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No One Cares About Crazy People: The Chaos and Heartbreak of Mental Health in America by Ron Powers
jsoakes's review against another edition
2.0
The sections on the history of mental illness and its treatment were extremely informative without being boring and the author is obviously a talented writer. These were probably my favorite sections as I understood some key points on the genesis of policy. However, given the vast and complex history of mental health treatment, these sections were also cherry-picked to coincide with the author's point of view and I feel they didn't give enough of the story to formulate a true understanding.
The sections on current affairs were heartbreaking and definitely indicate a need for reform. Prisons should not be the largest mental health facilities in the country, and those who are suffering should be able to find the help they require. I think these sections were the most interesting and useful to me and I wish there had been more of them. Unfortunately, I picked the wrong book about mental health in America, as this was only a small portion compared to the personal journey that is laid out in detail.
The sections about his family life and his sons' battles with schizophrenia were not as engaging. The author is a doting father, and while he may be correct in his assessment of his sons, it also comes across as somewhat embellished. He feels the need to defend his and his wife's decisions and defend his sons' actions, which is completely reasonable, but also makes the sections feel more like a personal coping mechanism than a really useful story to inform others of the warning signs and plight of schizophrenia. I guess I am a victim of expectation. If I had gone into this expecting strictly a memoir, then I might have enjoyed it more. Granted, the author does provide this disclaimer early on, so I was warned, but I was still expecting less heartfelt correspondences between father and son and more details on warning signs and therapies. It is also hard to extrapolate his experiences to the populace at large as he falls into the categories of having money, being white, and living in rural Vermont.
The sections on current affairs were heartbreaking and definitely indicate a need for reform. Prisons should not be the largest mental health facilities in the country, and those who are suffering should be able to find the help they require. I think these sections were the most interesting and useful to me and I wish there had been more of them. Unfortunately, I picked the wrong book about mental health in America, as this was only a small portion compared to the personal journey that is laid out in detail.
The sections about his family life and his sons' battles with schizophrenia were not as engaging. The author is a doting father, and while he may be correct in his assessment of his sons, it also comes across as somewhat embellished. He feels the need to defend his and his wife's decisions and defend his sons' actions, which is completely reasonable, but also makes the sections feel more like a personal coping mechanism than a really useful story to inform others of the warning signs and plight of schizophrenia. I guess I am a victim of expectation. If I had gone into this expecting strictly a memoir, then I might have enjoyed it more. Granted, the author does provide this disclaimer early on, so I was warned, but I was still expecting less heartfelt correspondences between father and son and more details on warning signs and therapies. It is also hard to extrapolate his experiences to the populace at large as he falls into the categories of having money, being white, and living in rural Vermont.
donnawr1's review against another edition
4.0
This was an interesting concept for a book, combining a lot of memoir with journalistic-style chapters about mental health, particularly schizophrenia. Powers wants us to love his two sons as much as he does, even though both became schizophrenic and one, sadly, committed suicide. As a result, he goes into excruciating detail at times about their musical talent and growing up, including emails and things his sons wrote in school. We learn a lot about a terrible car accident caused by one son and the repercussions it had on the son, the family and their small community in Vermont. At times the memoir section really worked and at times it was too much and took away from both the sympathy we felt for the family and the message about mental health care in America.
I also found the factual chapters to be uneven. The ones that had more of a historical bent were extremely well done, especially the discussion of how the good intentions (and desire to save tax-payer money) went awry in the emptying of mental hospitals after anti-psychotic medications were available. The discussion of the current political situation regarding whether delusional people can be institutionalized without their consent felt incomplete and his opinions were strongly stated.
The chapter on anti-psychotics was odd, as he completely vilified the pharmaceutical industry, while constantly talking about how his sons should stay on those medications so they could rise above their disease. It was extremely biased and incomplete in many areas, with the feel of a sensationalized article instead of a well-researched book. The science was also weak at the end when he tries to be optimistic about better cures using genetic modifications. This is misguided and nowhere near realistic for a technology in its infancy and a disease with hundreds or more genetic variants associated with the disease and highly influenced by the individual's experiences in life. Even so, I found it a useful read, particulary in the more well written parts of the book.
I also found the factual chapters to be uneven. The ones that had more of a historical bent were extremely well done, especially the discussion of how the good intentions (and desire to save tax-payer money) went awry in the emptying of mental hospitals after anti-psychotic medications were available. The discussion of the current political situation regarding whether delusional people can be institutionalized without their consent felt incomplete and his opinions were strongly stated.
The chapter on anti-psychotics was odd, as he completely vilified the pharmaceutical industry, while constantly talking about how his sons should stay on those medications so they could rise above their disease. It was extremely biased and incomplete in many areas, with the feel of a sensationalized article instead of a well-researched book. The science was also weak at the end when he tries to be optimistic about better cures using genetic modifications. This is misguided and nowhere near realistic for a technology in its infancy and a disease with hundreds or more genetic variants associated with the disease and highly influenced by the individual's experiences in life. Even so, I found it a useful read, particulary in the more well written parts of the book.
bibliophile_bri's review against another edition
4.0
This was a great little intro book to mental health in America. It gives an excellent overview summary of history across the world and some within America while telling a personal story of the Author. Some of it gets nostalgic, but you have to recognize the personal connection for the Author. Overall I really enjoyed reading this.
joshgroven's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
slow-paced
4.0
i irrationally disliked this book because i was comparing it to desperate remedies by andrew scull but once i let go of it i liked it
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicide
haileydmytrow's review against another edition
3.0
This was an extremely heavy and painful book to read, but well worth it. I have too much to say to even try to place it into a goodreads review. Hopefully that will take place in my future academic research.
emmaspaperbacks's review against another edition
dark
emotional
informative
slow-paced
3.0
hard to rate because obviously this book is a mixed account of history and the author’s own experience with his schizophrenic sons (one, the main focus of his memoir portions, killed himself).
the account of history is fairly well compiled, yet clearly had an air of personal passion which makes complete sense (just be aware of this). unfortunately i got bored with his personal encounters (ahh terrible given the circumstances but true). i wonder if this would have been better split into a book for his personal memoir and a book for the history of psychiatric treatment.
what the author is saying is of course true and evident - humankind has yet to find a solution for housing and treating people with mental illness. so far, we’ve gone through institutionalization, psychiatric drugs, psychosurgery, and other forms of de-institutionalization. the author’s explanation of how prisons are essentially the new asylum in many ways reigns true today, years after the publication of the book. i did feel as though the author’s only reference for someone experiencing mental illness was his own sons and their specific diagnosis of mental illness. for example, i think he could have included personal encounters of people who experienced institutionalization both forced and voluntary for various mental illness like ocd, depression, bipolar, anxiety, etc. to create a more well rounded perspective of psychiatric hospitals.
lastly, when looking up this book i saw that the author’s wife was recently murdered. i can’t even imagine the author’s thoughts on this book’s subject matter now. this is a side note but i felt like the author realllly wanted us to feel bad for his son who drove too fast and nearly killed that girl?? that was kinda confusing to me (especially bc it doesn’t sound like he was exhibiting schizophrenia symptoms at that point in time)
Content Warnings
Graphic: Mental illness, Car accident, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis
Moderate: Ableism, Addiction, Alcoholism, and Alcohol
Minor: Ableism, Addiction, Alcoholism, Confinement, Death, Forced institutionalization, and Alcohol
bethalow's review against another edition
3.0
I appreciate Ron Powers sharing their very personal and tragic life story with their family. I also appreciate the stories of others and history of mental health and the progression of treatments and societal view throughout history to present. There is much work to be done in this field and the only way to make forward progress is to discuss it. Thank you, Powers Family, for sharing a portion of your life with the world in the hopes to make significant and much needed change.
lottie1803's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
medium-paced
4.0
yedidah72's review against another edition
5.0
Wish I could give more than 5 stars. A beautiful, well-researched and enlightening treatise on the issues surrounding the mentally ill in this country interspersed with the author's own experiences with his sons. I wish everyone had this as required reading - it does much to destroy the stigma surrounding those of us who are #mentalhealthwarriors.