Committed to the Sane Asylum: Narratives on Mental Wellness and Healing

by Susan Schellenberg, Rosemary Barnes

In Committed to the Sane Narratives on Mental Wellness and Healing , artist Susan Schellenberg, a former psychiatric patient , and psychologist Rosemary Barnes relate their own stories, conversations, and reflections concerning the contributions and limitations of conventional mental health care and their collaborative search for alternatives such as art therapy . Patient and doctor each describe personal decisions about the mental health system and the creative life possibilities that emerged when mind, body, and spirit were committed to well-being and healing. Interwoven patient/doctor narratives explain conventional care, highlight critical steps in healing , and explore varied perspectives through conversations with experts in psychiatry, feminist approaches, art, storytelling, and business. The book also includes reproductions of Susan’s mental health records and dream paintings . This book will be important for consumers of mental health care wishing to understand the conventional system and develop the best quality of life. Rich personal detail, critical perspective, clinical records, and art reproductions make the book engaging for a general audience and stimulating as a teaching resource in nursing, social work, psychology, psychiatry, and art therapy .

Genres: Mental Health

320 pages, Paperback

First published July 1, 2008

Reviews

[T'face · Rating 5 out of 5]

Being afflicted by the mental health system 2nd hand, I can relate a lot to the life narrative here.

Family members having been helped by art therapy it is fascinating to hear the story of someone who championed art therapy, who pioneered it.

I highly recomend this to everyone who has family members dealing with the mental health system.

[Emily · Rating 5 out of 5]

I got this book not long after it published. I was intrigued by the description and the idea the book was a collaboration between a former psychiatric patient and a psychologist. It appears I picked it up at some point. I found highlighting on page 3, but somehow it got lost in the mix and sat on my shelves for a decade.
Our experiences were nothing alike, but what Susan and Rosemary took years to formulate and write about healing is an invaluable resource. Susan has experienced so much during her life that at points I felt like I was reading a novel rather than a memoir written by an academic publisher. Rosemary also writes about her experience over the years as psychologist. She worked in university-affiliated hospital, eventually heading a department. Over time she felt the work she was doing wasn't contributing to the overall wellness of patients. Rosemary left the hospital and set-up a private practice.
Rosemary and Susan are friends, Rosemary was never Susan's psychologist (fyi). Rosemary provides modern analysis for the things Susan experienced through the 1960s-1980s. Having read a number of histories of psychiatry, particularly as they pertain to women I found this both useful and enlightening. Rosemary also set-up interviews to help bring further light to Susan's experiences. I thought these interviews were a highlight of the book. While the final chapter on emerging values in focused on severe mental illness, I think there are many lessons which can cross over to other chronic illness and which I'll be looking to integrate myself.
It could be when I attempted to pick the book up initially it just wanted the right time, but this was!