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Pat Capponi's first book, Upstairs in the Crazy House , was a perceptive and vivid memoir of her own experiences as a mental health patient. Now, a decade on, she returns to the subject of mental illness, introducing us to mental health survivors who, like herself, have managed to reconstruct their lives against all odds. The survivors she profiles have fought most of their battles in solitude and silence, accompanied only by an excruciating awareness of the fear and anxiety their condition provokes in others, even the people closest to them. As their stories unfold, they share their experiences generously and speak their minds openly, offering a frank and unblinking perspective on mental health-one that is all too rarely heard. Together with Capponi's own informed and eminently humane critique of our mental health system, the result is a captivating and powerful portrait of mental illness, the people who live with it and a treatment system in desparate need of reform. Beyond the Crazy House will transform the way we regard mental health in this country. |
