Out of Her Mind: Women Writing on Madness

Unfortunately, the editor selected many different writing from women about their bouts of mental illness and the treatment (or not) that they received. However, some of the excerpts are far too short to do justice to the writing that the editor pulled from. For instance: Sylvia Plath's phenomenal book "The Bell Jar" had only 4 pages culled from it and even then the portion that was sampled really did no justice to this incredible book. Several of the short edits left me wanting much more.

Been there; done that. Or so I thought. This is a brilliant compilation of well-known and also little-known writers in the field of women and madness. The most shocking parts of the book reveal how women were regarded only a few decades ago. So a woman has PMS or post-partum depression? Or maybe her husband just wants to get rid of her so he can marry someone younger and prettier? The treatment for all of the above is to take away her clothes and belongings and send her to a poor house where she will be chained to the floor and occasionally whipped. Of course, she doesn't get to actually live in the house: that's what barns are for. Oh, and sometimes she gets a few pieces of bread to eat. And it's all true; if it were fiction, nobody would believe it. And I think, there but for the grace of God, go I....

I have worked in the field of mental health for several years, and collect fiction that deals with the subject. This collection is among the best I have found. It includes the well known Yellow Wallpaper, and selections from Bell Jar and Girl, Interrupted. But it also includes lesser known works that portray vividly what is it like to suddenly find yourself in the throes of depression and schizophrenia, and what it is like to watch a family member's descent into that hell, knowing there is little or nothing you can do. You will also find descriptions of how society has attempted to treat mentally illness for the last 400 years, with terrifying results. If you have any interest in this subject, read this book.

This is an excellent collection of essays, stories and excerpts from longer works that lingers long after you put it down. Despite the brevity of most entries (the entire book is less than 200 pages) their resonance deepens as you read story after story of women from the 15th century through today. It does not matter if you are a therapist, a therapy client or you have never thought about entering such a relationship. Nor does it matter whether you are a man or woman. These stories speak to everyone who has had a dark night of the soul. Yet they clarify the difference between having an occasional dark night and being swamped in darkness.It is painful reading, but will bring you closer to "madness" than anything short of direct experience.

,The book promised alot, what with it having letters by Zelda Fitzgerald that had never been published, and it delivered on it. I had to read the essay regarding the yellow wall paper three times to absorb all that was with meaning in it. In all, I found the book very readable, very informative and very thought provoking.

The selections in this anthology are some of the most wrenching, beautiful, and eloquent passages I have ever read. Each of the women writers in these pages has suffered through some sort of mental illness, whether it is her own or that of a loved one. What I found most interesting is that even though these women come from vastly different backgrounds and time periods, their struggles have much in common. For example, a woman in the 1990s writes about some of the same moods, symptoms and prejudices and that a 15th century author describes. The letters by Zelda Fitzgerald are fascinating, and the final essay by Martha Hughes is worth the price of the book alone. This is a classic collection.