Book Review: Voluntary Madness: Lost and Found in the Mental Healthcare System

Book info

From the author of The New York Times bestseller Self- Made Man, a captivating expose of depression and mental illness in America 

Revelatory, deeply personal, and utterly relevant, Voluntary Madness is a controversial work that unveils the state of mental healthcare in the United States from the inside out. At the conclusion of her celebrated first book--Self-Made Man, in which she soent eighteen months disguised as a man-Norah Vincent found herself emotionally drained and severely depressed.

Determined but uncertain about maintaining her own equilibrium, she boldly committed herself to three different facilities-a big-city hospital, a private clinic in the Midwest, and finally an upscale retreat in the South. Voluntary Madnessis the chronicle of Vincent's journey through the world of the mentally ill as she struggles to find her own health and happiness. 

Links To Purchase: Amazon // Barnes & Noble // Book Depository



 

My Thoughts About This Book:

"You don't see things how they are. You see them as you are."

I have struggled with how to review this hard, complex, eye-opening expose. I will admit that at times this book was hard to stomach. This book gives a shocking and deeply personal account of mental illness. That couldn't be any more relevant to current times. Mental health care in the United States has always been lacking but this book will show you just how bad it really can be for people struggling to cope with mental illness. Vincent words seem to flow freely onto the pages of this book. They are emotional and at times raw. You feel as if you are living and experiencing everything right along with her.

This book is far from perfect. This book is biased, which is not different any other memoir out there. The author shares her disdain and dislike of mental health institutions from the very bringing. She writes about how she doesn't accept the terms of which mental illness is currently defined. Which is fine but what gives you that authority, do you have a degree of some kind in psychology? No, she has no formal education or background to make such a blanket statement. I understand her dislike for how people are treated but psychology is a science and has proof behind it. I guess I wouldn't have had such an issue with this statement if she had presented some sort of solution, but she doesn't.

I also want to point out something this author seems to miss. That is that mental health professionals are not doing this to harm people. They are working with deeply tragic stories, issues, low success, and incredibly difficult stressors. They have to navigate the same messed up system that patients do. Often times the system ties their hands on issues or makes their job incredibly difficult. At times I felt that the author was extremely harsh and incredibly disrespectful. I think she could have presented their side with even a small level of understanding, instead of the incredible hostility she displayed. Mental health workers are not superhuman they are just like us.


Ultimately this is a quick read and rather interesting. This is somewhat disturbing and often angering.  If you can get past her biases or even her annoying attitude, you might learn something more about the mental health issues in this country.

About The Author:

Vincent was a senior fellow at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies from its 2001 inception to 2003. She has also had columns at Salon.com, The Advocate, the Los Angeles Times, and the Village Voice. 

Her essays, columns and reviews have also appeared in The New Republic, The New York Times, The New York Post, The Washington Post and many more regional newspapers around the country.

Vincent is a freelance journalist and in 2003 she took a leave from writing her nationally syndicated political opinion columns in order to write her New York Times bestselling book Self-Made Man, the story of a woman living, working and dating in drag as a man.

She holds a bachelor's degree in Philosophy from Williams College. She currently resides in New York City.