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by: Elyn R. Saks  EAN: 9781844081622 ISBN: 1844081621 Label: Virago Press (UK) Manufacturer: Virago Press (UK) Number Of Items: 1 Number Of Pages: 313 Publication Date: 2007-01 Publisher: Virago Press (UK) Studio: Virago Press (UK) Related Items:
Browse for similar items by category: Click to Display Editorial Review: Product Description: Elyn Saks is Professor of Law and Psychiatry at University of Southern California Law School. She's the author of several books. Happily married. And - a schizophrenic. Saks lifts the veil on schizophrenia with her startling and honest account of how she learned to live with this debilitating disease. With a coolly clear, measured tone she talks about her condition, the stigma attached and the deadening effects of medication. Her controlled narrative is disrupted by interjections from the part of her mind she has learned to suppress. Delusions, hallucinations and threatening voices cut into her reality and Saks, in a remarkably vivid way, enables us to hear and see them too. This is a powerful book that is as informative as it is moving. There are parallels with Jane Lapotaire's Time Out of Mind and with Girl, Interrupted. Average Rating:
 Rating:  - The Center Cannot Hold;: My Journey Through MadnessThis is an amazing account of an intelligent woman who will not let one of the most devastating mental illnesses, schizophrenia, beat her. Her courage and honesty are amazing. What she has achieved is beyond what "normal" people can imagine. She has done so much for those with mental illness and their families by her brave account, not just in showing how it can be managed but the failures of understanding in the medical community. Rating:  - the center CAN holdI struggled through this book. Surely Elyn would quit having so many psychotic symptoms; surely her meds would stop her symptoms; certainly she would realize that seeing an analyst was not helping with her symptoms. About two-thirds of the way through, I put it down thinking I would return it to its owner. However, a month later when I read some positive book reviews, I picked it back up hoping to read that she was free of psychotic symptoms. Instead, she continues to live inside her ... Read More Rating:  - The Center Finally Does Hold'The Center Cannot Hold' presents an extremely admirable story. Professor Saks not only survives but thrives despite having schizophrenia. 'The Center Cannot Hold' shows Professor Saks to have an almost superhuman will power. Despite set back after set back Professor Saks returns to the ring time after time and finally triumphs. I think the real strength of this book is that it shows people with schizophrenia frequently to be decent caring people with a profound sense of justice. In terms of psychoanalysis, ... Read More Rating:  - Something is missing here.What everyone who reviews this book and Ms. Saks herself untterly fails to realize is the devastating affect that her two years with "Operation ReEntry" had on her emotional and psychological development. Spawned from Synanon, a destructive and cruel cult that borrowed its methods from Korean war era mind-control and brainwashing techniques, it had her brainwashed into believing that she needed to have her spirit broken down and "rebuilt" although she never makes clear in what way it was beneficial for her ... Read More Rating: - Exceptional read!!One of the best of all the books I have read over the 15 years my son has been struggling to find his place in a society that refuses to care for his needs. It gave me tremendous insight into his struggles, and I am now reading Sak's third book, "Refusing Care." I have suggested "Center Cannot Hold" to the local chapter of the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill, so that families can borrow the book, read it, and gain their own "insight" into the details our loved ones are unable to tell us about. It certainly ... Read More 
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