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A review by abbier_14
Hidden Valley Road: Inside the Mind of an American Family by Robert Kolker
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
slow-paced
3.0
I needed to read a book for my personal statement and this was the first psychology book that stood out to me to be actually interesting without being one that every psychology applicant reads.
This book did take me ages to finish and put me in a multiple month long reading slump. I think this is because it tells the families story in chronological order so it started with the parents who i found less interesting. It did eventually get better and started getting into the facinating parts of this family's life but it did take some time.
I think that is one of the critcisms i have for this book is that it does spend a lot of time talking about the non sick members of the family. I do appreciate that it is the non sick members who were the ones that mostly participated in interviews and gave accounts of their life, and this was their opportunity to tell the story of what it was like to live in such a family. But it just felt like there was a lot of random details that did not really add anything in understanding the Galvins or the illness, I of course am probably wrong as if its included its probably important to them but often times it did just feel like filler, even if it was useful to compare the sick to the non sick children to try and understand why this disease only effected 6/12 of them. So i guess this is more of a readability criticism rather than it actually being unnecessay in the story.
However what this book really does well is speak about the nature vs nurture debate. It speaks about a lot of research, sometimes in the book i wished that it would go more in depth on the research side rather than speak about the Galvins but obviously this is their book to tell their story rather than just a book about schizophrenia research. I like how the book tells the research as it happens in relation to the time period the Galvins were in.
For example, in early research when technology wasnt great and there were still values about a working father and caring mother, research seemed to be more on the nurture side claiming that a 'schizophrenogenic mother' was the cause of all the problems. I cant even imagine how that must have effected Mimi Galvin and explains why she had to be so guarded and often doubled down and only focused on her sick children.
I also found the sensory gating test very interesting and that many of the non sick Galvin children processed the double click the same way twice like the sick children, but then they did not develop the disease, even though poor processing of stimuli is a symptom of it.
And then when technology became more advanced researchers leaned more towards the nature side as they were able to investigate the Galvins genes for any signs that could point towards a genetic code for schizophrenia. It must have been especially exiting to have an opportunity to study the Galvins they provided an opportunity to really try and understand how some people get/ dont get the disease despite sharing similar genetics.
It also enabled them to test possible prevention strategies such as providing pregnant women which choline suppliments in order for a specific gene to develop properly, which could lower the risk of schizophrenia developing even if you do have the mutation. The children this was tested on are still living so it will be interesting to see if they do develop schizophrenia, but just at a later stage than children who did not receive additional choline.
I think the most upsetting part of the book is where the two brothers died to due heart failure their drugs were causing, but because they had been diagnosed with schizophrenia nurses just thought that the symptoms were just of that which made them rule out any other possibilities, which ultimately lead them to die. I think this represents the attitudes towards mental illness where the Galvins lived, how the sick sons were treated as if they were basically sub human and how the family must have felt so much shame for something that you instead need support with. Their time in the mental hospital also sounded horrible, and it amazed me how many times they were sent in and out when their symptoms fluctuated.
However in the end it did sound like the Galvin sisters made peace with the living sick Galvins, and that carers and treatment had made their life more bareable than it was when they first started getting sick.
So in conclusion this was an interesting read, especially on the research side of things. It was kind of morbidly facinating to read about how such a promising, successful family could have their life turned upside down by something they could never expect.
This book did take me ages to finish and put me in a multiple month long reading slump. I think this is because it tells the families story in chronological order so it started with the parents who i found less interesting. It did eventually get better and started getting into the facinating parts of this family's life but it did take some time.
I think that is one of the critcisms i have for this book is that it does spend a lot of time talking about the non sick members of the family. I do appreciate that it is the non sick members who were the ones that mostly participated in interviews and gave accounts of their life, and this was their opportunity to tell the story of what it was like to live in such a family. But it just felt like there was a lot of random details that did not really add anything in understanding the Galvins or the illness, I of course am probably wrong as if its included its probably important to them but often times it did just feel like filler, even if it was useful to compare the sick to the non sick children to try and understand why this disease only effected 6/12 of them. So i guess this is more of a readability criticism rather than it actually being unnecessay in the story.
However what this book really does well is speak about the nature vs nurture debate. It speaks about a lot of research, sometimes in the book i wished that it would go more in depth on the research side rather than speak about the Galvins but obviously this is their book to tell their story rather than just a book about schizophrenia research. I like how the book tells the research as it happens in relation to the time period the Galvins were in.
For example, in early research when technology wasnt great and there were still values about a working father and caring mother, research seemed to be more on the nurture side claiming that a 'schizophrenogenic mother' was the cause of all the problems. I cant even imagine how that must have effected Mimi Galvin and explains why she had to be so guarded and often doubled down and only focused on her sick children.
I also found the sensory gating test very interesting and that many of the non sick Galvin children processed the double click the same way twice like the sick children, but then they did not develop the disease, even though poor processing of stimuli is a symptom of it.
And then when technology became more advanced researchers leaned more towards the nature side as they were able to investigate the Galvins genes for any signs that could point towards a genetic code for schizophrenia. It must have been especially exiting to have an opportunity to study the Galvins they provided an opportunity to really try and understand how some people get/ dont get the disease despite sharing similar genetics.
It also enabled them to test possible prevention strategies such as providing pregnant women which choline suppliments in order for a specific gene to develop properly, which could lower the risk of schizophrenia developing even if you do have the mutation. The children this was tested on are still living so it will be interesting to see if they do develop schizophrenia, but just at a later stage than children who did not receive additional choline.
I think the most upsetting part of the book is where the two brothers died to due heart failure their drugs were causing, but because they had been diagnosed with schizophrenia nurses just thought that the symptoms were just of that which made them rule out any other possibilities, which ultimately lead them to die. I think this represents the attitudes towards mental illness where the Galvins lived, how the sick sons were treated as if they were basically sub human and how the family must have felt so much shame for something that you instead need support with. Their time in the mental hospital also sounded horrible, and it amazed me how many times they were sent in and out when their symptoms fluctuated.
However in the end it did sound like the Galvin sisters made peace with the living sick Galvins, and that carers and treatment had made their life more bareable than it was when they first started getting sick.
So in conclusion this was an interesting read, especially on the research side of things. It was kind of morbidly facinating to read about how such a promising, successful family could have their life turned upside down by something they could never expect.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Mental illness, Rape, Suicide, Murder, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis