72 Hour Hold

I enjoyed reading this book. As a psychiatric nurse, I found the book to be a realistic view of the mental health system and the heart break of having a sick child or family member who is not med compliant and is in and out of the hospital.

I realize that this is a novel, but as Neil Diamond once sang "Except for the names and a few other changes, you could talk about me, the story's the same one". Having a family member who suffers from manic depression, I've lived through many of the episodes related in this book. There are the lies, the anger, the disappearances, and all of the other things that plague the narrator. One thing also remains the same: the love for the ill person can never be taken away, even though helping him or her causes terrible suffering and stress on the caretakers. It's not a perfect book by any means, but should be must reading for the caregivers of any mentally ill family member. They will see themselves in its pages, as I did.

I don't even know where to start with this book. It's a day to day story of a divorced mother who is trying to help her daughter deal with a mental illness. On top of that, she is African-American. Our culture typically shuns the mentally ill. This book was written so well, that I started reading more on mental illness, since it does not affect me directly. I have read this book twice, and it was new each time. The African American community (and probably the American community) needs to read this book to see what it's like to deal with an illness first hand, and everything that goes with it (the drugs, the way the government works, the support groups, what it does to a family). Thank you, Ms. Campbell!

What would you do if your daughter suffered from a mental illness? Wouldn't you try to do everything in your power to save her? This is what Kerri is facing in 72 Hour Hold, the latest novel by Bebe Moore Campbell. Kerri is a mother who is trying to save her 18-year-old daughter Trina from a dangerous life by forcing her to deal with her bipolar disorder. Due to this mental illness, Trina becomes a violent stranger in her own home. Kerri tries to get Trina the best care possible but the bureaucracy of the mental health system is standing in her way. It also doesn't help that her ex-husband refuses to accept Trina's mental illness. Kerri learns that a seventy-two hour hold at a mental health facility is the only help you can get with an adult mentally ill child. After the hold, Trina can sign herself out and Kerri doesn't have to be notified. Kerri decides to sign up for an illegal, Underground Railroad-type intervention program ran by a group of radicals. When a potentially dangerous situation occurs during this program, Kerri has to decide if she should pull Trina out of the program. 72 Hour Hold is a compelling, emotionally-charged novel. Bebe Moore Campbell brings the complex topic of mental illness to the forefront with this story. She tactically shows the never-ending fight and obstacles one may face when trying to deal with a mentally ill relative. Campbell doesn't sugar coat anything in this novel. The realness of Trina's violent, erratic behavior due to the bipolar disorder really hits home with readers of how serious this illness is. Mental illness is a topic that is widely misunderstood, especially in the African-American community. Bebe Moore Campbell once again proves that she is an extraordinary novelist by bringing readers another rich, thought-provoking novel.

Keri's daughter Trina is everything a mother could want--beautiful, smart, talented. At 18, Trina has her whole life in front of her, and she is about to begin her first semester at Brown University. But then everything changes; the bizarre behavior begins, drugs surface, promiscuity becomes an issue...and Trina begins disappearing for long periods of time. One particularly bad incident lands Trina in the hospital---and Keri discovers that there is a name for what her daughter has become. Trina is diagnosed with bipolar disorder, and suddenly the lives of everyone who loves her are changed forever. A wonderful, moving, emotionally charged novel that chronicles the struggle of a mother to secure a future for her beloved mentally ill daughter...and her determination to do so by working within the mental health system itself, or outside of it. Readers will never view the victims of mental illness, nor those affected by it, the same way again. DYB