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A review by booksamongstfriends
No One Cares about Crazy People: The Chaos and Heartbreak of Mental Health in America by Ron Powers
4.0
this was such a fulfilling read, as they’re still such a heavy stigma and lack of information around mental health in today’s society. I found it fascinating to dive deeper into the history of mental health in America, as well as the pipeline of asylum to prison care. This book is not only well researched and incredibly informative, but it’s powerful, intimate, sad, and personal.
Powers isn’t just here to inform, NOCACP is meant to infuriate. You should close this book and feel ready to take action. While plenty of people can relate to mental illness personally, or through a family member or friend, some say that advocacy starts best with empathy. Powers builds this beautifully through his vulnerability, as he opens up sharing his family’s story, his sons’ experiences with schizophrenia, and the loss of his son Dean. The connectedness you feel throughout reading not only Dean’s story, but others, is the reminder that we need to do better.
For me, reading this book and seeing the meds Ive taken or currently take mentioned in a lawsuit was unsettling, and also not surprising knowing the side effects. As someone with epilepsy and depression reading this book I felt extremely seen. Knowing there was a time not too long ago when someone with my condition would’ve been sent to an asylum, sterilized, or experimented on is always something to sit with.
Powers isn’t just here to inform, NOCACP is meant to infuriate. You should close this book and feel ready to take action. While plenty of people can relate to mental illness personally, or through a family member or friend, some say that advocacy starts best with empathy. Powers builds this beautifully through his vulnerability, as he opens up sharing his family’s story, his sons’ experiences with schizophrenia, and the loss of his son Dean. The connectedness you feel throughout reading not only Dean’s story, but others, is the reminder that we need to do better.
For me, reading this book and seeing the meds Ive taken or currently take mentioned in a lawsuit was unsettling, and also not surprising knowing the side effects. As someone with epilepsy and depression reading this book I felt extremely seen. Knowing there was a time not too long ago when someone with my condition would’ve been sent to an asylum, sterilized, or experimented on is always something to sit with.