gave herself over to facing some of the issues that had plagued her for years. I doubt many authors would allow themselves to be so raw and exposed on the page. For anyone who has experienced depression, her thoughts on the condition are insightful. I think you have to have been there, emothionally, to some extent to "get" this book. ( )

I can't write an effective review of this. ?áNot least because every reader will absolutely react to it differently, because of the different kinds of experiences we all have with the mental health system. ?á

My situation is that I've been subject to minor depression my whole life. ?áOnce I was quite stressed by my home situation, and went on prozac. ?áI almost immediately went off it because I felt that it changed me, that it messed with my identity instead of just helping me cope. ?áSt. John's Wort was the best for me. ?áOff and on lately I've been considering simple talk therapy. ?áAlso, my eldest son has been diagnosed with depression and institutionalized twice, in a place that resembled Meriwether even though it was for juveniles. ?áHorrible experience, didn't help him. ?áHe also refuses drugs and does not benefit from talk therapy.

Given that, I found this book effective and fascinating. ?áIt's a mess, but that's appropriate. ?áVincent is brave & brilliant indeed. ?áShe's also too close to see the forest for the trees, and she knows this. ?áShe makes some pleas for treatment strategies for patients, and then later admits that even if those were implemented, they might not help much and might backfire in some cases. ?áShe had a moment of epiphany, but admits that she'll never be happy and whole, much less free of all meds. ?áEtc. ?á

I do like that she reminds us of the power of breathing well?á(gotta try den chi bon) and of laughter (lately I've benefited from watching YouTube clips from Big Bang Theory).

The only time that I noticed her being wholly blind was when she was blaming the town & region of the Midwest for making it difficult for the patients of St. Luke's to be healthy. ?áThat's the kind of BS I've learned to expect from those who justify living in the termite mound that is NYC. ?á... ?áOk, no, some ppl are suited for New York, and some for the Great Plains... would that she could see the difference. ?áEspecially, would that she could see that the 'urban jungle' actually might not be the healthiest environment for her....

Anyway, I loved Self-Made Man and I hope she's doing well enough to write another book. ?áIt doesn't have to be immersive journalism; I'd read anything by her. ?áIf she's not writing, ok, I just hope she's found a path to a life of peace.


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