Voluntary Madness: My Year Lost and Found in the Loony Bin - Softcover

Norah Vincent

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0099513439 ISBN 13: 9780099513438

Publisher: Vintage Books USA, 2009

Synopsis

In Norah Vincent's acclaimed first book she described how she spent eighteen months disguised as a man, an experience that ended on a locked ward in a psychiatric hospital. She left determined to learn more about the world of psychiatry and to examine whether different mental institutions would offer different solutions to their patients, but rather than researching it as a journalist she chose to experience it as a patient.

Her journey begins in a huge inner-city hospital, before moving to the calming green carpet of St Lukes where patients are offered a room of their own and a regular jog in the park. From there she moves to Mobius, and a Buddhist-inspired brand of healing where she is forced to swim through West Coast psychobabble to some unexpected conclusions. The result is a fearless and unprecedented view of mental health care - from the inside out.

About this title

About the Author

Norah Vincent's first book, Self-made Man (2006) was an international media sensation and a New York Times bestseller. Previously, Vincent wrote a nationally syndicated op-ed column for the Los Angeles Times. Her work has also appeared in the New York Times, New Republic, Village Voice, and the Washington Post. She lives in New York City.

From Publishers Weekly

Vincent's first trip to a mental institution—to which the writing of Self-Made Man drove her—convinced her that further immersion would give her great material for a follow-up. The grand tour consists of voluntary commitments to a hospital mental ward, a small private facility and a boutique facility; but Vincent's efforts to make a big statement about the state of mental health treatment quickly give way to a more personal journey. An attempt to wean herself off Prozac, for example, adds a greater sense of urgency to her second research trip, while the therapists overseeing her final treatment lead her to a major emotional breakthrough. Meanwhile, her fellow patients are easily able to peg her as an emotional parasite, though this rarely stops them from interacting with her—and though their neediness sometimes frustrates her, she is less judgmental of them than of the doctors and nurses. The conclusions Vincent draws from her experiences tend toward the obvious (the better the facilities, the better chance for recovery) and the banal: No one can heal you except you. Though keenly observed, her account never fully transcends its central gimmick. (Jan.)
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Edition details

• Publisher: Vintage Books USA
• Publication date: 2009
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0099513439
• ISBN 13: 9780099513438
• Binding: Paperback