Psychiatric Tales

“We don't tolerate sexism and racism these days, but people with mental health problems are still fair game. Mockery, discrimination, and stigma persist despite research showing mental illness to be as real as any other illness.”

A poignant and interesting look at various mental health issues from the point of view of someone who spent many years working in a psychiatric hospital and suffered from severe depression himself. While I didn't particularly love the art, Cunningham's writing was great. I love reading about mental illness from people who have suffered it as well; their descriptions of it are always so interesting to me. This book kind of was a nice reminder of why I majored in psychology in the first place. I spent so much time misjudging mental illness that once I experienced it myself I felt so horrible about how I judged others that I realized it was more than worth studying and understanding so that I could educate others to not make the mistake I did. I'm going to have to recommend this to my psych teachers now and to anyone who was in the position I was before of not understanding the seriousness and legitimacy of mental illness.

I also found his description of his experiences with depression to be very relatable and it really hit home for me. It brought me back to about this time last year when I was at the lowest I had ever been. It was tough to read at times and really made me remember just how bad it was. But that only made it more powerful and clear that something had to be said. So I'm glad I read this despite the memories and feelings it brought back because I don't want to go back to being the judgmental idiot I used to be about mental health.