I appreciate this review. Will I read the book? Maybe, at some point, probably not. Why? I'm familiar with Laura Delano's stance and the movements and people within those movements that she aligns with. They don't welcome healthy exploration of mental health issues, but will heavily back any kind of denigration around psychiatric care. A…
I appreciate this review. Will I read the book? Maybe, at some point, probably not. Why? I'm familiar with Laura Delano's stance and the movements and people within those movements that she aligns with. They don't welcome healthy exploration of mental health issues, but will heavily back any kind of denigration around psychiatric care. Another reason I won't is that I've been through my own years of crappy treatment and I don't want to relive that through someone's book. Not only is that painful, but I'd be wondering how much she slants a view, skews the retelling, exaggerates because she's relying on memories that she's only channeling in one direction. When I was left raw and abandoned after lengthy medicating, cascades, no taper discontinuation, all of that, I emerged into a clearing that I mistook for the whole jungle having disappeared. The anti-psychiatry people I'd been buddying around with online kept saying I should write a book. I strongly considered, I was so mad. I wanted to inform the world that psych treatment was only about lies and harm. I wrote blog posts instead. I'm glad because that whole process has lent itself better to my ever-changing views. I went into a psych unit in 2021 and tried to reeducate and liberate my fellow patients. They didn't want to hear it. They just wanted to feel better and to function well enough to go home.
Very much in sympathy with your opinion here. Especially with your caveat about the likely inherent bias of the memories and impressions in such a memoir, one with a clear axe to grind.
I appreciate this review. Will I read the book? Maybe, at some point, probably not. Why? I'm familiar with Laura Delano's stance and the movements and people within those movements that she aligns with. They don't welcome healthy exploration of mental health issues, but will heavily back any kind of denigration around psychiatric care. Another reason I won't is that I've been through my own years of crappy treatment and I don't want to relive that through someone's book. Not only is that painful, but I'd be wondering how much she slants a view, skews the retelling, exaggerates because she's relying on memories that she's only channeling in one direction. When I was left raw and abandoned after lengthy medicating, cascades, no taper discontinuation, all of that, I emerged into a clearing that I mistook for the whole jungle having disappeared. The anti-psychiatry people I'd been buddying around with online kept saying I should write a book. I strongly considered, I was so mad. I wanted to inform the world that psych treatment was only about lies and harm. I wrote blog posts instead. I'm glad because that whole process has lent itself better to my ever-changing views. I went into a psych unit in 2021 and tried to reeducate and liberate my fellow patients. They didn't want to hear it. They just wanted to feel better and to function well enough to go home.
Very much in sympathy with your opinion here. Especially with your caveat about the likely inherent bias of the memories and impressions in such a memoir, one with a clear axe to grind.