Straitjackets and Lunch Money: A 10-year-old in a Psychosomatic Ward
Katya Cengel became patient number 090 71 51 at the Roth Psychosomatic Unit at Children's Hospital at Stanford in 1986. She was 10 years old. Overwhelmed by feelings of abandonment, worthlessness and anger at having to care for her depressed father, she wanted out. She found it the only way she knows how – by starving herself.

Thirty years later Katya, now a journalist, discovers her young age was not the only thing that made her hospital stay unusual. The idea of psychosomatic units themselves, where patients have dual medical and psychological diagnoses, was a revolutionary one, since largely fallen out of favor. Katya documents this, tracking down the doctors, psychologists and counselors who once cared for her.

What happened to her as a child is told in the voice of the troubled 10-year-old girl she once was. The two narratives unfold simultaneously. The result is a gut-wrenching account of childhood mental illness told from the inside interspersed with updates from experts in the field.

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Straitjackets and Lunch Money: A 10-year-old in a Psychosomatic Ward
Katya Cengel became patient number 090 71 51 at the Roth Psychosomatic Unit at Children's Hospital at Stanford in 1986. She was 10 years old. Overwhelmed by feelings of abandonment, worthlessness and anger at having to care for her depressed father, she wanted out. She found it the only way she knows how – by starving herself.

Thirty years later Katya, now a journalist, discovers her young age was not the only thing that made her hospital stay unusual. The idea of psychosomatic units themselves, where patients have dual medical and psychological diagnoses, was a revolutionary one, since largely fallen out of favor. Katya documents this, tracking down the doctors, psychologists and counselors who once cared for her.

What happened to her as a child is told in the voice of the troubled 10-year-old girl she once was. The two narratives unfold simultaneously. The result is a gut-wrenching account of childhood mental illness told from the inside interspersed with updates from experts in the field.

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Straitjackets and Lunch Money: A 10-year-old in a Psychosomatic Ward

Straitjackets and Lunch Money: A 10-year-old in a Psychosomatic Ward

by Katya Cengel
Straitjackets and Lunch Money: A 10-year-old in a Psychosomatic Ward
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Straitjackets and Lunch Money: A 10-year-old in a Psychosomatic Ward

Straitjackets and Lunch Money: A 10-year-old in a Psychosomatic Ward

by Katya Cengel

Overview

Katya Cengel became patient number 090 71 51 at the Roth Psychosomatic Unit at Children's Hospital at Stanford in 1986. She was 10 years old. Overwhelmed by feelings of abandonment, worthlessness and anger at having to care for her depressed father, she wanted out. She found it the only way she knows how – by starving herself.

Thirty years later Katya, now a journalist, discovers her young age was not the only thing that made her hospital stay unusual. The idea of psychosomatic units themselves, where patients have dual medical and psychological diagnoses, was a revolutionary one, since largely fallen out of favor. Katya documents this, tracking down the doctors, psychologists and counselors who once cared for her.

What happened to her as a child is told in the voice of the troubled 10-year-old girl she once was. The two narratives unfold simultaneously. The result is a gut-wrenching account of childhood mental illness told from the inside interspersed with updates from experts in the field.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781954907683
Publisher: Woodhall Press
Publication date: 09/05/2023
Pages: 340
Product dimensions: 6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

Katya Cengel is the author of Independent Publisher Book Award (IPPY) and Foreword INDIES winner From Chernobyl with Love and two other non-fiction books including Exiled featured in a California State Library curated collection. Katya reports from around the world for New York Times Magazine, Marie Claire and Smithsonian among others.

Table of Contents

Prologue Book I: Remember to Forget The Prisoners A Taste The Patients Story Time Hunger The Prince The End (Almost) His Subject Admission A Very Special Category Book II: Then and Now Back Behind Bars Roth The Queen Shadows Number 090 71 51 Incredible Shrinking Kids Little Difficult One Escape Antipsychotic Bloodsuckers The Storyteller Those Who Haunt the Mirror By Proxy A Rock Feels No Pain Everybody Loves Dan The Pretenders Dedication Get Well Soon Reading Between the Lines Extracurricular Activities Book III: After Comprehensive Care Unit Scared Straight Talk Therapy Mementos Countdown Priceless Giving Up The Warmth of a Ghost Flowers on Your Grave Fake Santa Haunted Ground Discharge What Might Have Been Smoke Straight Flush To Be Continued Las Amigos Afterword Acknowledgments Notes
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