First Person Accounts
An Annotated Bibliography
incomplete
Note: I wrote some of the annotations. Others have been pulled
from various sources. In each section, I put the books in order,
from most recommended.
Depression (unipolar)
Boyd, Julia A. Can I get a witness? : black women and depression. New York,
N.Y. : A Plume Book, 1999.
Book available at Pierce’s library.
Excerpt in packet from first day of class.
"deargod.pdf", excerpt available on Pierce College’s library electronic reserve.
Plenty used on Amazon
Danquah, Meri nana-Ama. (1999). Willow Weep for Me. NY: Ballantine Publishing.
Excerpt in packet from first day of class.
Plenty used on Amazon
Harris, E. Lynn. (2003). What Becomes of the Brokenhearted N.Y.: Anchor
Books.
Excerpt in packet from first day of class.
Plenty used on Amazon
Styron, William. (1990) Darkness visible : a memoir of madness. New York :
Random House.
"In Darkness, Visible, William Styron evokes the agony of severe depression, deftly
using his literary craft to illuminate the experience for others, more mute. But since for Styron,
depression is like the flu -- something that eventually runs its course, not amenable to treatment
so much as endured -- his is not a narrative that can offer much to readers seeking transformation
or renewal. And Kaysen doesn't believe that she was ever ill, so she can't take us inside the
experience of madness the way other patients do."
Excerpt in packet from first day of class.
I have a copy of the book.
Plenty used on Amazon
First Person Accounts
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Manning, Martha. (1994). Undercurrents: A Therapist’s
Reckoning with her own depression. Harper Collins.
Schizophrenia
Ken Steele. (2002) The Day the Voices Stopped. Basic Books
This is the 14 year old boy who is standing outside his father's door.
"Descent.pdf", excerpt available on Pierce College’s library electronic reserve.
Book available in Pierce’s library.
Plenty used on Amazon.
Sechehaye, Marguerite. (1951) Autobiography of a Schizophrenic
Girl: The True Story of "Renee". Grune and Stratton. Published by
Signet in 1970
The first half of the book is the girl’s experience of schizophrenia growing upon her. There’s
some powerful and rich imagery. The second half of the book is written by her psychoanalyst.
The young girl who thinks the school turns into a prison, and the jump rope scene.
"Appearance.pdf", excerpt available on Pierce College’s library electronic reserve.
Book available in Pierce’s library.
Plenty used on Amazon.
Robinson, Marilynne. (2004) Housekeeping: A Novel. Picador
This novel is one of the best description of a person moving toward a world of
hallucinations. It shows the vague landscape between ghosts and disordered thinking. The aunt
is a wonderful character, challenging you to think about delusions in a different way. The young
girl who goes with her aunt to see the 'children' in the forest. A novel - a great account of
growing into, almost choosing a very different social world.
"Housekeeping.pdf", excerpt available on Pierce College’s library electronic reserve.
Book available in Pierce’s library.
Plenty used on Amazon.
Moorman, M. (1992). My sister's keeper: Learning to cope with a
sibling's mental illness. NY: Penguin Books. Paperback - 2002
First person family member.
A moving story of two sisters, one with schizophrenia, the other trying to care for her and
at the same time cope with her own fears for herself and her children and her family.
Plenty used on Amazon.
Shimrat, Irit. (1994). Call Me Crazy: Stories form the Mad
Movement.Press Gang Publishers
Probably many different disorders
First Person Accounts
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Joseph Himble, Ph.D.: A memoir and history of the ‘mad movement’ or mental health
consumers movement in Canada, written by a woman who was diagnosed schizophrenic but
lives without medication and is a political activist.
From the Well Mind Association of Minnesota: This book gives an overview
of the way people who have psychiatric disorders are
treated. The mad movement consists of people who have
survived this treatment, tell about their experiences and
offer suggestions for more effective, less disabling and
less costly treatment.
Irit Shimrat's personal journey from helpless patient to
outspoken activist is interwoven with the bold and
illuminating tales of others who are working to build a
world where locked wards and forced drugging are not
acceptable solutions to suffering.
Irit Shimrat edited Phoenix Rising, a national magazine by
and for former psychiatric inmates. She helped start a
provincial organization
Not on US Amazon.
2 copies on amazon.ca
Available at:
http://www.antiqbook.nl/boox/vervlg/6142.shtml
Greenberg, J. (1964). I never promised you a rose garden. NY:
Penguin. Maybe under her pseudonym, Hannah Green
Classic autobiographical book by Hannah Green about her descent into psychosis when
she was 16 years old, her three years in mental institutions, and her subsequent recovery.
Retta Poe writes: The book that opened the floodgates for works by mental patients.
Unflinching in both its depiction of anguish and its embrace of hope, Rose Garden (which has
been continuously in print for 37 years and still sells 2,000 copies a month) remains the single
best patient narrative ever published.
Annotation by teacher Bob Grossman:
I like I Never Promised You a Rose Garden by Joanne Greenberg. There is some controversy
about her diagnosis but I find her descriptions of her experience of hallucinations and delusions
excellent. The descriptions of other patients’ symptoms are exquisite as well. I also find the
presentation of high quality and abusive hospital staff to be realistic. She also points out the
positive and negative use of restraints. It also has the best description of what it is like to be in
psychoanalysis that I have encountered. She illustrates abreaction, catharsis, emotional and
intellectual insight, as well as free association, interpretation, transference, working through and
regression in ways that students can more deeply understand than any other source I've
encountered. Students do find it out of date especially as it was written before antipsychotic
medication was available. It is also well written and most students find it engaging. I have a set
of study questions, lists of characters, list of therapy sessions and a chronology of events to help
First Person Accounts
page 4 of 9
students follow the development and treatment of her disorder. I also have a set of PowerPoint
slides for teaching the psychoanalytic concepts and I would be happy to send you any of these
aids if you decide to use the book.
Sheehan, S. (1982). Is there no place on earth for me? NY:
Vintage Books.
Pulitzer Prize winning account of "Sylvia Frumkin's" struggle with schizophrenia which began
in her late teens and continued for nearly two decades. Beautifully written.
Peter Schaffer, Equus. (Avon) many publications
Great play where psychiatrist struggles with the idea that the treatment he gives restores the
child to normalcy but removes his soul, his worship. "Remarkable...a psychiatric detective
story of infinite skill."-- Walter Kerr, The New York Times
I have a copy of the book.
Plenty used on Amazon.
Welcome, Silence: My Triumph Over Schizophrenia, by Carol S.
North (Simon & Schuster, 1987).
The intriguing story of a determined and courageous young woman who battles her way
through college and medical school despite constant, debilitating auditory hallucinations and
then says her schizophrenia was suddenly cured by kidney dialysis. In the end, she becomes a
psychiatrist.
Vonnegut, Mark. (2002). The Eden Express: A Memoir of Insanity.
Seven Stories Press
Retta Poe wrote: Kurt Vonnegut's son, Mark, wrote a book about his experience with
schizophrenia.
Amazon has plenty used.
Borderline Personality Disorder
Kaysen, Susanna. (1994). Girl, interrupted.
New York, N.Y. :
Vintage Books.
The book is more descriptive of inner landscape than the movie. The fragmented nature
really works. Notice which chapters are set next to others, lots to ponder.
I have a copy.
The author was committed to a mental hospital at age 18 for two years. Her memoir describes the
patients and staff members but in the process she raises disturbing questions about
First Person Accounts
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hospitalization, diagnosis, women and mental illness. Witty and funny yet dark and disturbing, in
the tradition of One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest.
Her chapter on “Velocity and Viscosity” is in the packet from the 1st day of class.
Book Available at Pierce’s library
Amazon has plenty used.
Manic Depression,
Bipolar Disorder
Jamison, Kay Redfield. (1995). An Unquiet Mind: A Memoir of
Moods and Madness. Alfred A. Knopf
Everyone goes crazy in idiosyncratic ways. flies through the stars. Dr. Jamison is a
psychiatrist who writes about her own struggle with the disorder An important and very brave
book by an international expert on manic-depressive illness who "comes out" as a secret sufferer
of the condition she has long studied. Jamison refuses to pit psychotherapy against medication,
evoking the beauty and allure of the manic state, the power of the medication that destroys it, and
the gratitude she feels to both of them for sustaining her life.
"Unquiet.pdf", excerpt available on Pierce College’s library electronic reserve.
I have a copy.
Should be in Pierce College’s library.
Simon, Lizzie. (2003). Detour: My Bipolar Road Trip in 4-D.
Washington Square Press
Plenty available on Amazon.
Well off woman.
Pollard, Mark. (2004). In Small Doses: A Memoir about Accepting
and Living with Bipolar Disorder. Vision Books International
Berger, Diane and Lisa. (1991). We Heard the Angels of Madness:
A Family Guide to Coping with Manic Depression. Quill Press
Lyden, Jacki. (1997). Daughter of the Queen of Sheba: A Memoir.
HoughtonPublishing
Plenty available on Amazon.
A daughter’s manic depression memoir about her mother
Autism Spectrum (Autism, Asperger’s)
Prince-Hughes, Dawn, Ph.D. (2004). Songs of the Gorilla Nation:
My Journey Through Autism. Harmony Books.
With Asperger’s, Dr. Prince-Hughes gets to know social interaction by hanging with the
gorillas in Seattle’s Woodlawn Park Zoo. She spoke at Pierce last year.
Amazon has plenty used.
First Person Accounts
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Aquamarine Blue 5: Personal Stories Of College Students With
Autism (Paperback) by Dawn Prince-Hughes. 2002. Swallow
Press
Amazon has plenty used.
Temple Grandin, (1996). Thinking in Pictures: And Other Reports
from My Life With Autism. Vintage
Gail A. Hornstein writes: Students also identified to a far greater extent than we
expected with the feelings of mental patients. For example, when we read, in Thinking in
Pictures: And Other Reports from My Life With Autism, about Temple Grandin's "squeeze
machine" -- a device she had adapted from a cattle chute to press her body from all sides,
creating a sensation of "hugging" free from the frightening qualities of human touch -- I assumed
that the class would find her aversion to human touch strange. Instead, five students said they
wanted one of these machines for their dorm and asked if I knew where they could buy one.
I have the book.
Amazon has plenty used.
Williams, D. (1992). Nobody nowhere: The extraordinary
autobiography of an autistic. NY: Avon Books.
Best-selling autobiography that provides extraordinary insight into the nature of
autism "from the inside out." She also wrote: Williams, D. (1994). Somebody
somewhere: Breaking free from the world of autism. NY: Times Books. Equally
fascinating sequel to the earlier book. For book club, we’d read the first one.
I have the book.
Mozart and the Whale: An Asperger's Love Story (Kindle Edition) by
Jerry Newport (2007).
2 adults with Asperger’s fall in love. This is under the “disorders of childhood,” so
there often isn’t enough on the adult lives of people. This book fills that need.
Elder Robison, John. (2007). Look Me in the Eye: My Life with
Asperger's Crown Books: (Kindle Edition)
Prozac Related
Elfenbein, D. (Ed.) (1995). Living with Prozac and other
selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs): Personal
accounts of life on antidepressants. San Francisco:
HarperSanFrancisco/Harper Collins.
What it's like to be on Prozac, Zoloft and Paxil as told from the perspective of the patient. The
pros and cons of personality changes as well as other effects.
First Person Accounts
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Not on Amazon
Slater, Lauren, (1998). Prozac Diary. Random House
Joseph Himble, Ph.D.: a memoir written by a woman who suffered from nightmarish mood
swings, compulsions, phobias
Plenty used on Amazon.
Anti-Social
O’Brien, Darcy. (1985). Two of a Kind: The Hillside Stranglers. Dutton
Not 1st person, but well done.
Amazon has lots used.
Anxiety Disorders
Conroy, Pat. Prince of Tides. Lots of printings.
Secrets.
Great novel, decent movie. PTSD? Good example of how disorders are woven into complex
family and cultural contexts ( in the tidewaters of South Carolina). It also shows how we process
traumatic events is related to family dynamics. Long
I have the book.
Amazon has plenty used.
Colas, Emily. (1998). Just Checking: Scenes from the Life of
an Obsessive-Compulsive. Pocket Books
Post Partum depression
NOT 1st PERSON
Burak, C. S., & Remington, M. G. (1994). The cradle will fall.
NY: Donald I. Fine.
True story of a woman with severe post partum depression who eventually commits murder
and attempts suicide, then goes on to recover from her depression. Provides insight into not only
this disorder but also other depressive disorders.
MPD / DID
Phillips, Jane. (1995). The Magic Daughter: A Memoir of Living
with Multiple Personality Disorder. Penguin Books
Three Faces of Eve.
A classic that started the upsurge of emphasis on MPD.
First Person Accounts
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Addictions
Hillman Paterson, Judith. (1997). Sweet Mysteries: A Southern
Memoir of Family Alcoholism, Mental Illness, and Recovery.
Farrar, Straus & Giroux
Knapp, Caroline. (1997). Drinking: A Love Story.
Dial Press
McGovern, George. (1997). Terry: My Daughter’s Life-And_death
Struggle with Alcoholism. Plume books
Stories from a “Big Book” for a 12-Step group
Cutting / Self Mutilation
Leatham, Victoria. (2006)
Self-harm, & Survival.
Amazon has plenty used.
Bloodletting: A Memoir of Secrets,
Comes the Darkness, Comes the Light: A Memoir of Cutting,
Healing, and Hope
by Vanessa Vega. AMACOM/American Management Association
(May 2007)
Paranoia (Schizophrenia?
Personality Disorder?)
Whittingham, Beers Clifford. A Mind That Found Itself: An
Autobiography, (Longmans, Green, 1908).
An unforgettable account of what paranoia feels like, by the patient who went on to found the
Mental Hygiene Movement, supported by William James, Jane Addams, and dozens of other
prominent Americans.
Unspecified
Beyond Bedlam: Contemporary Women Psychiatric Survivors Speak
Out. Third Side Press. 1995 Jeanine Grobe, Ed
Amazon has plenty used.
Swados, Elizabeth. (1993). Four of Us: A Family Memoir. Plume
From Publishers Weekly: Avant-garde composer Swados describes her parents'
unpredictable emotional states and her brother's schizophrenia; while she intends her memoirs as
"reverberations put into words," on the whole they ring flat. Copyright 1993 Reed Business
Information, Inc.
Amazon has plenty used.
First Person Accounts
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Rogers, Annie G. (1995). A Shining Affliction: A Story of Harm
and Healing in Psychotherapy. Penguin Books.
Nietzke, Ann. (1994). Natalie on the Street. Calyx Book
A memoir about the author’s relationship with an elderly homeless woman.
Frey, James. (2005). A Million Little Pieces.
Anchor books.
Berger, Lisa & Alexander Vuckovic, M.D. (1994). Under
Observation: life Inside McLean Psychiatric Hospital. Penguin
Press
Ferguson, Sarah. (1973). A Guard Within. Pantheon Books.
1998, Farrar, Straus, Giroux
Joseph Himble, Ph.D.: A “breakdown” narrative with exploration of the impact of therapy and
the sudden loss of the psychotherapist.
Barbara Field Benziger's 1969 memoir, The Prison of My Mind
I think there can be no greater suffering than the state of mind I find myself in at present. I am
sane enough to know that I am no longer sane. Somewhere, somehow, I am being dragged over a
line, a line which never even existed for me until now. ... Everyone is on the other side of an
impenetrable glass. ... I am terrified, beyond any understanding, and the not understanding leaves
me in a state of paralyzing panic. I can't move in any direction. ... I am afraid that if I turn my
head, even a little, I will see my horrible terrors and they will overwhelm me. ... My mind is
dying and I want to die with it.
So begins Barbara Field Benziger's 1969 memoir, The Prison of My Mind, one of hundreds of
accounts of madness written by patients.
The Philosophy of Insanity a Late Inmate of the Glasgow Royal Asylum for
Lunatics at Gartnavel (Greenberg, 1947, originally published in
1860).
A classic work by a patient who weaves his own experience into a remarkably insightful
meditation on the nature of mental illness.
The Diary of Vaslav Nijinsky (Simon & Schuster, 1936; retranslated and published
in an unexpurgated edition, Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1999).
A magnificent, mystical outpouring by the "God of the Dance," sent as his message to the world
from the locked ward where he spent his last three decades.
Anton Chekhov, Ward No. 6 (New American Library)