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

I loved this book. I related to much of it, as someone who spent over 20 years cycling in and out of psych wards. And as a wellness and recovery specialist who survived the edge of the proverbial abyss many times over and has worked in mental health for many years now. The author had a lot of guts to get her self locked away, no matter how much safety nets she may have set up for herself on the outside. The risks she took were probably far beyond her own imagination. Meriwether is typical of most of the institutions I am familiar with. It is a hell hole where you surrender or are forced to give up your freedom, where you are over medicated, possibly restrained and treated like a criminal. Experiences in these places cause more trauma and life challenges than what may have caused us to end up there. Mobius probably comes the closest to my ideal of a healing centre or retreat. They are rare and expensive. Among other techniques, they use therapy, exercise and spirituality. The results for the author were posititve. She learned that recovery is a matter of self-determination, will and effort combined. The program and environment at Mobius gave her the tools and the support to aid in her own healing and the continuation of her recovery process. I enjoyed the writing, the efficiency of words that never failed to capture immence detail and pack a profound punch. I will recommend this book to the many people that I am associated with who are on the path to recovery and to mental health professionals to enhance their professional development. And that's putting it politely.

Norah Vincent's book speaks the truth. Although parts of it are likely to be controversial, particularly for the pharmaceutical companies, Norah's experience and conclusions are well thought out and balanced - not fanatical. She does ultimately acknowledge the role of prescription pharmaceuticals, I agree with her that they are sometimes oversubscribed or the side effects given less than full consideration (my take on what she has to say - read it yourself). As one with similar experience with various methods of support and therapy, this book rang true to my own experience. Thank you Norah. I hope that psychiatrists, psychologists, other therapists and their patients read this book. I am going to recommend it to the mental health organizations with which I am involved. It is true that the book is difficult to categorize. The author describes herself as an immersion journalist. I have not been able to identify the locations where she participated in treatment or the physicians although I have attempted to do so using google. I suppose this was necessary to maintain confidentiality. However, I would have liked to find out more about the last place where she received treatment and the specific therapies provided. The absence of this information was somewhat frustrating.

Not your typical peek into the life of someone with mental illness. She has given readers a gift that being that our health care system is wrongly named in the case of mentally ill people. She is a brilliant woman who truly does care and thus this book. After reading the book first of all I felt she was being deceptive, then I realized it was never deceptive at all. She just wants readers to see what happens to the mentally ill and she means well by her book. Hopefully more people will write similar books that give readers a glimpse into reality of what it is like for people undergoing various types of situations in their lives.

Ignore the negative reviews--I think they were written by big pharma reps. This is a candid, revealing, honest and provocative exploration of mental healthcare in our country. If you struggle with depression and wonder what to do next, this story offers valuable warnings: what can happen if you mention the word "suicide" in an unguarded moment with your therapist, how little anyone knows about the side effects of popular prescription meds. And her conclusion--that all of us have to want help and be willing to work before anything can get better--is worth the price of the book.

VOUNTARY MADNESS VOLUNTARY MADNESS (2008) by Norah Vincent might better have been titled VOLUNTARY WELLNESS - not as eye catching, and suggesting something a little harder to conceptualize, but it is the author's conclusion, after willfully committing herself to three different psychiatric facilities: an urban hospital, a rural private clinic, and an alternative-therapy private clinic, under the presumption of research for this book. Immersion journalism she calls it. Then something unanticipated happened--she got deep into her own depression and discovered a healthier way of coping than she had been practicing. This is not a thorough examination of the state of mental health care and treatment by any means; but it is a good account of what it is: One individual's experience trying to find relief for her own depression and hyper stimulated mind. And that turns out to be a success story. Vincent gains insight into her malaise, finally, in the care of the alternative-therapy clinic, which ironically is not at all alternative to wellness. [Question: Why is a treatment that uses kindness, understanding, warmth, empowerment, freedom, exercise, quiet, egalitarian interpersonal communication, self-determination, all at a reasonable cost ($428.00 a day) labeled alternative? Alternative to what? Mainstream medical treatment consisting of the opposites of the above, at the cost of $1,400. a day. America doesn't need health care reform? Are you kidding me? Could it be that psychotherapy isn't covered because there is no product to be sold?] Yes, this is a self-absorbed look at the issues of mental health, but that is admitted to at the onset. The reader is free to discern their own conclusions, but that is what Vincent concludes is a lot of the problem. The "vast-majority of people don't want to participate in their own recovery." (p.274). Don't want to think about it. And, "Medication requires no effort or willpower to have an effect." (p. 275) And, there are huge financial profits to be made in drugs. Vincent is mostly right that you cannot force someone to get well. It's a decision, and requires active participation. What she doesn't get into is all the hows and whys people are so resistant to taking control of their own lives. [There was a "Don't blame the victim" mentality that took over the field some years ago, pushed along by "Big Pharma." It's a disease and not your fault, the model says. Take this pill, it will help, and get back to work.] If you're too far gone, there's the lockup. True, the cause may not be your fault - but the cure is your responsibility. That's the alternative model. For many, most, it seems it is easier to ignore symptoms, or blame others, or the "system," than to dig into the depths and root out what ails you. [Psychotherapy, after all, is expensive. But, my word, it doesn't cost $1,400.00 a day!] A "what's the use" attitude is a rational response. It is NOT CRAZY. Might as well eat, drink, and be merry. Ha, ha. In V