Dante's Cure

Dante's Cure: A Journey Out Of Madness by Daniel Dorman (Assistant Clinical Professor of Psychiatry, School of Medicine University of California at Los Angeles) traces the history of Catherine, a woman suffering from severe schizophrenia in the 1970s and was admitting at a UCLA hospital as an adolescent anorexic who was suicidal and heard murderous voices in her head. Dr. Dorman describe's Catherine's condition, her background, and moments of interpretative breakthroughs, and his work with her in resistance to collegial pressures to medicate Catherine. Dr. Dorman set up in private practice and continued his sessions with Catherine. Gradually she was able to begin a recovery, live in an apartment, attend college, and eventually qualified as a psychiatric nurse. Of special interest is Dr. Dorman's epilogue setting out his rationale in opposition to the dominant psychiatric view of schizophrenia as a "brain disorder" requiring medication. He persuasively advocates a humanist, patient-doctor collaborationist approach as illustrated by his years of work with Catherine. Dante's Cure is a welcome and valued contribution to psychiatric medicine and a recommended addition to personal, professional, and Mental Health Studies library collections.

This book is an awe-inspiring account of a psychiatrist's refusal to do anything less than cure his patient. He did this without the use of drugs, in itself an amazing thing. It was not an easy road to a drugged recovery but a thorough, life-affirming process which allows his patient to live life as it is meant to be lived.

THis is a brilliant book. Dr. Daniel Dorman has done something few doctors have the patience to do or care. He cured someone over 7 years with severe schizophinia without any drugs - just a belief in himself and her recovery.The last chapter is worth the price of the book. He is a compassionate, caring man who believes minds are not broken.He his a real healer.

THis is a brilliant book. Dr. Daniel Dorman has done something few doctors have the patience to do or care. He cured someone over 7 years with severe schizophenia without any drugs - just a belief in himself and her recovery.The last chapter is worth the price of the book. He is a compassionate, caring doctor who believes minds are not broken.That people can be cured without drugs, by going deep within themselves they can change - drastically. He is a real healer.

I highly recommend this book. Catherine Penney's inspirational story offers hope to all who suffer from so-called mental illness. Don't believe the drug company propaganda that people who struggle with mental problems need drugs for life.