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People Like Us - Page 2

© John McManamy

"can transform the ways in which the brain is constructed and functions."

And hence the title of this book.

But that transformation needs a strong assist from one's peers, as "Transforming Madness" makes abundantly clear: "When people are able to help somebody else's process," according to a mental health worker/former patient cited in the book, "feelings of self-confidence and value replace need and pathology."

The author documents the value in having people "who have been there themselves" as guides, and how feelings of trust and the ability to stay connected can diminish the need for external intervention and emergency treatment.

In due course, Neugeboren is able to get his brother into a better facility with caring staff, though the road to improvement is paved with heartbreaks and setbacks. Still, the author dares to imagine Robert in his own apartment leaving for work and stopping at a local bakery for coffee and to read his paper and kibitz with the other patrons. And if things go wrong, a knowing friend is right there or but a quick phone call away.

It's all very possible, not at all unthinkable, but for this to happen Robert will need people like us.

Please, slide that mouse over to your favorite online bookstore and start clicking. I cannot recommend this book strongly enough.

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Excerpt

"As the graduates accept their degrees, and at a reception afterward, they talk about their years in state institutions, about the abuse and neglect they have suffered, and about how often they had given up hope. They talk, too - something I will hear repeatedly in the months to come - of how doctors told them once upon a time that they would never get well and would have to be institutionalized forever. They talk of how doctors told them that if, by some chance, they were ever able to live outside hospitals, they would have to lead marginal lives - lives in which they should never even consider the possibility of holding down full-time jobs, or of having children, or of raising families on their own.

"During the previous ten months, these thirteen individuals - many of whom are married, have children, jobs, families, and homes of their own - have been attending Boston University ... "

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