-
No One Cares About Crazy People
- The Chaos and Heartbreak of Mental Health in America
- Narrated by: Ron Powers
- Length: 14 hrs and 49 mins
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Buy for $29.65
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
Listeners also enjoyed...
-
The Quiet Room: A Journey out of the Torment of Madness
- By: Lori Schiller, Amanda Bennett
- Narrated by: Brittany Pressley, Gregory Abbey, Cheryl Smith
- Length: 10 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Moving, harrowing, and ultimately uplifting, Lori Schiller's memoir is a classic testimony to the ravages of mental illness and the power of perseverance and courage. At 17, Lori Schiller was the perfect child - the only daughter of an affluent, close-knit family. Six years later she made her first suicide attempt, then wandered the streets of New York City dressed in ragged clothes, tormenting voices crying out in her mind. Lori Schiller had entered the horrifying world of full-blown schizophrenia.
-
-
Mental Health Care in America
- By Dee Garza on 02-29-20
By: Lori Schiller, and others
-
Insane
- America's Criminal Treatment of Mental Illness
- By: Alisa Roth
- Narrated by: Tavia Gilbert
- Length: 10 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
America has made mental illness a crime. Jails in New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago each house more people with mental illnesses than any hospital. In this revelatory book, journalist Alisa Roth goes deep inside the criminal justice system to tell how and why it has become a warehouse where inmates are denied proper treatment, abused, and punished in ways that make them sicker. Through intimate stories of people in the system and those trying to fix it, Roth reveals the hidden forces behind this crisis and suggests how a fairer and more humane approach might look.
-
-
Phenomenal Expose
- By Bri on 03-20-19
By: Alisa Roth
-
My Lovely Wife in the Psych Ward
- A Memoir
- By: Mark Lukach
- Narrated by: Josh Bloomberg
- Length: 8 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Mark and Giulia's life together began as a storybook romance. They fell in love at 18, married at 24, and were living their dream life in San Francisco. When Giulia was 27, she suffered a terrifying and unexpected psychotic break that landed her in the psych ward for nearly a month. One day she was vibrant and well adjusted; the next she was delusional and suicidal, convinced that her loved ones were not safe.
-
-
Helps you understand the husband side
- By Kindle Customer on 04-12-19
By: Mark Lukach
-
The Center Cannot Hold
- By: Elyn R. Saks
- Narrated by: Alma Cuervo
- Length: 12 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Professor of psychiatry Elyn R. Saks writes about her struggle with schizophrenia in this unflinching account of her mental illness. In The Center Cannot Hold, Saks draws readers into a nightmare world of medications, a misguided health-care system, and social stigmas. But she would not be defeated. With a strength and force of will that most can only imagine, Saks reclaimed her life and went on to achieve great success.
-
-
Schizophrenia Inside Out
- By Pamela Harvey on 07-23-09
By: Elyn R. Saks
-
The Collected Schizophrenias
- Essays
- By: Esmé Weijun Wang
- Narrated by: Esmé Weijun Wang
- Length: 7 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
An intimate, moving book written with the immediacy and directness of one who still struggles with the effects of mental and chronic illness, The Collected Schizophrenias cuts right to the core. Schizophrenia is not a single unifying diagnosis, and Esmé Weijun Wang writes not just to her fellow members of the “collected schizophrenias” but to those who wish to understand it as well.
-
-
Open, honest, and well written
- By David A Carlson on 03-04-19
By: Esmé Weijun Wang
-
The Body Keeps the Score
- Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma
- By: Bessel A. van der Kolk
- Narrated by: Sean Pratt
- Length: 16 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Trauma is a fact of life. Veterans and their families deal with the painful aftermath of combat; one in five Americans has been molested; one in four grew up with alcoholics; one in three couples have engaged in physical violence. Dr. Bessel van der Kolk, one of the world’s foremost experts on trauma, has spent more than three decades working with survivors. In The Body Keeps the Score, he uses recent scientific advances to show how trauma literally reshapes both body and brain, compromising sufferers’ capacities for pleasure, engagement, self-control, and trust.
-
-
Overall Worthwhile, Lingers Too Long in the Why
- By LittleBeadsOfMercury on 04-07-21
-
The Quiet Room: A Journey out of the Torment of Madness
- By: Lori Schiller, Amanda Bennett
- Narrated by: Brittany Pressley, Gregory Abbey, Cheryl Smith
- Length: 10 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Moving, harrowing, and ultimately uplifting, Lori Schiller's memoir is a classic testimony to the ravages of mental illness and the power of perseverance and courage. At 17, Lori Schiller was the perfect child - the only daughter of an affluent, close-knit family. Six years later she made her first suicide attempt, then wandered the streets of New York City dressed in ragged clothes, tormenting voices crying out in her mind. Lori Schiller had entered the horrifying world of full-blown schizophrenia.
-
-
Mental Health Care in America
- By Dee Garza on 02-29-20
By: Lori Schiller, and others
-
Insane
- America's Criminal Treatment of Mental Illness
- By: Alisa Roth
- Narrated by: Tavia Gilbert
- Length: 10 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
America has made mental illness a crime. Jails in New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago each house more people with mental illnesses than any hospital. In this revelatory book, journalist Alisa Roth goes deep inside the criminal justice system to tell how and why it has become a warehouse where inmates are denied proper treatment, abused, and punished in ways that make them sicker. Through intimate stories of people in the system and those trying to fix it, Roth reveals the hidden forces behind this crisis and suggests how a fairer and more humane approach might look.
-
-
Phenomenal Expose
- By Bri on 03-20-19
By: Alisa Roth
-
My Lovely Wife in the Psych Ward
- A Memoir
- By: Mark Lukach
- Narrated by: Josh Bloomberg
- Length: 8 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Mark and Giulia's life together began as a storybook romance. They fell in love at 18, married at 24, and were living their dream life in San Francisco. When Giulia was 27, she suffered a terrifying and unexpected psychotic break that landed her in the psych ward for nearly a month. One day she was vibrant and well adjusted; the next she was delusional and suicidal, convinced that her loved ones were not safe.
-
-
Helps you understand the husband side
- By Kindle Customer on 04-12-19
By: Mark Lukach
-
The Center Cannot Hold
- By: Elyn R. Saks
- Narrated by: Alma Cuervo
- Length: 12 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Professor of psychiatry Elyn R. Saks writes about her struggle with schizophrenia in this unflinching account of her mental illness. In The Center Cannot Hold, Saks draws readers into a nightmare world of medications, a misguided health-care system, and social stigmas. But she would not be defeated. With a strength and force of will that most can only imagine, Saks reclaimed her life and went on to achieve great success.
-
-
Schizophrenia Inside Out
- By Pamela Harvey on 07-23-09
By: Elyn R. Saks
-
The Collected Schizophrenias
- Essays
- By: Esmé Weijun Wang
- Narrated by: Esmé Weijun Wang
- Length: 7 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
An intimate, moving book written with the immediacy and directness of one who still struggles with the effects of mental and chronic illness, The Collected Schizophrenias cuts right to the core. Schizophrenia is not a single unifying diagnosis, and Esmé Weijun Wang writes not just to her fellow members of the “collected schizophrenias” but to those who wish to understand it as well.
-
-
Open, honest, and well written
- By David A Carlson on 03-04-19
By: Esmé Weijun Wang
-
The Body Keeps the Score
- Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma
- By: Bessel A. van der Kolk
- Narrated by: Sean Pratt
- Length: 16 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Trauma is a fact of life. Veterans and their families deal with the painful aftermath of combat; one in five Americans has been molested; one in four grew up with alcoholics; one in three couples have engaged in physical violence. Dr. Bessel van der Kolk, one of the world’s foremost experts on trauma, has spent more than three decades working with survivors. In The Body Keeps the Score, he uses recent scientific advances to show how trauma literally reshapes both body and brain, compromising sufferers’ capacities for pleasure, engagement, self-control, and trust.
-
-
Overall Worthwhile, Lingers Too Long in the Why
- By LittleBeadsOfMercury on 04-07-21
-
Crazy
- A Father's Search Through America's Mental Health Madness
- By: Pete Earley
- Narrated by: Michael Prichard
- Length: 11 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Pete Earley had no idea. He'd been a journalist for over 30 years, and the author of several award-winning, even best-selling, nonfiction books about crime and punishment and society. Yet he'd always been on the outside looking in. He had no idea what it was like to be on the inside looking out until his son, Mike, was declared mentally ill, and Earley was thrown headlong into the maze of contradictions, disparities, and catch-22s that is America's mental health system.
-
-
Harrowing, Heart-Breaking
- By C. Anne on 01-28-07
By: Pete Earley
-
Divided Minds
- Twin Sisters and Their Journey Through Schizophrenia
- By: Carolyn S. Spiro MD, Pamela Spiro Wagner
- Narrated by: Kimberly Farr, Amanda Carlin
- Length: 11 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Divided Minds is a dual memoir of identical twins, one of whom faces a life sentence of schizophrenia and the other who becomes a psychiatrist after entering the spotlight that had for so long been focused on her sister.
-
-
intense!
- By Snow Dunn on 09-12-19
By: Carolyn S. Spiro MD, and others
-
Hidden Valley Road
- Inside the Mind of an American Family
- By: Robert Kolker
- Narrated by: Sean Pratt
- Length: 13 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Don and Mimi Galvin seemed to be living the American dream. After World War II, Don's work with the Air Force brought them to Colorado, where their 12 children perfectly spanned the baby boom: the oldest born in 1945, the youngest in 1965. In those years, there was an established script for a family like the Galvins - aspiration, hard work, upward mobility, domestic harmony. But behind the scenes was a different story: psychological breakdown, sudden shocking violence, hidden abuse. By the mid-1970s, six of the 10 Galvin boys, one after another, were diagnosed as schizophrenic.
-
-
A story you've never heard before
- By Kelley Cox on 04-19-20
By: Robert Kolker
-
The Ghost Garden
- Inside the Lives of Schizophrenia's Feared and Forgotten
- By: Susan Doherty
- Narrated by: Paula Kaye
- Length: 11 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Susan Doherty's groundbreaking book brings us a population of lost souls, ill-served by society, feared, shunted from locked wards to rooming houses to the streets to jail and back again. For the past 10 years, some of the people who cycle in and out of the severely ill wards of the Douglas Institute in Montreal, have found a friend in Susan, who volunteers on the ward, and then follows her friends out into the world as they struggle to get through their days. With their full cooperation, she brings us their stories, which challenge the ways we think about people with mental illness.
-
-
It Will Break Your Heart and Instill Hope At the Same Time
- By Anonymous User on 01-02-20
By: Susan Doherty
-
I Am Not Sick, I Don't Need Help!
- How to Help Someone with Mental Illness Accept Treatment. 10th Anniversary Edition
- By: Xavier Amador
- Narrated by: Xavier Amador Ph.D.
- Length: 3 hrs and 56 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Narrated by Dr. Amador, this abridged version includes part one and part two (10 chapters total) of the book, and specifically focuses on anosognosia and LEAP. Dr. Amador’s research on poor insight was inspired by his attempts to help his brother, Henry, who developed schizophrenia, accept treatment. Like tens of millions of others diagnosed with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, Henry did not believe he was ill.
-
-
This is NOT the complete book!
- By TR on 06-24-18
By: Xavier Amador
-
Dopesick
- By: Beth Macy
- Narrated by: Beth Macy
- Length: 10 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this extraordinary work, Beth Macy takes us into the epicenter of a national drama that has unfolded over two decades. From the labs and marketing departments of big pharma to local doctor's offices; wealthy suburbs to distressed small communities in Central Appalachia; from distant cities to once-idyllic farm towns; the spread of opioid addiction follows a tortuous trajectory that illustrates how this crisis has persisted for so long and become so firmly entrenched.
-
-
This book is BRUTAL.
- By Addisyn Luby on 11-16-19
By: Beth Macy
-
An Unquiet Mind
- A Memoir of Moods and Madness
- By: Kay Redfield Jamison
- Narrated by: Kay Redfield Jamison
- Length: 2 hrs and 46 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The personal memoir of a manic depressive and an authority on the subject describes the onset of the illness during her teenage years and her determined journey through the realm of available treatments.
-
-
Heavily Abridged!!!
- By Kyle on 05-24-13
-
NeuroTribes
- The Legacy of Autism and the Future of Neurodiversity
- By: Steve Silberman
- Narrated by: William Hughes
- Length: 18 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
What is autism: a lifelong disability or a naturally occurring form of cognitive difference akin to certain forms of genius? In truth, it is both of these things and more - and the future of our society depends on our understanding it. Wired reporter Steve Silberman unearths the secret history of autism, long suppressed by the same clinicians who became famous for discovering it, and finds surprising answers to the crucial question of why the number of diagnoses has soared in recent years.
-
-
Good Contrast to "In a Different Key"
- By Gadget on 06-01-16
By: Steve Silberman
-
Bedlam
- An Intimate Journey Into America's Mental Health Crisis
- By: Kenneth Paul Rosenberg
- Narrated by: Kenneth Paul Rosenberg
- Length: 6 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A psychiatrist and award-winning documentarian sheds light on the mental-healthcare crisis in the United States. Dr. Rosenberg gives listeners an inside look at the historical, political, and economic forces that have resulted in the greatest social crisis of the 21st century. The culmination of a seven-year inquiry, Bedlam is not only a rallying cry for change, but also a guidebook for how we move forward with care and compassion, with resources that have never before been compiled.
-
-
Mental Illness
- By Louise Thorn on 03-21-20
-
Manic
- A Memoir
- By: Terri Cheney
- Narrated by: Coleen Marlo
- Length: 6 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On the outside, Terri Cheney was a highly successful, attractive Beverly Hills entertainment lawyer. But behind her seemingly flawless facade lay a dangerous secret - for the better part of her life, Cheney had been battling debilitating bipolar disorder and concealing a pharmacy's worth of prescriptions meant to stabilize her moods and make her "normal". In bursts of prose that mirror the devastating highs and extreme lows of her illness, Cheney describes her roller-coaster life with shocking honesty.
-
-
I actually have this book, I mean the real book.
- By jarrod on 11-09-18
By: Terri Cheney
-
Hello I Want to Die Please Fix Me
- Depression in the First Person
- By: Anna Mehler Paperny
- Narrated by: Kirsten Potter
- Length: 10 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In her early 20s, investigative journalist Anna Mehler Paperny had already landed her dream job. On the surface, her life was great. Nevertheless, she spiraled out, attempted suicide (the first of more attempts to follow), and landed in the ICU and then in a psych ward before setting out to tackle her recovery. In Hello I Want to Die Please Fix Me, Mehler Paperny turns her journalist's eye on her own experience and others' - in the ward; as an outpatient; facing family, friends, and coworkers; finding the right meds; trying to stay insured and employed.
-
-
I enjoyed this experience
- By Anonymous User on 06-11-21
-
Beautiful Boy
- A Father's Journey through His Son's Meth Addiction
- By: David Sheff
- Narrated by: Anthony Heald
- Length: 11 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
David Sheff's story is a first: a teenager's addiction from the parent's point of view, a real-time chronicle of the shocking descent into substance abuse and the gradual emergence into hope.
Before meth, Sheff's son, Nic, was a varsity athlete, honor student, and award-winning journalist. After meth, he was a trembling wraith who stole money from his eight-year-old brother and lived on the streets. With haunting candor, Sheff traces the first warning signs, the attempts at rehabilitation, and, at last, the way past addiction. He shows us that, whatever an addict's fate, the rest of the family must care for one another, too, lest they become addicted to addiction.
-
-
Been There
- By Happy Reader on 11-26-12
By: David Sheff
Publisher's Summary
New York Times-best-selling author Ron Powers offers a searching, richly researched narrative of the social history of mental illness in America paired with the deeply personal story of his two sons' battles with schizophrenia.
From the centuries of torture of "lunatiks" at Bedlam Asylum to the infamous eugenics era to the follies of the anti-psychiatry movement to the current landscape in which too many families struggle alone to manage afflicted love ones, Powers limns our fears and myths about mental illness and the fractured public policies that have resulted. Braided with that history is the moving story of Powers' beloved son Kevin - spirited, endearing, and gifted - who triumphed even while suffering from schizophrenia, until finally he did not, and the story of his courageous surviving son Dean, who is also schizophrenic.
A blend of history, biography, memoir, and current affairs ending with a consideration of where we might go from here, this is a thought-provoking look at a dreaded illness that has long been misunderstood.
"Extraordinary and courageous.... No doubt if everyone were to read this book, the world would change." (New York Times Book Review)
Critic Reviews
More from the same
Author
Narrator
What listeners say about No One Cares About Crazy People
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- RSR
- 04-05-18
I needed Ron Powers voice to read this book
Where does No One Cares About Crazy People rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?
Most IMPORTANT
Any additional comments?
Do not pick up this book if you don’t really care about crazy people or mental illness. If you do care, this book will be hard – you will cry, you will burn with frustration, you will absorb much information. You will not be able to put this book down, because the most compelling feature of this book, for anyone who has felt the pain of mental illness, is its’ IMPORTANCE! I bought the book and soon felt I lacked the courage to continue reading. But I wanted to. So, I decided to have Ron Powers read his story to me. It was the only way I was able to keep going. He didn’t want to write this book – its’ a book no one wants to write – but you will be forever grateful for his care, his arduous research, and his courage to write AND record this book!
89 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Laurie
- 06-18-18
Could Have Been Better
This is an OK survey of the history and results of mental health treatment from an American perspective. On the favorable side, I'd say the research is good and the story is well told.
On the negative side, the author leans rather heavily on the stories of his own two sons. He probably should have waited a bit to write this, as it's clear he's still grieving for his deceased son and struggling with the mental illness of the surviving one. It's apparent that as he writes, he's searching for answers as to WHY his sons were/are schizophrenic. He blames the stress of their lives, their marijuana use, and a bunch of other things. He continually returns to details in his son's lives that would only be interesting to a proud parent. He even reads their emails and school essays. Not to be cruel, but this level of detail detracts from the main story and is just ... TMI. It probably ended up expanding the size of the audio file by several hours. His sons should have taken a less prominent part in the book.
His heavily liberal biases are easy to detect, as well. I found myself agreeing with most of his conclusions, but would have preferred a more objective narration. In these days, that is too much to ask of almost any writer or journalist.
His narration is super. He even does the voices when he's quoting another writer, politician or scientist. He's easy to listen to, he's professional, and his feelings and passions come through.
I don't want to seem too negative. There is a lot of good, meaty information here and I learned a lot. For someone who knows very little about mental health in the US, this would be a great introduction. He does keep the listener's interest. I just feel that there are two, very separate, books here. There's his personal narrative and there's the public story about the mental health system. The two should have been kept separate. Some people might like this style of nonfiction writing; I felt the personal was excessive.
114 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- T. Ralicki
- 01-30-18
Excellent read
This book opens up the world of mental illness. Not just about the authors son but about others and the failing mental health system. It covers everything from A to Z. Excellent read!
33 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Fact addict
- 06-25-19
Do you like stats or human interest?
I am more into human interest than statistics.... THERE: I said it!! I labored through statistics in school: just what was required, and not one hour more! Yes, I know people are behind the numbers! ... but that does not mean I have to like it, just that I have to know it!! Stats are just so durn dry and mean spirited !
This narrative alternates between statistics and stories of a family in heartrending crisis at times. That meant that the story, for me at least, alternated between the head and the heart; a story like that never quite settles into one thread, which can be difficult for some readers/listeners.
The loss of a talented person such as Mr Powers’ son, is a loss for all of us. We will never be enthralled by the emotions that his music provoked in apparently most of those that heard it. For this loss we are all poorer.
I highly recommend this book, in whatever form is appropriate for the individual consumer. I especially recommend it for anyone that comes into contact with people that have psychoses, or those that love them. This might include not only law enforcement and anyone involved in the legal system, but also family, teachers, and anyone that belongs to the human race, because we are all diminished by the loss of every talented person.
The only reason I decreased the stars from five to four was because my adult ADD went into full flower each time I tried to digest the statistics, as I previously mentioned. I could feel my eyes crossing and rolling back in my head every second that numbers and percentages rolled off Mr Powers’ tongue.
It was still a great book! Highly recommend- there, I said it again!
25 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Bob Koncerak
- 05-19-18
Thorough, personal and helpful.
If you have experience with mental illness in your family or via someone close to you, this book will resonate deeply. I first bought a hardcover copy, but listened to most of it by way of Ron Powers reading. The history of development and usage of psychotropic drugs was most interesting to me, as I've heard all the names over the years. Extremely well researched and thoughtfully compiled. I'm a slow reader, so I'm glad I listened to the audible version! Well-read by the author. Thank you, Mr. Power's, for your helpful contribution to metal health policy reform by way of this book.
20 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Tania
- 10-24-19
Beautiful and Moving story
I hope Ron Powers reads these reviews. I am an RN just entering the psychiatric field with a goal of becoming a Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner. The content in this book is precisely why I want to be a part of psychiatric healing.
This book gives a true view of brave, kind, radiant and talented people struggling with mental health issues; Pulling on heart strings and rousing outrage. Ron weaves history with his personal experience masterfully.
The cadence and emotion he reads with is captivating. I really felt like I got to know his boys, felt the pride and fears of a parent. I laughed out loud and sobbed as well.
Thank you Ron Powers for sharing this with the world. <3
18 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Amazon Customer
- 06-01-19
Full of history of mental health care!
Being a nurse and someone married to a man with Bi-polar 1, I found the history in this book very interesting. I enjoyed the way Ron Powers alternated chapters of history with the story of his family’s heartbreak and struggle with mental illness. I hope that this will open people’s eyes and hearts to the intense struggle of both the afflicted and the family members of those with debilitating mental illness.
14 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- AmazonCustomer
- 09-19-17
Of Care and Caring
Ron Powers skillfully intertwines the historic lack of meaningful health care for people suffering from mental illness with the caring and love he and his wife extend to their sons. Though a heart wrenching journey, Powers concludes with hope. First, from advancing medical knowledge and, perhaps more importantly, a vision of community caring to benefit us all.
12 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Michael Gillern
- 05-15-17
Amazing.
I want to make this text required reading for my graduate students in Mental Health Counseling.
23 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Joanne Miller
- 08-07-18
interesting, many feelings felt
My feelings were all over the place with this book. I appreciate hearing it instead of reading it because of the musical examples included.
I feel for the sense of loss for the father/author/narrator.
I have a daughter with autism who has never been able to talk so this both hit home and at times I was jealous since I lost her before she could say/express/accomplish anything. We both face similar handicaps in trying to get needed help for our children. I was jealous that the author had and is looking forward to having the freedom of being a couple without children in the house. While his plight is bad and difficult, it has more possibilities than mine. I wondered which is worse, losing an adult child and then struggling, where you look back with such sadness at what was lost, or never having the child be anything but difficult as a child or adult. In other words losing them early so there is so little to look back upon. He had normality until tragedy, I never had normality. He faces a difficult future but has hope. My future is largely without hope.
At times I really did not like the tone of voice used. It seemed for lack of a better term 'stuck-up', pedagogical but in a speaking down to you way. It grated like nails on the blackboard.
Good points; It did convey his deep sadness and the difficulty of trying to deal with a system which is underfunded and limited in what it can offer. It did explain the problem of individual choice versus how to treat a person who really is not competent to make that choice for his own good. It did a good job of explaining the complexity of mental illness treatment.
Bad points; It seemed it was almost two books with two purposes mixed into one. One of a father's story where the sons were lionized too much and the crushing loss experienced. One where the topic of mental illness was being explained and explored. Somehow, the mixing didn't fully work and the literary references used at times did not help this.
All in all I am glad to have bought this book and listened to it. I hope it opens people's eyes to the plight of parents faced with having to do the best they can in difficult circumstances. I hope it brings us all more help.
17 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Sadia Ahmed
- 12-07-20
Gripping
Some very nicely worded expressions, a necessary insight into the bewildering, tragically misunderstood, world of psychosis
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Anonymous User
- 12-10-21
Thank God Ron did write this book
Brilliant. Seeringly sad. Thought provoking. An inspired call to action. I've read 200 books in the last two tears and this would be in my top ten.