Reviews tagging 'Medical trauma'

Ten Days in A Mad-House: Illustrated and Annotated: A First-Hand Account of Life At Bellevue Hospital on Blackwell's Island in 1887 by Nellie Bly

11 reviews

geerbeer's review against another edition

dark informative reflective fast-paced

1.0

Just not my cup of tea. I already knew all of this, because of American Horror Story Asylum, which I would recommend to anyone who can handle scary/eerie things 🤷🏻‍♀️😊

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Medical content, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Misogyny, Torture, Classism, Forced institutionalization, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Hate crime, Physical abuse, Violence, Xenophobia, Chronic illness, and Confinement

Minor: Schizophrenia/Psychosis

avisreadsandreads's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark informative reflective sad tense fast-paced

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Bullying, Confinement, Physical abuse, Medical trauma, Forced institutionalization, Violence, Sexual harassment, Torture, Misogyny, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Sexism

Minor: Death

itsreirei's review against another edition

challenging dark informative medium-paced

4.5

100+ years passed and nurses are still mean girls

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Forced institutionalization, and Torture

Moderate: Medical trauma, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, and Gaslighting

Minor: Suicidal thoughts and Death

vigil's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative sad tense medium-paced

5.0

fucking harrowing. i never know how to rate nonfiction, but this book pulled me in. there was a point when there was a mention of how unbearable the days grew as they passed, that i wondered just how long she’d be trapped in that place, and completely forgot it’s in the title. earlier i was so engrossed in the story and horrors nellie witnessed i was thrown off by the mention of it only being her first day. 

i didn’t get a chance to read the source material beforehand, and this isn’t my first time in aslyum related media, especially in the victorian era, but something about the combination of nellie bly’s storytelling, and the illustrations made this a stand out read for me. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Classism, Forced institutionalization, Mental illness, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexism, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Medical trauma, Self harm, Ableism, Chronic illness, Medical content, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

zamyatins_fears's review against another edition

dark informative inspiring sad medium-paced

5.0

There are certainly are more extensive works on the subject, but this is a good read for anyone interested in it for the historic importance. The woman known as Nellie Bly (pen name) was one of the earliest investigative reporters. It's terrifying how easily she was able to get herself committed to an insane asylum. Just as it's heartbreaking to read about just the abuses she witnessed or heard many accounts of. Modern works may be a bit more in-depth on these kinds of abuses, but Bly was instrumental in getting more funds diverted to the care of those suffering on Roosevelt Island and was instrumental in the call for reform. A bit of a slow start, but a quick read once she is declared a "hopeless case" and shipped off to the asylum. 

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Content Warnings

Minor: Gaslighting, Abandonment, Bullying, Medical trauma, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Classism, Confinement, Death, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Ableism, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Murder, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racism, and Sexual violence

Written in WW1 originally for the papers, so the abuses mentioned are stated factually, but without graphic descriptions.

exlibrissum's review against another edition

dark emotional sad fast-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Confinement, Medical content, Sexism, Torture, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Grief, Medical trauma, Misogyny, Violence, Mental illness, Chronic illness, Death, Forced institutionalization, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

pouringthemilk's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful informative inspiring sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? N/A
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Child abuse, Torture, Mental illness, Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, Emotional abuse, Bullying, Violence, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Physical abuse, Classism, Medical trauma, Forced institutionalization, and Confinement

eerie_iri's review against another edition

dark informative sad tense fast-paced

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Medical trauma, Mental illness, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Eating disorder, Drug abuse, Police brutality, Violence, Torture, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Racism, Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, Gun violence, Gaslighting, and Dementia

Minor: Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Chronic illness, Classism, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Grief, Medical content, Racism, Self harm, and Slavery

howlinglibraries's review against another edition

dark emotional sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot

4.0

 I've never read the original version of Ten Days in a Mad-House, but after reading this adaptation, I'd be open to doing so — only once I recover from the massive amounts of rage and hurt that welled up within me while reading this book. As a woman who faces my own mental health obstacles (and quite a few of them if we're being frank here), there are few things that truly rattle me quite like looking into the past and coming to terms with how I and so many of my loved ones might have been treated, had we only been born a hundred years earlier.

Ten Days in a Mad-House follows Nellie's secret integration into a mental health hospital (though I'm not sure if "hospital" is the right term here, given that it implies some sort of actual care) in order to expose the terrible living conditions of the women therein. She tells not only of abusive staff and horrible treatment practices, but she also dwells a lot on how many women who were trapped there seemed to not need any sort of medical intervention in the first place. (On one hand, I think the added attention to how "sane" some of these women were discounted the fact that nobody, regardless of their mental state, deserved these treatments; on the other hand, Nellie's extra details here may very well have helped everyone across the board, as I can unfortunately very easily imagine a jury being more stricken with empathy for some patients than others.)

All in all, there's probably a bit to be said about Nellie's motives and the ethics behind how she carried out her research, but it's important to note that she made a big impact on the treatment of patients and blew the cover off of a massively disgusting practice (which would continue to be terrible for many decades to come, regardless, but I have to think it was somehow improved by Nellie's works). I appreciate the fact that the creators responsible for adapting this work even mentioned in the afterword how important it is to consider both the intent and impact here.

And finally, speaking of the book as an adaptation itself, while I haven't read the source material, I found the graphic novel to stand on its own incredibly well. The art was well-done, the dialogue and story were easy to follow, and I found it overall very informative and enjoyable (albeit emotionally difficult). I highly recommend it, whether you're new to Ten Days in a Mad-House or looking to experience it again in a new, fresh way. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Forced institutionalization, Bullying, Confinement, and Medical trauma

Moderate: Death

ecca's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative inspiring reflective sad tense fast-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Bullying, Chronic illness, Death, Dementia, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Kidnapping, Medical content, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Rape, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual assault, Terminal illness, Torture, and Violence