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

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More About This Book

Overview

The journalist who famously lived as a man commits herself- literally

Norah Vincent's New York Times bestselling book, Self-Made Man, ended on a harrowing note. Suffering from severe depression after her eighteen months living disguised as a man, Vincent felt she was a danger to herself. On the advice of her psychologist she committed herself to a mental institution. Out of this raw and overwhelming experience came the idea for her next book. She decided to get healthy and to study the effect of treatment on the depressed and insane "in the bin," as she calls it.

Vincent's journey takes her from a big city hospital to a facility in the Midwest and finally to an upscale retreat down south, as she analyzes the impact of institutionalization on the unwell, the tyranny of drugs-as-treatment, and the dysfunctional dynamic between caregivers and patients. Vincent applies brilliant insight as she exposes her personal struggle with depression and explores the range of people, caregivers, and methodologies that guide these strange, often scary, and bizarre environments. Eye opening, emotionally wrenching, and at times very funny, Voluntary Madness is a riveting work that exposes the state of mental healthcare in America from the inside out.

Editorial Reviews

Publishers Weekly

Vincent's first trip to a mental institution-to which the writing of Self-Made Man drove her-convinced her that further immersion would give her great material for a follow-up. The grand tour consists of voluntary commitments to a hospital mental ward, a small private facility and a boutique facility; but Vincent's efforts to make a big statement about the state of mental health treatment quickly give way to a more personal journey. An attempt to wean herself off Prozac, for example, adds a greater sense of urgency to her second research trip, while the therapists overseeing her final treatment lead her to a major emotional breakthrough. Meanwhile, her fellow patients are easily able to peg her as an "emotional parasite," though this rarely stops them from interacting with her-and though their neediness sometimes frustrates her, she is less judgmental of them than of the doctors and nurses. The conclusions Vincent draws from her experiences tend toward the obvious (the better the facilities, the better chance for recovery) and the banal: "No one can heal you except you." Though keenly observed, her account never fully transcends its central gimmick. (Jan.)

Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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The Barnes & Noble Review
Norah Vincent first achieved fame for dressing and living as a man for 18-odd months and writing about her exploits in Self-Made Man. The writing of that book, and the double life that preceded it, were so taxing they drove Vincent to depression. Her first trip to a mental institution gave Vincent, being who she is, the idea for another book that would chronicle the state of mental health institutions in America. So began Vincent's voluntary confinement to three different mental hospitals: Meriwether, a jaw-droppingly depressing facility in New York City; St. Luke's, a make-do private asylum in the Midwest; and Mobius, a five-star retreat in the South. Vincent's account flits from the journalistic to the deeply personal (at Mobius, she finally came to terms with her abuse as a child). Narrating heartbreaking stories of her fellow inmates, Vincent allows herself to become their fairy godmother, walking the fine line between meeting their demands and retaining her own fragile mental equilibrium. She is expectedly damning with regard to the assembly-line nature of mental hospitals in which doctors are keen to categorize patients into neat subheads so as to depersonalize the line of treatment. Equally, the big pharmaceutical companies, which spend millions of dollars on bettering habit-forming drugs such as Prozac, come in her line of fire. This is a serious subject; however, Vincent's smart-alecky writing style, which perfectly suited her fun drag king experiment, precipitously verges on the disingenuous. Vincent's dedication to her subject shows more clearly in the chronicle of what she was willing to do to get the story than in how she unfolds it. --Vikram Johri

Product Details

  • ISBN-13: 9780670019717
  • Publisher: Penguin Group (USA)
  • Publication date: 12/30/2008
  • Pages: 304
  • Sales rank: 574,058
  • Product dimensions: 6.30 (w) x 9.10 (h) x 1.20 (d)

Meet the Author

Norah Vincent is the author of the New York Times bestseller Self-Made Man. Previously, she wrote a nationally syndicated op-ed column for the Los Angeles Times. Her work has also appeared in The New York Times, The New Republic, The Village Voice, and The Washington Post.

Customer Reviews

Average Rating 3
( 27 )

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5 Star

(4)

4 Star

(7)

3 Star

(6)

2 Star

(4)

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(6)

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See All Sort by: Showing 1 – 20 of 27 Customer Reviews

  • Anonymous

    Posted May 14, 2010

    I Also Recommend:

    9781934812631

    Great insight into the mental health system in America

    This book provided insight into mental health treatment in the US in a innovative way. The author, who has suffered with depression, decides to conduct a year long research project to compare treatment from three very different facilities. Her results are interesting and at times surprising. She finds as she conducts her research that she is slipping back into a depressed state and her honestly in describing her demons is excrutiating. You will find yourself hoping for the author's return to wellness while at the same time feeling thankful for her story. Its a very easy book to read and her story is compelling. She gives a voice to the millions of people suffering from mental illness and educates those who are not.

    3 out of 3 people found this review helpful.

    Was this review helpful? Yes  NoThank you for your feedback.   Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.

  • Posted June 9, 2009

    A huge disappointment

    I'm not sure what I expected from this book. Probably more of a personal journey through mental hospitals/care facilities, but I didn't find it here. Reads more like a doctor's report. Boring. I read about halfway through and gave up. Don't bother.

    1 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

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  • Posted March 30, 2009

    A View of Madness

    I found this book was incredibly interesting. I had always wondered what it was really like in the loony bin and this author gave several great personal experiences about exactly what it was like and posed those views from different places. It was VERY insightful and I highly recommend it to others.

    1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

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  • Posted March 8, 2009

    This is such a worthwhile book!

    Norah Vncent is no stranger to mental illness or the institues and doctors who treat it. After a particularly harrowing experience she decides to check herself in to three different facilities and write about what she finds. She goes into the project with a clear idea of the injustice and drug abuse she expects to find, but a curious emotional detachment given her past experiences. Early on her suspicions are confirmed and she seems to really be just going through the motions. Don't give up on this book at this point! Towards the end she is faced with some big surprises, has a huge and profround breakthrough of her own, and comes to some very insightful conclusions about the industry based around the "curing" of the mentally ill. By the end Vincent has written a astounding, brutally honest account of her own struggle with depression and how she found her way with both the help and hindrance of professionals.

    I listened to this book on audio, read by Tavia Gilbert. She does a good job with the narration especially during the extremely emotional breakthroughs that Norah Vincent has. This is such a worthwhile book! I learned a lot about anti-pschotic drugs, mental illnesses, and especially about what happiness is and how it can be attained.

    1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted February 27, 2009

    Very similar to another book of its kind

    This book is very similar to "Suicide: Inside and Out", by David K. Reynolds, who spent a year in a psych facility under a pseudonym, to research suicide behaviors inside the mental ward. Interesting perspective.

    1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted February 3, 2009

    Not for me.

    Wishing I had spent the time (and my money) on something else.

    1 out of 3 people found this review helpful.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted January 6, 2012

    Anonymous

    I love to read memoirs, but this one i would skip. I felt like she was insulting some of the unfortuate people that require hospital treatment. A terrible book!!

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  • Posted January 3, 2009

    more from this reviewer

    Rinse and Repeat

    I liked this book much better the first time, when it was called Girl Interrupted.

    0 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

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    Posted January 4, 2009

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