Dr. Julie Holland shares her experiences working the Psych ER at Bellevue Hospital in NYC for 9 years. She also tells us about her medical training and her family life.
This is a quick and easy read, it is interesting and informative. I don't always like her, I don't always agree with everything she says; but she commands respect and some of the things that she said are things that I will think about in my own life. As the parent of a child newly on a psych med the book came to me at an appropriate time. Some of her statements were very comforting to me. I also appreciated her sense of humor.
Dr. Holland, you ask, "To murmur the same lines as everyone else - "My heart goes out to you. I am so sorry for your loss." - what does that accomplish?" As a bereaved parent I would like to let you know that it accomplishes a lot. Each person that said it gave comfort, and every card that was received that said it was kept and cherished. But I also want to thank you for saying, "It is the ultimate undoing, the pain of losing a child."

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

I've mailed this to klaradyn in South Africa as the winner of a contest. Congratulations and I hope you enjoy it!

Thanks so much, oliviapoolside. This book looks really interesting!

I did find this book mostly interesting, but Julie Holland herself comes across as a bit of an unpleasant person. Not that I'm saying everyone in books always has to be pleasant ... in this case I just didn't like her that much, and it affected my enjoyment of the book.

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

Will be posted to rockyhorror1978 tomorrow as a RABCK, as it is on her wishlist.

My book 92 for guinaveve's Keep Them Moving challenge.
My book 13 for the Biography challenge.

Thank you, thank you for this wonderful wishlist book! I look forward to reading it and passing it along!

Being familiar with Dr. Holland's advocacy work for using consciousness expanding substances for mental health treatment, I had high hopes for this book. That being said, I found her experience working in the psychiatric emergency department at a NYC hospital very interesting, but really took issue with the language she used to describe the people who were in her care. Having worked in a crisis setting for several years, I am familiar with how trying the system and the individuals you are trying to care for can be. However, it is entirely inappropriate to use language like "crazy" to describe patients. I had a difficult time looking beyond this language knowing that it can have a stigmatizing and demoralizing effect on people.

If you can get past the language, this book is an interesting read.

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RELEASE NOTES: Released in the LFL in Triangle Park.