2015 11 17 Crazy: A Father's Search Through America's Mental Health Madness by Pete Earley

Sponsored by DBSA San Diego

Tuesday, November 17, 2015, 6:00pm to 8:00pm

Room 2011 (Second Floor)

VA San Diego Medical Center

3350 La Jolla Village Drive

San Diego, California 92161

Crazy: A Father's Search Through America's Mental Health Madness by Pete Earley will be our book for discussion.

From Publishers Weekly

Suffering delusions from bipolar disorder, Mike Earley broke into a stranger's home to take a bubble bath and significantly damaged the premises. That Mike's act was viewed as a crime rather than a psychotic episode spurred his father, veteran journalist Pete Earley (Family of Spies), to investigate the "criminalization of the mentally ill." Earley gains access to the Miami-Dade County jail where guards admit that they routinely beat prisoners. He learns that Deidra Sanbourne, whose 1988 deinstitutionalization was a landmark civil rights case, died after being neglected in a boarding house. A public defender describes how he—not always happily—helps mentally ill clients avoid hospitalization. Throughout this grim work, Earley uneasily straddles the line between father and journalist. He compromises his objectivity when for most of his son's ordeal—Mike gets probation—he refuses to entertain the possibility that the terrified woman whose home Mike trashed also is a victim. And when, torn between opposing obligations, he decides not to reveal to a source's mother that her daughter has gone off her medications, he endangers the daughter's life and betrays her mother. Although this is mostly a sprawling retread of more significant work by psychologist Fuller Torrey and others, parents of the mentally ill should find solace and food for thought in its pages. (Apr.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

[A] clarion call for change and justice, and an enthralling portrait of a father who refused to surrender. (Bebe Moore Campbell)

Takes readers on a harrowing personal journey... (Senator Pete V. Domenici [R-N.M.] and Nancy Domenici)

About the Author

Pete Earley, a former reporter for The Washington Post, is the author of seven works of nonfiction, including the bestsellers The Hot House and Family of Spies, and the multi-award-winning Circumstantial Evidence. According to the Washingtonian magazine, he is one of ten journalist/authors in America "who have the power to introduce new ideas and give them currency." Earley is also the author of two novels.

LINKS:
San Diego Public Library
San Diego County Library

Directions: Take Interstate 5 to the La Jolla Village Drive exit. Drive west (on La Jolla Village Drive) and turn right at the first stoplight, onto Villa La Jolla Drive. Go up the hill and turn right at the first stoplight, then make the next right turn into the lot just south of the VA San Diego Medical Center and park there (for free). Enter the front of the building, continue walking straight, to the elevators, go to the Second Floor, and proceed to Room 2011, which is close to the elevators.

Draft of Meeting Guidelines for Your Comment

DRAFT of MEETING GUIDELINES for YOUR COMMENT

Book Club Meeting Guidelines

1. Raise your hand and wait your turn to be called upon. No one person should monopolize meeting time.

2. It’s everyone’s responsibility to make the meeting a safe place to share. We treat one another with respect and kindness, and show compassion.

3. It’s okay not to share.

4. If you have not read the book for discussion, you can still attend the meeting, but you may listen only and may not actively participate in the discussion.

5. Set your cell phone ringer to vibrate, or turn it off entirely.

6. If you need to leave the meeting, feel free to do so, but please leave quietly.

7. Eating a snack or light meal is allowed during the meeting, but please make an effort not to distract those trying to speak.

Introductions for Book Club Meeting

Please state:

1. Your first name
2. Quick thoughts on the book 
3. A topic or excerpt from the book for discussion 

Quick thoughts and topics are optional, but please give your first name so we can address you.

DRAFT of MEETING GUIDELINES for YOUR COMMENT

Potential Future Book Selections

                                                                                                                  Sponsored by DBSA San Diego

Comment below if you would like a specific book to be selected for discussion by the Book Club or if you would like a book to be listed as a potential future book selection.

List of Potential Future Book Selections:

The Four Agreements: A Practical Guide to Personal Freedom (A Toltec Wisdom Book)
by Don Miguel Ruiz

The Hypomanic Edge: The Link Between (A Little) Craziness and (A Lot of) Success in America 
by John D. Gartner

Brain on Fire: My Month of Madness
by Susannah Cahalan

Darkness Visible: A Memoir of Madness
by William Styron

The Center Cannot Hold: My Journey Through Madness
by Elyn R. Saks

Touched with Fire: Manic-Depressive Illness and the Artistic Temperament
by Kay Redfield Jamison 

A First-Rate Madness: Uncovering the Links Between Leadership and Mental Illness
by Nassir Ghaemi

Two Bipolar Chicks Guide To Survival: Tips for Living with Bipolar Disorder
by Wendy K. Williamson

He Wanted the Moon: The Madness and Medical Genius of Dr. Perry Baird, and His Daughter's Quest to Know Him
by Mimi Baird

The Bipolar Disorder Survival Guide, Second Edition: What You and Your Family Need to Know
by David J. Miklowitz

The Bipolar Workbook: Tools for Controlling Your Mood Swings
by Monica Ramirez Basco

Living with Bipolar Disorder: A Guide for Individuals and Families
by Michael W. Otto

When Someone You Love Is Bipolar: Help and Support for You and Your Partner
by Cynthia G. Last

The Bipolar Child: The Definitive and Reassuring Guide to Childhood's Most Misunderstood Disorder
by Demitri Papolos

2015 10 20 An Unquiet Mind by Kay Redfield Jamison (PART II)

  Sponsored by DBSA San Diego

Tuesday, October 20, 2015, 6:00pm to 8:00pm

Room 2011 (Second Floor)

VA San Diego Medical Center

3350 La Jolla Village Drive

San Diego, California 92161

We will continue our discussion of An Unquiet Mind by Kay Redfield Jamison.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

In Touched with Fire, Kay Redfield Jamison, a psychiatrist, turned a mirror on the creativity so often associated with mental illness. In this book she turns that mirror on herself. With breathtaking honesty she tells of her own manic depression, the bitter costs of her illness, and its paradoxical benefits: "There is a particular kind of pain, elation, loneliness and terror involved in this kind of madness.... It will never end, for madness carves its own reality." This is one of the best scientific autobiographies ever written, a combination of clarity, truth, and insight into human character. "We are all, as Byron put it, differently organized," Jamison writes. "We each move within the restraints of our temperament and live up only partially to its possibilities." Jamison's ability to live fully within her limitations is an inspiration to her fellow mortals, whatever our particular burdens may be. --Mary Ellen Curtin

From Publishers Weekly

Jamison's memoir springs from her dual perspective as both a psychiatric expert in manic depression and a sufferer of the disease.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

This incredibly insightful work chronicles the life of a psychologist and professor of psychiatry at Johns Hopkins University who suffers from manic depression. Jamison began experiencing mood swings during adolescence but, despite her education and training, did not seek help until she had completed her doctorate and began teaching at UCLA. Like so many others suffering from manic depression, she felt initially that the depressions were only passing phases she'd have to work out herself. She experienced the manic phases as great periods of creativity and accomplishment and feared they would be deadened by using medication. (In an earlier book, Touched with Fire, LJ 2/15/93, Jamison explored the relationship between manic depression and creativity.) Jamison finally comes to grips with her illness and recognizes the importance of medication used in conjunction with psychotherapy. This combination of treatment controls her illness and has enabled her to succeed. Her story and writing style are both inspirational and educational. Highly recommended for all libraries.
Jennifer Amador, Central State Hosp. Medical Lib., Petersburg, Va.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

Psychologist Jamison's controversial Touched with Fire (1993) explored the hypothetical link between artistic creativity and mood disorders, speculating that manic-depressive illness, which may be inherited, somehow enables art while ravaging the artist. Perhaps written in response to opponents of biological psychiatry and accusations of romanticizing the creative possibilities of serious mental illness, her new book recounts her own frightening experience as a manic depressive--a condition she regards as genetically rooted and has publicly disclosed only recently because of her professional position. Although Jamison illuminates the disorder's addictive aspects (which stem from the unusual clarity of thought and increased capabilities it can cause in the manic phase), much of her memoir recalls the horrors of intense depression, which often lead to suicide attempts, as indeed they did in her case ("My body is uninhabitable," she recalls feeling, "raging and weeping and full of destruction and wild energy gone amok" ). Her intermittent refusals to continue prescribed medication cost her relationships and threatened her sanity, but finally, she accepted a Lithium-dependent, relatively stable life. Her account is an act of both personal and professional bravery. Whitney Scott --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Links:

San Diego Public Library 1995 Edition

San Diego Public Library 1996 Edition

San Diego County Library
WorldCat

Directions: Take Interstate 5 to the La Jolla Village Drive exit. Drive west (on La Jolla Village Drive) and turn right at the first stoplight, onto Villa La Jolla Drive. Go up the hill and turn right at the first stoplight, then make the next right turn into the lot just south of the VA San Diego Medical Center and park there (for free). Enter the front of the building, continue walking straight, to the elevators, go to the Second Floor, and proceed to Room 2011, which is close to the elevators.

2015 09 15 An Unquiet Mind by Kay Redfield Jamison (PART I)

                                                                                                                  Sponsored by DBSA San Diego

Tuesday, September 15, 2015, 6:00pm to 8:00pm

Room 2011 (Second Floor)

VA San Diego Medical Center

3350 La Jolla Village Drive

San Diego, California 92161

An Unquiet Mind by Kay Redfield Jamison will be our first book for discussion.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

In Touched with Fire, Kay Redfield Jamison, a psychiatrist, turned a mirror on the creativity so often associated with mental illness. In this book she turns that mirror on herself. With breathtaking honesty she tells of her own manic depression, the bitter costs of her illness, and its paradoxical benefits: "There is a particular kind of pain, elation, loneliness and terror involved in this kind of madness.... It will never end, for madness carves its own reality." This is one of the best scientific autobiographies ever written, a combination of clarity, truth, and insight into human character. "We are all, as Byron put it, differently organized," Jamison writes. "We each move within the restraints of our temperament and live up only partially to its possibilities." Jamison's ability to live fully within her limitations is an inspiration to her fellow mortals, whatever our particular burdens may be. --Mary Ellen Curtin

From Publishers Weekly

Jamison's memoir springs from her dual perspective as both a psychiatric expert in manic depression and a sufferer of the disease.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

This incredibly insightful work chronicles the life of a psychologist and professor of psychiatry at Johns Hopkins University who suffers from manic depression. Jamison began experiencing mood swings during adolescence but, despite her education and training, did not seek help until she had completed her doctorate and began teaching at UCLA. Like so many others suffering from manic depression, she felt initially that the depressions were only passing phases she'd have to work out herself. She experienced the manic phases as great periods of creativity and accomplishment and feared they would be deadened by using medication. (In an earlier book, Touched with Fire, LJ 2/15/93, Jamison explored the relationship between manic depression and creativity.) Jamison finally comes to grips with her illness and recognizes the importance of medication used in conjunction with psychotherapy. This combination of treatment controls her illness and has enabled her to succeed. Her story and writing style are both inspirational and educational. Highly recommended for all libraries.
Jennifer Amador, Central State Hosp. Medical Lib., Petersburg, Va.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

Psychologist Jamison's controversial Touched with Fire (1993) explored the hypothetical link between artistic creativity and mood disorders, speculating that manic-depressive illness, which may be inherited, somehow enables art while ravaging the artist. Perhaps written in response to opponents of biological psychiatry and accusations of romanticizing the creative possibilities of serious mental illness, her new book recounts her own frightening experience as a manic depressive--a condition she regards as genetically rooted and has publicly disclosed only recently because of her professional position. Although Jamison illuminates the disorder's addictive aspects (which stem from the unusual clarity of thought and increased capabilities it can cause in the manic phase), much of her memoir recalls the horrors of intense depression, which often lead to suicide attempts, as indeed they did in her case ("My body is uninhabitable," she recalls feeling, "raging and weeping and full of destruction and wild energy gone amok" ). Her intermittent refusals to continue prescribed medication cost her relationships and threatened her sanity, but finally, she accepted a Lithium-dependent, relatively stable life. Her account is an act of both personal and professional bravery. Whitney Scott --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Links:

San Diego Public Library 1995 Edition

San Diego Public Library 1996 Edition

San Diego County Library
WorldCat

Directions: Take Interstate 5 to the La Jolla Village Drive exit. Drive west (on La Jolla Village Drive) and turn right at the first stoplight, onto Villa La Jolla Drive. Go up the hill and turn right at the first stoplight, then make the next right turn into the lot just south of the VA San Diego Medical Center and park there (for free). Enter the front of the building, continue walking straight, to the elevators, go to the Second Floor, and proceed to Room 2011, which is close to the elevators.

2015 08 18 Book Club Organizational Meeting

                                                                                                                  Sponsored by DBSA San Diego

Tuesday, August 18, 2015, 6:00pm to 8:00pm

Room 2011 (Second Floor)

VA San Diego Medical Center

3350 La Jolla Village Drive

San Diego, California 92161

Directions: Take Interstate 5 to the La Jolla Village Drive exit. Drive west (on La Jolla Village Drive) and turn right at the first stoplight, onto Villa La Jolla Drive. Go up the hill and turn right at the first stoplight, then make the next right turn into the lot just south of the VA San Diego Medical Center and park there (for free). Enter the front of the building, continue walking straight, to the elevators, go to the Second Floor, and proceed to Room 2011, which is close to the elevators.