Reviews tagging 'Schizophrenia/Psychosis '

The Psychopath Test: A Journey Through the Madness Industry by Jon Ronson

8 reviews

melodyseestrees's review against another edition

challenging dark informative slow-paced

1.75

This book can be summed up as "I learned a symptom checklist, went out psycho-spotting, and you can too!" He spends the entire book armchair diagnosing people, especially those for whom he wonders if the psychologists got it wrong (all of which were men). He talks about a few other individuals but they get a few paragraphs in comparison to the men. He interviewed more Scientologists than psychologists and I found that a bit troubling. There is very little to this book besides interviews and biased conclusions. 
He trivializes symptoms in the DSM even though it is accepted that these symptoms are to have significant impact on the individual's life. 
I was expecting a more nuanced discussion of the failings of the system. Perhaps how it isn't really built for anyone who is not male or Caucasian. 
The attempts at humor fell flat and actively detracted whatever points the author was dancing around. The author was also not very focused on his own points and jumped all over the place at times. This felt like directionless info-dump. 
If you are familiar with this author you might enjoy this book. I did not. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Mental illness, and Violence

Moderate: Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Suicide

Minor: Classism, Forced institutionalization, Bullying, Eating disorder, Excrement, Medical trauma, Panic attacks/disorders, Transphobia, Ableism, Confinement, Gaslighting, Rape, Self harm, and Cursing

Many of the content warnings are a sentence or two in passing. Not a whole lot is detailed.

abimyers_reads's review against another edition

dark informative medium-paced

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Medical content, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Violence, Forced institutionalization, and Mental illness

mgbellm's review against another edition

medium-paced

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Sexual violence, Medical content, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Violence

puglover's review against another edition

2.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Mental illness, and Forced institutionalization

Moderate: Schizophrenia/Psychosis and Murder

Minor: Physical abuse, War, Emotional abuse, and Child abuse

thechocolatefinger's review against another edition

challenging funny reflective slow-paced

3.25

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness

Moderate: Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Minor: Rape and Excrement

theunfinishedbookshelf's review against another edition

informative fast-paced

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder

Moderate: Rape and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

alibader's review against another edition

funny informative lighthearted reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? N/A
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? N/A
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Rape, Child death, Child abuse, Death, Mental illness, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Violence

Moderate: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Confinement, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Misogyny, Religious bigotry, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Self harm, Stalking, and Transphobia

jjjreads's review against another edition

tense fast-paced

1.0

Does contain some interesting information, but the whole book is so alarmist it frequently borders on hysterical. Even if some of the information is technically correct, I think the way it's presented makes it impossible to learn any truth from it. Further, there is no question that this book harms people with mental health issues or disorders.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Medical trauma, Medical content, Mental illness, and Forced institutionalization