Take a photo of a barcode or cover
Reviews tagging 'Suicide'
Hidden Valley Road: Inside the Mind of an American Family by Robert Kolker
160 reviews
Graphic: Mental illness, Suicide, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis
Moderate: Drug abuse, Drug use
I'm not sure what I expected this book to be about going in, but the reality surprised me. Six children in one family with schizophrenia is both wild and fascinating, and I appreciated that Kolker included the family's contributions to scientific research in the book. The story is obviously sad, heavy and challenging, but it was told in a way that was very empathetic and humanized the Galvin siblings. Kolker doesn't shy away from challenging topics (I read his book <i> Lost Girls <i/> a few years ago), and tells these stories in a way that is interesting without being exploitative.
Graphic: Child abuse, Mental illness, Rape, Sexual assault
Moderate: Death, Suicide, Violence, Murder
Minor: Death of parent
Graphic: Cancer, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Incest, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicide, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis
Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Schizophrenia/Psychosis
Moderate: Drug use
This account was definitely hard to read at times, as even the Galvin children without schizophrenia (and those outside the family) clearly suffered its effects. But it's also an important testimony not just about the need for robust mental healthcare, but the need for said care to actually be *good* and patient-focused. Because even as the Galvin boys were being treated, their quality of life was either ruined or just nonexistent. Schizophrenia absolutely is a scary disease as an observer, and I didn't understand previously all the ways it can manifest. But fear can't make us look away; it's not easy, but hopefully as a society we can aim for better.
Graphic: Incest, Mental illness, Sexual assault, Schizophrenia/Psychosis
Moderate: Death, Suicide, Violence, Murder
Graphic: Mental illness, Schizophrenia/Psychosis
Moderate: Domestic abuse, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt
The author writes to the layman, presenting complex information on schizophrenia and mental illness in a clear way. Not only does he go into great depth in describing the Galvins and their experiences, but he interviews researchers as well, elucidating the ongoing rift between the nature vs nurture camps. For me, the most frustrating part was that it apparently wouldn’t make financial sense for pharmaceutical companies to research ways to treat schizophrenia so any potential avenues to new medications were cut off.
Many of the family members were interviewed by the author so he got firsthand information on their lives over the past sixty-plus years. I was never able to comprehend why the parents kept having child after child after child, twelve in twenty years. Yes, the parents’ reasoning was explained but it never made any sense to me. This is a family that was dysfunctional long before any signs of psychosis emerged.
Compelling, intriguing, and horrifying all at once. How much of the misery could have been mitigated had there not been so many secrets and obfuscations?
Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Cancer, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Incest, Infidelity, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicide, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Grief, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, Abandonment
Graphic: Mental illness, Schizophrenia/Psychosis
Moderate: Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide
Moderate: Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Incest, Pedophilia, Medical content, Schizophrenia/Psychosis
Minor: Animal cruelty, Suicide, Murder
We are, in some way, a product of the people who surround us—the people we're forced to grow up with, and the people we choose to be with later. Our relationships can destroy us, but they can change us, too, and restore us, and without us ever seeing it happen, they define us. We are human because the people around us make us human.”
A beautiful, and hauntingly sad, account of how schizophrenia has ravaged a family in America over the last 50 years, deeply traumatising both the affected and unaffected children. 6 out of the 12 children of the Galvin family were diagnosed with schizophrenia in the late twentieth century — a constellation of mental illness unheard of to this day. From extensive interviews with the whole family, their friends, their doctors, and researchers, and their medical notes, Kolker pieces together the story of Mimi and Don Galvin, and their 12 children. More than anything, this is a call-to-action for more research and funding into pharmacological AND therapeutic approaches for the treatment of schizophrenia, and other debilitating psychiatric illnesses.
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Incest, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Suicide attempt, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Abandonment, Sexual harassment