A Psychiatric Odyssey


Book Description




Nowhere to Go


Book Description

Examines the policy of deinstitutionalization of the mentally ill and what can be done about it.




I Pay You to Listen, Not Talk


Book Description

The author, a psychiatrist, shares with us his 50-year odyssey, told through the voices of his patients. All are struggling: some with a psychiatric problem, some with overwhelming physical, critical illnesses, and some with the burden of cancer. The last group are weighted time-wise in the discipline of oncology. Some are funny, some tragic, some comi-tragic, some poignant -- all warm and utterly human. So much so that the reader can identify with the patients' stories -- a feeling of "I've been there, done that." The author also presents essays offered to the reader for insights into the special trials and crises these patients and their care-takers face.




Festina Lente


Book Description

This is a history of psychiatry during the last half of the 20th century, as seen by one who has witnessed and played a part in shaping events. It includes an analysis of the history of Horton Hospital, and a discussion of psychiatry and the arts.




Odyssey of the Soul, a Trilogy


Book Description

First in a trilogy, Book One presents extraordinary information gathered from the inner consciousness levels of the minds, bodies, and spirits of thousands of ordinary people. Knowledge gathered by the authors in their healing, motivational, and channeling work with and for others opens the mind and excites the spirit to the inherent abilities of the soul. Written simply, even complex subjects such as healing, hypnosis, re-incarnation, channeling, therapy, spirit possession, multiple personalities, inner children, astral matter, metaphysics, the soul, and Higher Self become clear and understandable. Personal stories add light, humor, motivation, and a sense all is possible and knowable. Presents a lighted path to self-mastery for the enlightenment of self and others, while succinctly outlining why the past is important to this path. Explains the dynamics of trauma, including childhood abuse, and how the mind stores, as well as buries, trauma. Explains why memories - whether "false" or "real" - are important to healing and achieving personal and professional goals. Delineates the levels of the mind and spirit in a way that is meaningful to every day reality. Lures and keeps the interest of both beginners and experts in metaphysical studies, even as it brings forward information that enhances both mainstream and alternative healing. Miracles are explained, as well as why medications, surgery, prayer, guided imagery, visualizations, affirmations, hypnosis, herbs, and other healing aids sometimes do not work and what needs to be done so they will. It is a book written by experts who explain why no expert knows more about a person's mind, body, or spirit than that person's own mind, body,and spirit. Explains how such information can be accessed both in and out of trance states. Channeling is introduced in a manner that eliminates fear, dread, and foolhardiness. Parts of the book and all of chapter eight are written by LIGHT, which says it is The Light, the creator energy of The Creator of All That Is. Light outlines a plan for healing the earth, balancing nature, and enlightening humans. The plan is powerful and perfect for people of all religions and no religion. So ingenious is this plan, so simple, so positively focused, it could only have been written by a consciousness of light leading to the thought that if a consciousness of light does not lie, this must, indeed, be The Creator Light. Just knowing such a consciousness is present and active in the world lessens the rampart fear presently escalating naturally occurring earth changes. Most importantly, this book, as it makes clear how the mind creates, makes clear how prophecy works. It becomes understood prophecy is not for the ego of the prophet; it is for the good of the people. If one does not like a prophecy, one has the ability and the right to positively shift the mental focus and physical actions in the present, which alters the future, thus nullifying the prophecy. Being created in the image of the Creator means we are spirit with will and the ability to choose what we will. A great prophet does not care about being right. A great prophet cares about doing right. Doing right is to warn and when the warning is heeded, the great prophet rejoices, knowing the prophecy will be rendered untrue. Book One explains how the mind truly works so the soul of one and the souls of many may alter the future to bringgreater good and joy.







Crazy Daze


Book Description

Crazy Daze is the personal memoir of Declan Gould, revealing many episodes in his life under a state of 'extreme consciousness'. The revelations are un-redacted, revealing his often sacrificing his own interests to support the rights and needs of others. The odyssey takes us through Ireland, the US and Zimbabwe. It reveals how he reacted while 'hearing voices', and some brushes with the law and the mental health services. In the second part of the book, Stigma and Mental Health, Declan deals with this very real issue and confronts the insidious ways that stigma can manifest itself to the detriment of those who experience mental health difficulties. In the third part of the book 'Under Observation - a patient view from the psychiatric ward', Declan deals with a number of issues arising from being in a psychiatric ward, which adversely affect patients.




The Other Side of Crazy


Book Description

My life has been a series of mysteries. From a very early age, I was confronted with many challenges: psychological abuse, sexual abuse, and a range of mental disorders. I overcame many of these, but not without severe consequences.Schizophrenia is a chronic mental health condition characterized primarily by hallucinations (hearing and seeing things that aren't there) and delusions (false and fixed beliefs that are held regardless of contradictory evidence.) Schizoaffective disorder includes symptoms of schizophrenia as well as symptoms of a mood disorder such as mania (euphoria, racing thoughts, and insomnia) and depression (sadness, emptiness, and worthlessness). Dissociative identity disorder, or DID, is a mental process which produces a lack of connection in a person's actions, thoughts, feelings, memories, or sense of identity. My story is complicated. As a woman with a career in costume design and raising three boys with a husband I loved, I thought I was normal. Then, when I was 38, my life suddenly spiraled out of control. I experienced full-blown schizophrenia. Following my breakdown, I lived in multiple realities for a very long time. Little by little, through therapy and self-discovery, I returned to the reality other people shared. With time and effort, I wrote down my experiences and did everything I could to make them easy to understand.In my own hero's journey, I ventured into the labyrinth of insanity and back, and witnessed The Other Side of Crazy.




Odysseus in America


Book Description

In this ambitious follow-up to Achilles in Vietnam, Dr. Jonathan Shay uses the Odyssey, the story of a soldier's homecoming, to illuminate the pitfalls that trap many veterans on the road back to civilian life. Seamlessly combining important psychological work and brilliant literary interpretation with an impassioned plea to renovate American military institutions, Shay deepens our understanding of both the combat veteran's experience and one of the world's greatest classics. In Achilles in Vietnam, Dr. Jonathan Shay used the story of the Iliad as a prism through which to examine how ancient and modern wars have battered the psychology of the men who fight. Now he turns his attention to the Odyssey, the story of a soldier's homecoming, to illuminate the real problems faced by combat veterans reentering civilian society. The Odyssey, Shay argues, offers explicit portrayals of behavior common among returning soldiers in our own culture: danger-seeking, womanizing, explosive violence, drug abuse, visitation by the dead, obsession, vagrancy and homelessness. Supporting his reading with examples from his fifteen-year practice treating Vietnam veterans, Shay shows how Odysseus's mistrustfulness, his lies, and his constant need to conceal his thoughts and emotions foreshadow the experiences of many of today's veterans. He also explains how veterans recover and advocates changes to American military practice that will protect future servicemen and servicewomen while increasing their fighting power. Throughout, Homer strengthens our understanding of what a combat veteran must overcome to return to and flourish in civilian life, just as the heartbreaking stories of the veterans Shay treats give us a new understanding of one of the world's greatest classics.




A History of Psychiatry


Book Description

"PPPP . . . To compress 200 years of psychiatric theory and practice into a compelling and coherent narrative is a fine achievement . . . . What strikes the reader [most] are Shorter's storytelling skills, his ability to conjure up the personalities of the psychiatrists who shaped the discipline and the conditions under which they and their patients lived."--Ray Monk The Mail on Sunday magazine, U.K. "An opinionated, anecdote-rich history. . . . While psychiatrists may quibble, and Freudians and other psychoanalysts will surely squawk, those without a vested interest will be thoroughly entertained and certainly enlightened."--Kirkus Reviews. "Shorter tells his story with immense panache, narrative clarity, and genuinely deep erudition."--Roy Porter Wellcome Institute for the History of Medicine. In A History of Psychiatry, Edward Shorter shows us the harsh, farcical, and inspiring realities of society's changing attitudes toward and attempts to deal with its mentally ill and the efforts of generations of scientists and physicians to ease their suffering. He paints vivid portraits of psychiatry's leading historical figures and pulls no punches in assessing their roles in advancing or sidetracking our understanding of the origins of mental illness. Shorter also identifies the scientific and cultural factors that shaped the development of psychiatry. He reveals the forces behind the unparalleled sophistication of psychiatry in Germany during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries as well as the emergence of the United States as the world capital of psychoanalysis. This engagingly written, thoroughly researched, and fiercely partisan account is compelling reading for anyone with a personal, intellectual, or professional interest in psychiatry.