Reviews tagging 'Mental illness'

NeuroTribes: The Legacy of Autism and How to Think Smarter About People Who Think Differently by Steve Silberman

10 reviews

tinyplanet's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative slow-paced

3.5

Well-researched and well-written summary of the history of autism to ~2010. It was not a fun read. It unfortunately felt like a long account of how autistic people (and people with other developmental disabilities and mental illnesses) have been abused, stigmatized, imprisoned in institutions and mental asylums, denied education, infantilized, sterilized, tortured, and murdered, with some breaks to show autistic people in a symp thetic to positive light. Silberman did cover the history of the nascent autism self-advocacy movement in the United States and interviewed many autistic people and their families.

The book is white- and Western-centric, primarily focused on Austria, the UK, and the US, where most formal research on autism has been done. Silberman does include the voices of some girls and sometimes autistic mothers, plus Temple Grandin. There are some mentions of Japanese families, but very little said about minorities in the US or lower socioeconomic classes.

Silberman attempts to let the facts stand for themselves. In doing so, he does not take a strong stand against some of the figures who committed abuses. Asperger is presented as Nazi-lite. Electrocution is clearly bad, but the insidious frameworks that ins ired such a "treatment" are not fully confronted. Inference is required to identify all of the issues that Silberman presents.

This book may have the most content warnings of any book I have reviewed, although none of it is gratuitous.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Forced institutionalization, Bullying, Confinement, Physical abuse, Ableism, and Child abuse

Moderate: Mental illness, Emotional abuse, Antisemitism, Genocide, Grief, Self harm, Suicide attempt, War, Medical content, Transphobia, Violence, Medical trauma, Misogyny, Torture, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Minor: Miscarriage, Fatphobia, Abandonment, Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Addiction, Excrement, Panic attacks/disorders, Hate crime, Murder, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Pregnancy, Religious bigotry, and Vomit

changelingreader_adrian's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring reflective relaxing sad tense medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Confinement, Forced institutionalization, Abandonment, Medical content, Medical trauma, Homophobia, Child abuse, Ableism, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, and Self harm

Moderate: Suicide, Violence, Classism, Antisemitism, Torture, Medical trauma, Hate crime, and Racial slurs

Minor: Xenophobia, War, Panic attacks/disorders, Gore, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Religious bigotry, Miscarriage, and Transphobia

ren_the_hobbit's review against another edition

dark informative sad medium-paced

2.75

Honestly disappointed. For a book that promised both the history and future of neurodiversity, very little of the book was about the future. Only the last chapter which was one of the shortest. In addition, it mentions a few times that people of color, lower socioeconomic status and women are under-diagnosed and under represented but didn’t go into detail why or attempt to find their stories. Finally, it talks about how autism in the future will be lead by autistic people, but barely mentions their points of views or stories. The part about WWII and it’s affects on the spread of ideas were interesting. But then it went on and on naming every white autistic or possibly autistic man in the 1900s who invented something.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, and Ableism

Moderate: War and Mental illness

ashklaass's review against another edition

hopeful informative medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Minor: Mental illness, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Child abuse, Medical trauma, and Medical content

georgiasummer98's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative reflective sad tense slow-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Hate crime, Bullying, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Medical trauma, Medical content, Child abuse, Mental illness, and Ableism

cassie7e's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad slow-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Medical trauma, Child abuse, and Ableism

Moderate: Child death, Self harm, Forced institutionalization, and Physical abuse

Minor: Homophobia, Transphobia, and Suicide

annapox's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring sad slow-paced

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Child death, Ableism, Emotional abuse, Child abuse, Medical content, Physical abuse, Self harm, Forced institutionalization, and Murder

Moderate: Classism, Hate crime, Animal cruelty, Racism, Transphobia, Antisemitism, Animal death, Genocide, Mental illness, Misogyny, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and War

Minor: Bullying, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Grief, Islamophobia, Body shaming, Fatphobia, Abortion, and Fire/Fire injury

shieldbearer's review against another edition

dark emotional informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

5.0

We have always been here. Everyone should read this book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Forced institutionalization, Genocide, Ableism, Antisemitism, Classism, Confinement, Homophobia, Medical trauma, Mental illness, and Transphobia

katiewhocanread's review against another edition

challenging informative slow-paced

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Medical content, Medical trauma, Physical abuse, Torture, Ableism, and Forced institutionalization

Moderate: Self harm, Mental illness, Injury/Injury detail, and Homophobia

Minor: Suicide, Death, and Grief

readingelli's review against another edition

challenging reflective slow-paced

5.0

A really detailed history of autism research. I learned a lot, and it was hard to read at times but it did end on a hopeful note. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical trauma, Mental illness, Medical content, Suicide, Ableism, Bullying, Child abuse, and Physical abuse