Reviews tagging 'Forced institutionalization'

The Collected Schizophrenias by Esmé Weijun Wang

44 reviews

moonyreadsbystarlight's review

informative reflective

4.5

This was an excellent essay collection about the author's experience of schizoaffective and bipolar disorders. She talks about her experience of it, parts of the process getting diagnoses, dealing with ableism in various contexts, spirituality, media, and more. Not only does it show the mind of the author in some ways, it says a lot about how people with these less socially acceptable symptoms and disorders are treated.

The only real drawback of this was some of the discussion around autism in one of the essays. It felt very dated and I'm not sure how to feel about some of the discussion around functioning labels. So that is why I didn't give it a full 5 stars. The rest of the collection was really solid and very interesting. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Domestic abuse, Ableism, Death, Suicide attempt, and Forced institutionalization

Moderate: Rape and Suicide

anna_brabazon's review

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Moderate: Ableism and Forced institutionalization

Minor: Sexual violence

creativerunnings's review against another edition

challenging informative reflective fast-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, Domestic abuse, Toxic relationship, Self harm, Forced institutionalization, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Ableism, Bullying, Confinement, Medical content, Rape, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Chronic illness, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence

hmetwade's review

challenging dark emotional informative inspiring reflective fast-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Moderate: Forced institutionalization, Suicide attempt, Chronic illness, Medical content, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, and Self harm

sjbshannon's review

dark emotional informative sad medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Chronic illness, Forced institutionalization, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Medical trauma

newgene's review

informative medium-paced

3.5

I enjoyed reading this book for another lived perspective about the psychotic experience, but fall short of a good rating and hesitate to recommend it for some troubling opinions in the book. The author focuses a lot on differentiating herself as “high functioning,” beyond admission of privilege, and there was a lot of othering in the book. There were also some victim blaming remarks that implied police officers and hospitals have an excuse for cruelty towards some people living with psychosis. Overall there were some interesting observations made about living with psychosis in an ableist society, but I really think the author has some growing to do. If it is not triggering for you I recommend reading it with a grain of salt. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Mental illness, Ableism, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Minor: Police brutality, Forced institutionalization, and Suicide

aweekinthelife's review against another edition

emotional informative reflective tense medium-paced

4.5

Esmé Weijun Wang describes her mental health and chronic illness journey with candor and sharp writing. her stories helped me understand a little more of what it looks like for her to live with a mental illness interspersed with historical origins of things. 

some [books] written in such lousy prose that I believed I was killing off brain cells faster than either schizoaffective disorder or trauma could;

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Forced institutionalization, Mental illness, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Moderate: Rape

Minor: Suicidal thoughts

vercopaanir's review

emotional informative reflective slow-paced

Again, this book is very much like a memoir and so I choose to leave it un-rated, but I was fascinated by Wang’s experiences and really appreciated that she was willing to share them so publicly as to write them in a book.  I do my best not to be ableist, but I know I have work to do, and that includes ableism around psychosis and the schizophrenias.  Being invited into the mind of someone with schizoaffective disorder was an incredible opportunity for learning and growth.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Forced institutionalization, Mental illness, Murder, Bullying, and Chronic illness

Moderate: Suicide, Sexual assault, Medical content, Ableism, Grief, Suicidal thoughts, and Rape

tetedump's review

challenging informative reflective medium-paced

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Forced institutionalization, Mental illness, Rape, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Suicide, Self harm, and Suicidal thoughts

caidyn's review

emotional hopeful medium-paced

4.5

Damn, I hate that I put off reading this book for so long. It was a fantastic read about a woman learning to live with schizoaffective disorder.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Forced institutionalization

Moderate: Rape