Nursing Jobs - Nurse Scrubs - Online Shop - Nurse Shoes - Diabetes Book - Gucci Women's Watch - Nursing Career Book - Nurse Drug Reference Book - Nursing Education Book - Dark Chocolate - Gourmet Chocolate - Truffles - Strivectin - Fucothin
 | | | |
| Center Cannot Hold, The: My Journey Through Madness | 
 enlarge | Author: Elyn R. Saks
Publisher: Hyperion
Category: Book
List Price: $14.95
Buy New: $7.87
You Save: $7.08 (47%)
Buy New/Used from $7.87
Avg. Customer Rating:  (74 reviews)
Sales Rank: 6907
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Unknown), English (Published)
Media: Paperback
Edition: Reprint
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 368
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.7
Dimensions (in): 7.9 x 5.1 x 1
ISBN: 1401309445
Dewey Decimal Number: 300
EAN: 9781401309442
ASIN: 1401309445
Publication Date: August 12, 2008
Release Date: August 12, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
|
| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
Elyn Saks is a success by any measure: she?s an endowed professor at the prestigious University of Southern California Gould School of Law. She has managed to achieve this in spite of being diagnosed as schizophrenic and given a "grave" prognosis -- and suffering the effects of her illness throughout her life. Saks was only eight, and living an otherwise idyllic childhood in sunny 1960s Miami, when her first symptoms appeared in the form of obsessions and night terrors. But it was not until she reached Oxford University as a Marshall Scholar that her first full-blown episode, complete with voices in her head and terrifying suicidal fantasies, forced her into a psychiatric hospital. Saks would later attend Yale Law School where one night, during her first term, she had a breakdown that left her singing on the roof of the law school library at midnight. She was taken to the emergency room, force-fed antipsychotic medication, and tied hand-and-foot to the cold metal of a hospital bed. She spent the next five months in a psychiatric ward. So began Saks?s long war with her own internal demons and the equally powerful forces of stigma. Today she is a chaired professor of law who researches and writes about the rights of the mentally ill. She is married to a wonderful man. In The Center Cannot Hold, Elyn Saks discusses frankly and movingly the paranoia, the inability to tell imaginary fears from real ones, and the voices in her head insisting she do terrible things, as well as the many obstacles she overcame to become the woman she is today. It is destined to become a classic in the genre.
|
| Customer Reviews: Read 69 more reviews...
 There's no way a schizophrenic would remember all this - right down to quoted dialogue. January 9, 2009
Gimmie a break! I personally know two people who have suffered from schizophrenia, and there is NO WAY they could have remembered all of this detail - right down to QUOTED DIALOGUE - when they were going through their hell.
The biggest jokes of this book are the points when Saks drops belief-defying clunkers that even she knows make no sense. For example, after describing a schizophrenic hell when enrolled at Oxford in which she lost touch with reality for days, was held in a mental hospital for weeks on end, became emaciated by lack of eating, never washed, lost the power of speech, and "walked the streets of Oxford mumbling and gesticulating to myself", Saks follows all of that up with the howler: "Surprisingly, the whole academic term went very well. I did catch up with my reading, and wrote seven papers, which impressed my tutor - at the end of the term, he wrote a very positive evaluation for my records." AND she scored top marks! Either standards have slipped at one of the world's great universities to the point where a raving madwoman can score top marks, or Saks is overstating her illness; I doubt it's the former.
Another eye opener is how little Saks family appears to care for her, aside from dumping her off on various "programs" and giving pained, winced looks as she not surprisingly fails. In one jaw-dropping passage, Saks relates that she dropped out of her studies and spent a month in a mental hospital AND HER PARENTS NEVER CAUGHT ON. Then, when they did come to visit their emaciated and clearly bonkers daughter, they take FOUR DAYS to ask her if something is the matter! And they only came to visit her in England because they were visiting Paris anyway. Great parents, there. These people blow idea of doting and attentive Jewish parents out of the water!
Overall, the book is well written, but there is no way Sacks could have remembered all the detail - right down to quoted dialogue - and no way she could have won scholarships, got into and then aced Oxford, and got a legal degree and a degree in philosophy (while also mastering Greek enough to read the Greek classics in their original language, no less) while being as disconnected from reality and from sanity as she says she was.
My advice to Sacks is not to go on Oprah; poor O has had enough of her touted authors blow up in her face as fabrications.
 Hope for the psyco survivors January 7, 2009
Very sane, sincere and professional book, giving hope and determination to continue to all mental ill people who are treated or want to be treated by psychoanalysis.
 Read this book December 31, 2008
If you want some insight into the struggle that a successful individual engages in when her brain goes haywire, read this book. This is a book about courage and endurance. It is also a book that asks for another book from the author, perhaps not as interesting, about the world that surrounds the author - doctors, pharma companies, parents, hospitals, researchers, etc. and the relationships between them. Of course, this is a huge subject, greater than what one writer can tackle, but I hope that Elyn will bless us again with whatever she can enlighten us with. I gave the book a three star because many (most?) 4 and 5 star reviews are not worth reading.
 Her story of battling schizoaffective disorder is also a revealing history of recent trends in the treatment of mental illness December 31, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
A brave memoir that contributes generously to our understanding of what it's like to live with hallucinations and delusions even while being academically gifted. Her journey through her illness was also a journey through the mental health treatment community and the changes in treatment protocols over the course of her life. In her case, talk therapy, especailly psychoanalysis during her difficult postgraduate years in England, helped her keep grounded in reality and fend off the intrusions of her psychosis. In more recent years, psychotropic meds made a profound difference, but she is still a strong advocate of talk therapy. She has strong views about patients' rights based on her experiences on locked wards, and understandably so. It is a difficult and imperfect realm, but ultimately the only safety net we provide when people are out of control and in the throes of their illnesses.
Her story is also one of privilege. Her ethnicity, family background, and economic circumstances, along with her keen intellect, have made it more possible for her to find good treatment. Not everyone has her resources.
As for the story itself, it could have used a finer editing to condense some of the psychotic episodes, which, while they may well have proliferated in her life, don't strengthen the lessons of her story. So some parts seemed a bit self-indulgent. Otherwise, though, a very moving and instructive book.
Coming out of the Closet December 28, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
Ms Saks has written a very important book that demonstrates that people with schizophrenia can achieve a great deal in life with proper treatment and support. The problem is that she and others like her are in a minority. In her address to the American Psychological Association in 2007, she told the story of how a colleague at the University of Southern California had said that they would not have gone to dinner with her had they known she was schizophrenic.
This is an attitude that is all too common in society not only from those not trained in medicine but from medical personnel as well. The stigma on the part of those who should know better and that I discuss in my own book Schizophrenia: Medicine's Mystery - Society's Shameis shameful. Because of that attitude, young people who may be exhibiting early signs of schizophrenia and psychosis are often ignored either out of ignorance or fear of labeling them with a stigmatizing illness.
With early identification and treatment, far more people who now wind up homeless on the streets or in jails could achieve more. Ms Saks has demonstrated what is possible. Now, we must work to ensure that there are more success stories and fewer people with this terrible disease homeless, in jail, and not leading fulfilling lives.
Marvin Ross, author of Schizophrenia: Medicine's Mystery - Society's Shame
|
|
|
The Nurse Job Online Shop From NurseSpot.comInternational Orders & Shipping
We can ship to virtually any address in the world. Note that there are restrictions on some products, and some products cannot be shipped to international destinations.
Another excellent option is shopping with our affiliate eBay, Look Here:
Shipping Restrictions
Warranty issues and manufacturer restrictions prevent us from shipping certain products to all geographical locations. You'll be notified while placing your order if we're unable to ship specific items to the address you've selected.
International Addresses
The following items can be shipped to destinations outside the U.S.:
* books*
* DVDs
* music
* VHS videos
Additionally, some software, tools, and kitchen items can be shipped to the following countries:
* Australia
* Austria
* Denmark
* Finland
* France
* Germany
* Japan
* Ireland
* Italy
* Netherlands
* New Zealand
* Sweden
* United Kingdom
These items can be shipped only via Priority International Shipping and are subject to an import fees deposit.
*Note: Books that require special handling because they are extremely heavy (for example, multi-volume sets) cannot be shipped outside the U.S. If this is the case, it will be noted on the product detail page.
When you place an order, we will estimate shipping and delivery dates for you based on the availability of your items and the shipping options you choose. Shipping date estimates will appear in the order form. After placing your order, you will see both shipping and delivery date estimates in the order confirmation e-mail and in the order summary in Your Account.
Calculating Cost
Shipping costs depend upon the method and option you choose.
If you choose to group items into as few shipments as possible, you'll be charged for one regular per-shipment fee, as well as a per-item fee for each item in that shipment.
If you choose to ship items as soon as they become available, we'll charge you full per-shipment fees for each shipment as well as a per-item fee for each item.
Please also note that the shipping rates for many items we sell are weight-based. The weight of any such item can be found on its detail page. To reflect the policies of the shipping companies we use, all weights will be rounded up to the next full pound. |
|
|
| | |
|