Reviews tagging 'Schizophrenia/Psychosis '

Girls and Their Monsters: The Genain Quadruplets and the Making of Madness in America by Audrey Clare Farley

10 reviews

mesy_mark's review against another edition

dark informative reflective sad

3.0

The monster the four quads had was more than just a shared dx of schizophrenia, which manifested differently in each of the four.  The monster was their parents, one who wanted them identical in everything including schooling so if one failed a year, they all repeated the year.  A father whose mental/emotional abuse and controlling behavior made the four only have each other instead of including a framework of outside support, to each of the men who sexually assaulted the quad who unfortunately all experienced it in various amounts and times.  The madness of the 50s where nothing is spoken of, racism is high, and domination over women is peeked as well the quad had many environmental factors to trigger mental illness.  The doctors who studied them only cared about the biological reasoning for the four.  And maybe since that was all that cared also limited some of the quads from living a fulfilling life.  

There is a talk of the times in the 50s highlighting racism which is a good context for the time but seems misplaced in the book due to the skin color of the studied quad.  A history of psychiatry and the dominance to prove bio factors is appropriate.  I liked how each quad SZ was discussed in terms of being different from each other showing that even in identicals, the presentation of SZ is still different from person to person in what I believe is a biological predisposition being triggered by environmental experiences.  

Overall i feel sad for the quad even if one said their lives were not tragic.  A couple of the quad was able to get a little experience of normalcy.  it was an interesting learning point of how psychiatry evolved.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual harassment, Sexual assault, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

nialystic's review

dark informative reflective slow-paced

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pedophilia, Rape, Ableism, Mental illness, Medical trauma, Incest, Child abuse, Sexual assault, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Forced institutionalization

elude's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative sad

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Sexual harassment, Self harm, Pedophilia, Emotional abuse, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Mental illness, Sexual assault, and Sexism

Moderate: Rape, Xenophobia, and Suicide

ahanson's review

dark informative reflective sad

3.75

Interesting read but it kind of meandered. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Schizophrenia/Psychosis and Mental illness

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Sexual assault, Child abuse, and Antisemitism

Minor: Suicide attempt

haleybre's review against another edition

dark emotional informative sad tense slow-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Bullying, Death, Death of parent, Incest, Medical content, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Suicide attempt, Alcohol, Sexual assault, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Grief, and Sexual harassment

megwilli's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative reflective sad medium-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Child abuse, Alcoholism, and Sexual violence

sleeson's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative sad tense medium-paced

2.75

I find memoirs and non-fiction books surrounding mental illness fascinating. I have some pushback when it comes to the diagnosis of mental illness in families born before 1957. I still have many other books to read. But so far, the common denominator of the stories I've read, is the extreme physical & mental abuse received by their parents, very early in age. I have anger on behalf of these women toward their parents, teachers, and doctors. They held these women back and continuously let them down for no reason. They deserved better. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Medical content, Sexual assault, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Alcoholism, Bullying, Medical trauma, Mental illness, and Physical abuse

mariball's review

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad medium-paced

3.5

I went in not knowing anything about the Morlok quadruplets and how their lives contributed to the ongoing study of what causes schizophrenia.

The strongest parts of the book is the lives of the sisters themselves- who they were, their family history, how they grew up in a world that was ill-equipped to deal with the realities of mental illness and its effects. Additionally, another strong point was learning about David Rosenthal and how he ended up in charge of monitoring the quadruplets and using their case study to form his theory on what was responsible for the manifestation of schizophrenia. 

What prevented the book from getting a higher rating from me was the need to address so many topics and theories at once. The second half of the book is a direct result of that, feeling less cohesive and less focused as the first half. In addition, the second half fast forwarded so much of the sisters’ lives it felt like they became an afterthought as the author focused moreso on the different viewpoints of the cause of schizophrenia, culturally and scientifically. After spending so much time with the Morlok sisters in the first half it felt so off to see them revert in the background until the final chapter. All in all, though, it is a deeply interesting story and I’m glad to have learned about them and the researchers who genuinely wanted to find answers to their suffering. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Physical abuse

lifeinpoetry's review

dark informative medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Rape, Physical abuse, Racism, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Incest, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Antisemitism, Pedophilia, Mental illness, and Suicide attempt

hannahmci's review

dark informative medium-paced

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Incest, Mental illness, Suicide attempt, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis