‘The Factory of Maladies’: A Chilling First-Hand Account of Life in a Psych Ward
"The Factory of Maladies,” a memoir by Deborah Hartung, is a gripping account of being locked up in a San Francisco psychiatric ward.
Review of Books
Latest in Review of Books
In Our Future, We Are Free: The Movement to Dismantle Youth Prisons in America
Over the past 20 years, one state after another has shuttered its youth prisons and stopped prosecuting kids as adults, slashing the number of children locked in cages by a stunning 75%. This new book tells the story of how a coalition of parents, activists, and prison officials brought a destructive institution to its knees.
The Connection Cure: Exploring the Physical and Mental Health Benefits of Movement, Nature, Art, Service and Belonging
More physicians are doing“social prescribing” to help their patients reap the physical and mental health gains from art and nature therapy, movement, volunteering and community ties.
“How Not to Kill Yourself”: A Writer’s Advice
Author Clancy Martin writes about his own struggles with attempted suicide and includes his best reframing advice-- live another day, and then another.
The Mind and The Moon: A Review
What role should medications play in the treatment of psychosis and other types of severe mental illness?
Hua Hsu’s Tender Elegy to a Lost Friend Resonates
The memoir Stay True is a powerful tribute to a friendship cut short by tragedy and to writing as a tool for survival.
Surviving the Tiger Pit: How a Journalist’s Family Story Pushed Her to Report on a Failed Mental Health System
In a moving memoir, journalist Meg Kissinger tells the story of her own family's struggles with mental illness, and how those experiences fueled her passion to be an investigative reporter and storyteller.
‘Hope Was Still Waiting for Me’: Finding a Sanctuary in Fantasy Fiction
"Watching the protagonists try to solve world-threatening problems made my own feel smaller and easier to handle." -Kendall Covington, writer
No Illusion: Fantasy Fiction is My Safe Space
“By reading fantasy fiction, I got to see people like me overcome obstacles I thought impossible.” –Hermes Falcon, writer.
Young Readers Struggling with ‘Reality Overload’ Drive Surging Sales of Sci-Fi and Fantasy Books
During the pandemic, "our worlds became very small, and fantasy fiction provided this vast opportunity to delve into worlds unknown."
Teen Expert Lisa Damour Wants Us All to Embrace Sadness
Damour wants us to realize that stress, irritability and unhappiness are as normal in teens as joy.
Famished for Care: Two Books on Eating Disorders from Experts Who Have Grappled with Them
The information on eating disorders is often complex, thorny and conflicting. Here are two recent books for parents that can help guide you and your child through this grueling time.
The Myth of Normal
Gabor Maté’s book explores childhood trauma’s devastating impact on people and our society – and what we can do to reverse the damage.
Lonely in America
Loneliness is natural, "designed to alert its host to a need, just like sensations of hunger or thirst or exhaustion."
Curbing the Overdose Epidemic: An Author’s Call to Drop Our Moralistic Blinders and Save Lives
Author Maia Szalavitz makes a formidable case that embracing harm reduction will help end the opioid overdose epidemic.
“Crying in H Mart” Resonates in a Time of Endless Loss
"Crying in H Mart" helps a Korean-American family through grievous loss.
How Psychosis and Internet Obsession Brought Two Girls to the Brink of Murder
In 2014, two 12-year-old girls lured a third into the woods and stabbed her repeatedly. The stabbings tell a tragic story about the deficiencies of the mental health and criminal justice systems in the U.S. – and the terrible things that often happen when they collide. Kathleen Hale tells this story in her new book.
Reading Between the Lines: A Literary Mystery about Sylvia Plath
Sylvia Plath was lauded for her genius as a poet, but danger was lurking. This novel examines her profound legacy.
Sam Quinones on How Fentanyl and Meth Hijacked Our Country
Sam Quinones offers a powerful journalistic account of how fentanyl and P2P meth came to ravage our country and users' psyches – and how people addicted can recover.
Crying on the Subway: A Journalist Explores Her Trauma History
Talented journalist Stephanie Foo thought she had conquered her demons from an abusive childhood. So why was she so bereft?
We Interrupt This Program to Bring You #BlackJoy
We Black people—Black Americans in this case—know hard times, but our lives also sparkle with joy. Black joy, and not just Black trauma, is our inheritance.
Librarians’ Mental Health Threatened By Book Bans, Abuse And Harassment
Some librarians used to make jokes about Fahrenheit 451 as they pushed back on threats of censorship. But now it hits too close to home.
When Positivity Becomes Toxic
We are in the #GoodVibesOnly age, and it’s kind of a bummer. The book Toxic Positivity points the way toward authenticity.
‘There Is Only One Bus’: Reflections on a New Path to Mental Health
As with the fight for civil rights or climate change, it’s going to take a movement, with families at the core of that effort. We need to reframe this crisis as more than a medical challenge: It is an issue of social justice.
Why Is Mental Illness Dogged by Stigma?
In Nobody's Normal, anthropologist Roy Richard Grinker makes a compelling argument to embrace neurodiversity while tracing the stigma of mental illness back to the Industrial Revolution.
In Our Future, We Are Free: The Movement to Dismantle Youth Prisons in America
Over the past 20 years, one state after another has shuttered its youth prisons and stopped prosecuting kids as adults, slashing the number of children locked in cages by a stunning 75%. This new book tells the story of how a coalition of parents, activists, and prison officials brought a destructive institution to its knees.
The Connection Cure: Exploring the Physical and Mental Health Benefits of Movement, Nature, Art, Service and Belonging
More physicians are doing“social prescribing” to help their patients reap the physical and mental health gains from art and nature therapy, movement, volunteering and community ties.
“How Not to Kill Yourself”: A Writer’s Advice
Author Clancy Martin writes about his own struggles with attempted suicide and includes his best reframing advice-- live another day, and then another.
The Mind and The Moon: A Review
What role should medications play in the treatment of psychosis and other types of severe mental illness?
Hua Hsu’s Tender Elegy to a Lost Friend Resonates
The memoir Stay True is a powerful tribute to a friendship cut short by tragedy and to writing as a tool for survival.
Surviving the Tiger Pit: How a Journalist’s Family Story Pushed Her to Report on a Failed Mental Health System
In a moving memoir, journalist Meg Kissinger tells the story of her own family's struggles with mental illness, and how those experiences fueled her passion to be an investigative reporter and storyteller.
‘Hope Was Still Waiting for Me’: Finding a Sanctuary in Fantasy Fiction
"Watching the protagonists try to solve world-threatening problems made my own feel smaller and easier to handle." -Kendall Covington, writer
No Illusion: Fantasy Fiction is My Safe Space
“By reading fantasy fiction, I got to see people like me overcome obstacles I thought impossible.” –Hermes Falcon, writer.
Young Readers Struggling with ‘Reality Overload’ Drive Surging Sales of Sci-Fi and Fantasy Books
During the pandemic, "our worlds became very small, and fantasy fiction provided this vast opportunity to delve into worlds unknown."
Teen Expert Lisa Damour Wants Us All to Embrace Sadness
Damour wants us to realize that stress, irritability and unhappiness are as normal in teens as joy.
Famished for Care: Two Books on Eating Disorders from Experts Who Have Grappled with Them
The information on eating disorders is often complex, thorny and conflicting. Here are two recent books for parents that can help guide you and your child through this grueling time.
The Myth of Normal
Gabor Maté’s book explores childhood trauma’s devastating impact on people and our society – and what we can do to reverse the damage.
Lonely in America
Loneliness is natural, "designed to alert its host to a need, just like sensations of hunger or thirst or exhaustion."
Curbing the Overdose Epidemic: An Author’s Call to Drop Our Moralistic Blinders and Save Lives
Author Maia Szalavitz makes a formidable case that embracing harm reduction will help end the opioid overdose epidemic.
“Crying in H Mart” Resonates in a Time of Endless Loss
"Crying in H Mart" helps a Korean-American family through grievous loss.
How Psychosis and Internet Obsession Brought Two Girls to the Brink of Murder
In 2014, two 12-year-old girls lured a third into the woods and stabbed her repeatedly. The stabbings tell a tragic story about the deficiencies of the mental health and criminal justice systems in the U.S. – and the terrible things that often happen when they collide. Kathleen Hale tells this story in her new book.
Reading Between the Lines: A Literary Mystery about Sylvia Plath
Sylvia Plath was lauded for her genius as a poet, but danger was lurking. This novel examines her profound legacy.
Sam Quinones on How Fentanyl and Meth Hijacked Our Country
Sam Quinones offers a powerful journalistic account of how fentanyl and P2P meth came to ravage our country and users' psyches – and how people addicted can recover.
Crying on the Subway: A Journalist Explores Her Trauma History
Talented journalist Stephanie Foo thought she had conquered her demons from an abusive childhood. So why was she so bereft?
We Interrupt This Program to Bring You #BlackJoy
We Black people—Black Americans in this case—know hard times, but our lives also sparkle with joy. Black joy, and not just Black trauma, is our inheritance.
Librarians’ Mental Health Threatened By Book Bans, Abuse And Harassment
Some librarians used to make jokes about Fahrenheit 451 as they pushed back on threats of censorship. But now it hits too close to home.
When Positivity Becomes Toxic
We are in the #GoodVibesOnly age, and it’s kind of a bummer. The book Toxic Positivity points the way toward authenticity.
‘There Is Only One Bus’: Reflections on a New Path to Mental Health
As with the fight for civil rights or climate change, it’s going to take a movement, with families at the core of that effort. We need to reframe this crisis as more than a medical challenge: It is an issue of social justice.
Why Is Mental Illness Dogged by Stigma?
In Nobody's Normal, anthropologist Roy Richard Grinker makes a compelling argument to embrace neurodiversity while tracing the stigma of mental illness back to the Industrial Revolution.
