Crazy Like Us: The Globalization of the American Psyche by Ethan Watters

() Though this sort of book is not my usual forté, I am only a psychology major after all.

This is a nonfiction work explaining the influence of our country's mental health practices throughout the world. Also, it delves more into the details of our approach. "Mental illness is feared and has such a stigma because it represents a reversal of what Western humans have come to value as the essence of human nature [...] Because our culture so highly values self-control and control of circumstances, we become abject when contemplating mentation that seems more changeable, less restrained and less controllable, more open to outside influence, than we imagine our own to be." (pg. 165)

It discusses how the expression of mental illness comes in different forms throughout different cultures. For example, "Southeastern Asian males sometimes suffer koro, the debilitating certainty that their genitals are retracting into their body." (pg. 2) Anorexia was originally shown in many Asian countries to have no relation to the desire to be thin, but instead to pain in the lower organs. However, as Western diagnoses spread, so did the ways emotional disturbances would appear. Classic anorexia symptoms springs up in mass numbers. It seems that trying to help the world with our methods of mental medicine may be also harming them.

The book also looks into the drug companies' and psychiatrists' relationships. Psychiatrists are basically bribed to prescribe the companies' medications to their patients, thus undermining their main goal by also having their own profit in the picture. A Japanese psychiatrist, Dr. Tajima, is interviewed; he compares modern psychiatry to prostitution. "We were very cheap prostitutes." (pg. 248)

It also delves into the effectiveness (or lack thereof) certain drugs, especially SSRIs. "[...] the idea that SSRIs restore a natural balance of serotonin is a theory without evidence." (pg. 235) Furthermore, it describes some of the processes by which Western mental health practices have spread, e.g. changing the culture's psyche through media and other forms. One slogan for depression is that it is like "a cold of the soul." (pg. 225)

If you're interested in the staying up with current events in psychology, definitely check this book out. Also, it's good if you just love to question our society, because this whole book is about questioning the mass standard. It's not necessarily a vote to one side or another. "All cultures struggle with these intractable diseases [mental illnesses of some sort] with varying degrees of compassion and cruelty, equanimity and fear. My point is not that they necessarily have it right - only that they have it different." (pg. 254)

etc...
"The National Institute of Mental Health announced that one in every four Americans age 18 and older suffers from a diagnosable mental disorder each year. Among young adults mental illness has become the leading cause of disability." (pg. 251)
"As if to demonstrate the point that the creation of mental illness categories remains as much a social and cultural endeavor as a scientific process, the APA is soliciting input from the public. As of this writing there is still a 'Make a Suggestion' link on the association's website describing the DSM-V project. Click on that link and you are presented with a number of options, including 'Submit suggestions for deletion of an existing disorder' and 'Submit suggestions for a new disorder to be considered for addition to DSM-V." (pg. 251-252)
"If the irony isn't already obvious, let me make it clear: offering the latest Western mental health theories in an attempt to ameliorate the psychological stress caused by globalization is not a solution; it is part of the problem. [...] It is the psychological equivalent of handing out blankets to sick natives without considering thepathogens that hide deep in the fabric." (pg. 253)

Madness: A Bipolar Life by Marya Hornbacher

() Bipolar 1 at it's finest. Marya dialogues her life, especially that as it is enveloped by her disease.

Throughout her existence she is continually in motion, in and out of manic, depression, mixed, and various other extreme episodes. She's harbored all the bad behaviors - at their worst - to "cope": alcoholism, eating disorders, self-injury, drug use... She's been in hospitals and clinics innumerable times. It's hard to believe she's still alive with what she's been through.

She uses this book to help communicate the very real symptoms, and dangers, of the disease. The chronicles of her own struggles helps educate us on the nature of the disorder, and perhaps help us see the humanity that is still present in those strongly afflicted by it.

Yes, I did listen to this as an audio book. I used Google E-Reader to find the few quotes I noted.
"I want to be superwoman, and the fact that I'm not makes me hate myself and constantly wonder why I'm such a waste." (pg. 106)
"I don't deserve him. He's too good. I put my head down on the table and cry. Because it's happened again. I'm found out. I'm damaged. Fucked up. Broken. A fraud. I knew he would find out sooner or later that I was impossible to love." (pg. 103)
"Sometimes, I get the uneasy feeling that I'm fooling everyone. In the middle of a gathering of friends, at a party, at a show, on a walk with Jeff, I'll remember the past. It leaves me a little shaken, bewildered by how I've gotten from there to here. I feel it in the pit of my stomach, the shame of it, the feeling that I am getting away with something, living a life I don't deserve. [...] and everyone loves the woman I'm pretending to be, not me. Who would love me? I hate the person I was. She disgusts me, [...] she was a monster. She was sick. Suddenly I can feel her in me, like bile in my throat. I can't let her out. The spell will break, and she will take over again. I want to forget her. I want her dead. [...] If I am very good, they'll let me stay, and soon, if I work hard enough, I will belong." (pg. 162)
"I'm a little overwhelmed, so I keep smiling, figuring it can't hurt." (pg. 163)
"2.8% of U.S. population has bipolar disorder [...] 25% of bipolar patients have attempted suicide." (pg. 281)

Wasted: A Memoir by Mark Johnson

() From being brought up in the ghetto to rape, murder, addiction, homelessness, and growth/recovery - this story covers it all. Pretty hard to believe this is a real account of someone's life. But sometimes truth really is stranger than fiction.

Mark Johnson was exposed to horrendous environments at a very young age. He started drug and alcohol use when he was just a child. He was also sexually assaulted and passed on the deed. Abused and confused, he created a tough persona which made him prone to addiction and crime. The reader is taken through Johnson's youth, jail time, drug struggles, and the peril of living on the streets.

But finally, with too many near-death experiences and threats on his life, he makes a longer-lasting attempt at change. Eventually, he is successfully rehabilitated. Unlike so many other addicts and ex-offenders, he is able to rebuild his life with the help of various people and organizations surrounding him. He starts his own business and tries to help others who are making an effort to improve their lives as well.

"Vanessa's soon saying she loves me. That's a license to treat her like shit. But I retreat into her arms whenever the mayhem I've caused gets too much even for me." (pg. 90)
"In jail we've learned to live on our wits, manipulate people and use violence and retaliation as a routine means of survival. And I have the Block to thank for making me an expert in brutality. What a great training ground Portland was for a life of crime: it's much easier now to do these things and not feel a qualm." (pg. 109)
"after a day and a night the party is so magical that I hate it. I wish the experience away because I know that it is going to change my life and not just change it but ruin it. And I know that this is my destiny and I have no choice." (pg. 127)
"I don't want to be this way. I hated myself for stealing from Kelly but I couldn't stop myself. Drugs have stripped away my flesh. Anything that's good and everything I've ever learned about how to behave is being lost, along with my humanity. What's left behind is hard and primitive and cares only for its own survival." (pg. 180)
"It hits me with a series of terrible photos of all I've said and done. It's like the biggest, worst hangover because I wasn't just drunk last night. I've been drunk my whole life." (pg. 261)
"I mean you've got to tell your secrets. Real secrets. All the small embarrassing things you've never told anyone, the sneaky things, the spiteful things, the grassing-up-your-mates keep-it-to-yourself kind of things that you swore you'd never tell a soul. [...] Talking about your weaknesses gives you back your power." (pg. 287)

Impulse by Ellen Hopkins

() Reads in the poetic form of the author's other works, such as Burned. It's another one that also pulls on anyone's desire for tragedy.

The setting is in a mental institution of some kind. The main characters whose viewpoints are switch-narrated among come from completely different backgrounds with completely different "problems". Nonetheless, two fall in love, and one just falls.

If you have a craving for reading about crazies, (which I often do,) this is for you. It's a lot thicker in page volume than Burned, and I suppose not as good, according to my review.

Some keen insight into different thought processes is shown. I also am starting to enjoy Hopkin's less conventional way of composing stories. But there were many times throughout this read that I found myself wanting to stop and pickup another book. Not sure exactly how to pinpoint my reasoning for this.

Good stuff: "Is it even a window / I'm looking through, / or only cloudy panes / of vision, opening / on drifts of ivory / linens - soft cotton, / crisp percale - / my snow just / a blizzard of white / noise?" (pg. 18)
"Don't you feel better [...] with all of that out in the open? / [...] I do feel / somehow relieved, like I'm / cutting teeth on psychoanalysis." (pg. 150)
"[...] although he's more / like a faraway star, brilliant, / but cold in his distance; / beautiful in his perfection, / but likely to burn too brightly, / stuff himself out. / I wonder where he came / from, what random joining / of energies created such complexity." (pg. 271)
"I'm afraid - [...] when I get out of this place, / everything will be exactly / the same as before - even me. / I'll still live in my parents'/ shadow; I'll still drive myself to / achieve impossible perfection. / And I'll never let myself / believe that someone really loves me." (pg. 418)
"It's not easy to get / close to anyone in here, / Tony. Everyone's afraid / of everybody else ... maybe / because we're all afraid / of ourselves." (pg. 468)
"Think how people must have / loved each other when all / they had was each other." (pg. 506)
"What Tony doesn't know / Is that love and I are like / water and oil. Put the two / together, blend well, and you / get Quaker State quicksand." (pg. 597)
"This time / when we kiss, I feel / it in the pit of my stomach, / I feel it in my heart. / And I realize love isn't about sex. / It's about connection." (pg. 663)