The Day the Voices Stopped: A Memoir of Madness and Hope

Rating:
Summary: Suffering But Not Self-Pitying
Review: As a person who was also diagnosed with schizophrenia, (though I never heard voices), I found this a fascinating account of another person's journey from breakdown to recovery. The greatest strength of this book is the way in which the authors interwove the tyranny of the voices Ken Steele heard with the events of his life. The book gave me a clear understanding of how nightmarish it must be to live with a constant chorus of psychotic voices harassing you and insulting you from morning until night. Next, what struck me powerfully was the completely inhumane treatment Mr. Steele received from the mental health establishment. During the initial months of his first hospitalization Mr. Steele was locked up in isolation and given so much medication he couldn't move, not even to go to the bathroom. He peed and pooped where he was and attendants hosed him off to get him clean. Subsequently, in other hospitalizations he continued to be subjected to serious overdoses of medication. He was locked in seclusion rooms for extended periods of time, threatened and ultimately gang raped by other patients, and at one point locked in a closet for days on end. During the course of this book Ken Steele speculates that the cause of his illness was entirely biochemical and that his recovery took place solely as a consequence of the new medications he took later on in his life. But I felt that there was no way that his family life could not have had some influence on the outbreak and course of his illness. From the beginning it is clear that his parents have little interest in him, and that he is largely being brought up by his grandmother. When it became clear that he was suffering from a severe mental illness, his parents did nothing about it. And when he later ran into trouble and ended up hospitalized, his parents didn't even bother to visit him or concern themselves with his situation even though they were fully informed of what was happenening to him. When it came to Ken Steele's recovery, medication may have been a part of it, but it is indisputable that before he decided to take the medication, he had come to the point where he made the choice to be responsible for himself, to stop playing games and lying to himself and other people. In other accounts of people with mental illness, this moment of decision, the decision to take personal responsibility for oneself, is pivotal to any meaningful kind of recovery. And Ken made that recovery, and more than just recoverying, he went on to advocate for psychiatric patients such as himself and play a significant role in improving the lives of others. Suffering greatly, struggling greatly, recovering heroically, Ken Steele is without self pity, and through this book, continuing to give to others, even after his death.

Rating:
Summary: Very Good Book
Review: I have schizoaffective dissorder and this book demonstrates just how bad this illness is. It's real and almost too real for me. The story is very moving. I could not put it down. Luckly today there are better meds then the ones Mr. Steele started with. I'm glad he had some peace in his life before he passed away.

Rating:
Summary: must read
Review: This book is a must read for anyone who is related to or works with the mentally ill. It is a story that can help break down the stereotypes that the mentallly ill suffer under. The honesty that the author shares helps us all get a small glipse into the lives of the schizophrenic.