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J Child Fam Stud (2007) 16:902904
DOI 10.1007/s10826-007-9183-9
BOOK REVIEW
Published online: 2 November 2007 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2007
As mental health clinicians our vocation is to facilitate the recovery of individuals with mental illness. We often read biographies or autobiographies of the struggles of specic individuals with their disorders, with the mental health system, and with the therapists charged with their care and well being (Jamison 1995; North 2002; McLean 2003; Nasar 1998; Schiller and Bennett 1994). We are amazed at what we read, particularly of our failure to understand the inner experiences of these individuals, with the often-inhumane treatments that they have received, and their strength in overcoming many of the barriers to recovery. We admire their persistence in getting better, in having a life, in their hope of a better lifestyle. We applaud them when they have succeeded, often in spite of our best intentions, but most often we fail to learn the lessons that could help us do our jobs in a more effective, loving and compassionate manner.
Elyn Saks provides us with an up close and very personal account of her gradual descent into mental illness during high school, her struggle with delusions and hallucinations, treatments, therapists, education, being a professional attorney and nally a university professor. As she descends into mental illness, she loses self-care skills, activities of daily living, and her touch with reality; she has episodes of suicidal ideation, and actual attempts at committing suicide. She writes eloquently of what she was thinking during the times she was delusional, when she was hallucinating, when she tried to escape from the hospitals, and the effects of the various treatments. She gives voice to all that was...