Autobiography of a Schizophrenic Girl: The True Story of Renee

I have read a few psychology books and journal articles that dealt with schizophrenia, but the view I almost always had of the disease was the view of a detached scientist trying to understand the disease, not trying to understand how the person with the disease actually felt. This was one of the few times I got a look at what it's like to have shizophrenia from the viewpoint of the person with schizophrenia. It was very disturbing, but I would think also very helpful for a person who wants to be a therapist and work with people who have schizophrenia. You will understand the pain a person with (a certain type of) schizophrenia is experiencing if you read this book. On the other hand, this book is very old, the events in the book took place before 1952 (the copyright of the book is 1951), when effective medications for shizophrenia first came out. Renee's story might have been very different if it had happened today, especially since the symptoms of schizophrenia that she suffers from are the type that would probably respond very well to medication (she clearly suffers from positive symptoms of schizophrenia rather than negative symptoms, and positive symptoms do respond better to medications). Also, as another reviewer kind of mentioned, Freudian analysis, the kind Renee received, is no longer widely considered an effective therapy for this disease. When Renee recovered from her illness, I had the impression that it wasn't because of any therapy she received but it was because she is one of the fortunate people who sometimes get better on their own. Studies even indicate that most people's symptoms do lessen as they get older, apparently on their own.

I would have given this book 5 stars, but the Freudian analysis by Dr. Sechehaye at the end of the book is obsolete; indeed, it makes for better reading if one simply skips that section. In fact, even Freud himself thought psychoanalysis would not do schizophrenics any good.This book should be read by anyone interested in a first-person account of what it's like to suffer from schizophrenia. It's nice that the story has a happy ending for the anonymous sufferer, often not the case for schizophrenics in the days before modern medications. Even today, it's horrible; but the chances of leading a normal life are better.