Books : The Lives They Left Behind: Suitcases from a State Hospital Attic
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Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 150
EAN: 9781934137147
ISBN: 1934137146
Label: Bellevue Literary Press
Manufacturer: Bellevue Literary Press
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 205
Publication Date: January 01, 2009
Publisher: Bellevue Literary Press
Sales Rank: 23649
Studio: Bellevue Literary Press
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Editorial Review:
Product Description:
“The Lives They Left Behind is a deeply moving testament to the human side of mental illness, and of the narrow margin which so often separates the sane from the mad. It is a remarkable portrait, too, of the life of a psychiatric asylum--the sort of community in which, for better and for worse, hundreds of thousands of people lived out their lives. Darby Penney and Peter Stastny's careful historical (almost archaeological) and biographical reconstructions give us unique insight into these lives which would otherwise be lost and, indeed, unimaginable to the rest of us.”—Oliver Sacks, M.D., Professor of Neurology and Psychiatry, Columbia University Medical Center, Columbia University Artist, and author of Musicophilia
“The haunting thing about the suitcase owners is that it’s so easy to identify with them.”—Newsweek
“In their poignant detail the items helped rescue these individuals from the dark sprawl of anonymity.”—The New York Times
“[The authors] spent 10 years piecing together . . . the lives these patients lived before they were nightmarishly stripped of their identities.”—Newsday
More than four hundred abandoned suitcases filled with patients’ belongings were found when Willard Psychiatric Center closed in 1995 after 125 years of operation. They are skillfully examined here and compared to the written record to create a moving—and devastating—group portrait of twentieth-century American psychiatric care.
Average Rating: 
Rating:  -
I guess being an employee at a state mental hospital, I expected more information about the people profiled. Wasn't as interesting as I thought.
Rating:  -
The State Hospital rooms had no space for the luggage inmates brought with them, so they were tagged and stored in the attic. Unfortunately, the luggage, like many of the patients, were warehoused and forgotten over the years. The book searches out the luggage and the owners of it to tell their stories. It is a poignant look at the lives of a few of the inmates and their previous lives as free people before they were taken out of society to languish for years in this upstate New York Hospital. A very moving book and insightful on issues of the treatment of the mentally ill and their need for dignity and compassionate care.
Rating: -
I was gravely disappointed by this book. What could have been a unique, enlightening, and fascinating piece of work was simplified beyond belief, full of opinions instead of research, and really did far less justice to the individuals profiled than the author appeared to believe.
And...ok, this is an extreme pet peeve of mine...the editing was terrible. What it is lately about editing that has become so difficult? And we're not even talking about true editing, just simply making certain there are no typos and that form and grammar are correct. This was so poorly done it was painful to read.
I had looked forward to this book for some time, so I was very disappointed when I got through the first ten or so pages and realized it really wasn't for the thoughtful reader who wants solid research behind a story. No, it was a quick read for a non-critical thinker that likes to be hand-fed polemics.
Sorry.
Rating: -
Not one review before mine gave a score of "average". Folks either really like this book or absolutely hate it. The numerous errors and typos were easy to spot. The authors quickly established that they had "an axe to grind". But in most of their observations they were talking about institutional care of the past, rather than the current system. Not to say that events upon which they report aren't still happening. I do think the authors do a reasonable job of showing that a number of the cases upon which they report did not have a "wretched" before Willard. Examples such as "She is in a [private boarding] home and refused to leave after being ordered out and used vulgar and obscene language" seems pretty weak as justification for a lifetime of institutional commitment. And it does seem clear that the culture of the time resulted in very little timely research regarding the underlying reasons behind the patient's abnormalities. I do not share the view that these folks would have been upset with their stories being told, in fact with varying degrees, those that could think coherently would have probably welcomed it.
Rating:  -
The book consists of a conundrum of stories, as deducted by the authors from the suitcase contents (!) and case notes of former long-term patients in a state mental health institution. The authors' agenda becomes clear after reading a few pages in this book. They do not approve of state mental health institutions, and in fact attempt to disqualify them as inhumane and sadistic pseudosocial mistakes. Numerous attempts at minimizing the nature and recalcitrance of chronic and persistent mental health issues ensue. Not necessarily do most chronically mentally ill individuals lead mere 'alternative lifestyles' that are simply explained away or ignored by the treating physician 'traitors' , but no, these individuals may really experience lifelong torment by their illness- suitcase in hand or not!!! Here, loss of reality is a literary symptom all too easily caught up in circular logic!
This is in no way a realistic picture of the mental health field. Reality is that some of our patients simply require long-term care. Period. A more reasonable take can be obtained from the new book by E.F. Torrey "The insanity offense" where a clear argument is made, backed by epidemiological data, that the closure (now lack) of long-term facilities, while well-intended by liberals - for issues of 'humanity' - and by conservatives for 'cost-considerations', has gone awry. There is in fact an unprecedented wave of mentally ill patients who now occupy our prison system, for example, or who ... Read More
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