Voices From The Inside
Readings on the Experiences of Mental Illness
Published on 2. July 2009
Book
Paperback/Softback
256 pages
978-0-19-537045-4 (ISBN)
Description
One of sociology's most important missions is giving voice to those whose experiences are typically otherwise blunted, marginalized, or simply ignored. Featuring memorable, first-person accounts of mentally ill individuals, Voices from the Inside: Readings on the Experiences of Mental Illness allows students to connect directly with real-life "experts" who know mental illness all too intimately.
This unique anthology addresses a
variety of central topics surrounding mental illness, including suicide, hospitalization, the meanings of medication, the experiences of caregivers, and the stigma attached to mental illness. Each section of
readings opens with a "sensitizing" introduction that outlines key questions, specific matters for student consideration, and ways in which social scientists approach relevant substantive issues. The thought-provoking discussion questions following each set of readings are designed to foster vibrant class discussion.
Comprehensive enough to be used throughout a course--but brief enough to be combined with other supplementary materials or a full-scale textbook--Voices
from the Inside is ideal for upper-level undergraduate or graduate courses on the sociology of mental health and illness. It can also be used in courses in medical sociology, social work and mental
health, nursing and mental health, and abnormal psychology.
This unique anthology addresses a
variety of central topics surrounding mental illness, including suicide, hospitalization, the meanings of medication, the experiences of caregivers, and the stigma attached to mental illness. Each section of
readings opens with a "sensitizing" introduction that outlines key questions, specific matters for student consideration, and ways in which social scientists approach relevant substantive issues. The thought-provoking discussion questions following each set of readings are designed to foster vibrant class discussion.
Comprehensive enough to be used throughout a course--but brief enough to be combined with other supplementary materials or a full-scale textbook--Voices
from the Inside is ideal for upper-level undergraduate or graduate courses on the sociology of mental health and illness. It can also be used in courses in medical sociology, social work and mental
health, nursing and mental health, and abnormal psychology.
Reviews / Votes
"Karp and Sisson capture the subjective experience of mental illness and its social consequences in a way that is sociologically grounded and informative, yet they never allow the science of psychiatric nosology, deviance, medicalization, and anomie to overshadow the humanity captured in the excerpted narratives. As impossible as it sounds, they allow the average well-adjusted, mentally stable person to experience vicariously mental illness from a perspectivemost of us will never truly understand."--Tony Brown, Vanderbilt University
"Sociology needs an approach that stands outside a psychological discourse about cause and cure. Books from the psychiatric or psychological disciplines tend to ignore or disparage patient accounts. . . . At last, a book that will not make you feel guilty for encroaching upon psychological property."--Noel Barker, DePaul University
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
New York
United States
Target group
College/higher education
Dimensions
Height: 234 mm
Width: 156 mm
Thickness: 14 mm
Weight
386 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-19-537045-4 (9780195370454)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Persons
David A. Karp is Professor of Sociology at Boston College. His books include Is It Me or My Meds? Living with Antidepressants (2006); The Burden of Sympathy: How Families Cope with Mental Illness (OUP, 2000); and Speaking of Sadness: Depression, Disconnection, and the Meanings of Illness (OUP, 1996), which received the Charles Horton Cooley Award from the Society for the Study of Symbolic Interaction. Gretchen E. Sisson is is an advanced doctoral student in the Boston College Sociology Department and an alumna of Amherst College.
Content
Each Part opens with an Editors' Introduction: Giving Voice to the Mentally Ill PART I. THE ILLNESS EXPERIENCE 1. An Unwelcome Career, David A. Karp 2. Flights of the Mind, Kay Redfield Jamison 3. The Eden Express, Mark Vonnegut 4. The Center Cannot Hold, Elyn R. Saks 5. The Auto Accident That Never Was, Judith Rappaport 6. Denial and Addiction, Caroline Knapp PART II. CAREGIVERS SPEAK 7. Everything Falls Apart, Clea Simon 8. In Sickness and in Health, David A. Karp PART III. HOSPITALIZATION 9. The Looney Bin Trip, Kate Millet 10. The Quiet Room, Lori Schiller PART IV. THE MEANINGS OF MEDICATION 11. Prozac Diary, Lauren Slater 12. Teens Talk, David A. Karp PART V. THE REALITY OF SUICIDE 13. No Time to Say Goodbye, Carla Fine PART VI. The Stigma of Mental Illness 14. To Tell or Not to Tell, Carol Owen 15. Depressives in the Lounge, Sharon O'Brien PART VII. IN THE COMMUNITY 16. The Ninth Floor, Pete Earley 17. 9 Highland Road, Michael Winerip PART VIII. RECOVERING 18. Undercurrents, Martha Manning 19. Wasted, Marya Hornbacher