Read the entire memoir here: www.freedom-center.org/pdf/Denizen-of-the-Back-Ward.doc

On the morning of Wednesday May 27, 2009 my husband and I went to the Peach State Center for what I believed was a couples counseling session. My husband had set the 8 AM appointment, but upon checking in, the receptionist directed her questions about the appointment at me. Curious as to the reason for this focus, I asked why this was, but got no logical answer. Dr. Mahmud then appeared at the door leading to the exam rooms and conducted my husband and I to her office. Once seated, Dr. Mahmud started what I knew was a psychiatric assessment, i.e., was I having thoughts of suicide, rushing thoughts, etc. I again asked why the questions were directed at me and Dr. Mahmud told me that my husband believed that I needed to be on medication. The reason given was that I supposedly threatened to jump over a bannister two weeks prior. Nothing could have been further from the truth, and I felt betrayed by my husband's dishonesty.

Gail Hornstein talks about her new book
Agnes's Jacket: A Psychologist's Search for the Meanings of Madness

next Wednesday, May 20, 2009 at 6.30pm at the
Holyoke Public Library Community Room, Holyoke, MA

Free and Open to the Public, all welcome

Parking  behind library on Chestnut Street
Use entrance from Parking Lot & elevator to 2nd floor
For information: 413-532-2081

Listen to radio interviews with Gail here.

Listen to Gail Hornstein's radio interviews -- one on the local National Public Radio affiliate, WFCR and the other with Deborah Harper of psychjourney.com.

http://www.freedom-center.org/radio/HornsteinWFCRAgenssJacket04-09.mp3

http://www.freedom-center.org/radio/harper_hornstein_agness_jacket.mp3

Congratulations Gail!

 

Agnes’s Jacket
A Psychologist’s Search for the Meanings of Madness
Gail A. Hornstein

 

Reading and Book Signing
Odyssey Bookshop, South Hadley, MA
March 26 • Thursday • 7 pm

Today, in a vibrant underground network of “psychiatric survivor groups” all over the world, patients work together to unravel the mysteries of madness and help one another recover. Optimistic, courageous, and surprising, Agnes’s Jacket (on sale starting March 17; $25.95; Hardcover) takes us from a code-cracking bunker during World War II to the church basements and treatment centers where a whole new way of understanding the mind has begun to take form.

 

“Agnes’s Jacket takes readers on a mesmerizing journey ...  Every page is animated by    Hornstein’s curiosity, her candor, and her evident empathy for those who have bravely welcomed her into their lives.”
Robert Whitaker, author of Mad in America

 

Free and open to the public.  Call (413) 534-7307 to reserve a space.   If you can’t attend, a signed book can be reserved for you.

 

Freedom Center is organizing a spring Speak Out and we want your help! Join slam poet and mental health activist Leah Harris from DC, Caty Simon, Lee Hurter and others. We need speakers and volunteers for this upcoming event -- get in touch with caty(at)freedom-center(dot)org.

Please forward

Tues February 5th
7pm

Broadside Bookshop 247 Main St Northampton MA

Discussion with Will Hall, author of the new

*Harm Reduction Guide to Coming Off Psychiatric Drugs*