graphic organizer - pgs.241-283 - krissy

Towards the end of the book, the therapy Vincent undergoes at Mobius begins to really get through to her. She begins to understand what she needs to do to help herself get better, in terms of coming to grips with the disease she has. Through all the therapy, and a final exercise done by the group, Vincent leaves Mobius feeling that, while she’s not completely better, she is making progress.

Norah Vincent

What Norah Vincent really looks like.....

http://www.redroom.com/files/imagecache/USER_PICTURE_PROFILE_PAGE/images/NorahAuthorPhotoFredrikBroden

citations

"Norah Vincent on 'Voluntary Madness"" Interview with Book TV. Youtube.com. 9 Mar. 2009. 26 Mar. 2009 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5tG-Q67Ayzo.


"Antipsychotic Medications". about.com. 26 Mar. 2009 http://bipolar.about.com/od/antipsychotics/Antipsychotics.htm>.


MFMER, "Mental Illness". Mayo Clinic. 26 Mar. 2009 <https://ssl.search.live.com/health/article.aspx?id=articles%2fmc%2fpages%2f3%2fDS01104.html&q=Mental+Disease>.


Last, Walter. "Mental Diseases". 26 Mar. 2009 <http://www.health-science-spirit.com/mentaldisease.html>.

Leupo, Kimberly. "The History Of Mental Illness". 26 Mar. 2009 http://www.toddlertime.com/advocacy/hospitals/Asylum/history-asylum.htm.

Janssen, "Mental Wellness - History of Mental Illness". Ortho-McNeil-Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc.. 26 Mar. 2009 http://www.mentalwellness.com/mentalwellness/history.html.

Clark, David. "The Story of a Mental Hospital:Fulbourn, 1858-1983". The Human Nature Review. 26 Mar. 2009 http://www.human-nature.com/free-associations/clark/.

Grigoriadis, Vanessa. "Book Review -'Voluntary Madness'". The New York Times. 29 Mar. 2009 http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/25/books/review/Grigoriadis-t.html?ref=books.

"Voluntary Madness Book Review". Entertainment Weekly. 29 Mar. 2009 http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20245292,00.html.

Linklater, Alexander. "Review: Voluntary Madness by Norah Vincent". The Observer. 29 Mar. 2009 http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2009/jan/11/lost-found-book-review.

Introduction to Voluntary Madness

For our lit circle project, we are going to be reading Voluntary Madness by Norah Vincent. It is a New York Times bestselling book.

Overall, we think that this topic is extremely interesting. Most people have no clue what goes on in mental facilities/institutions, and this book will be a great way to gain more insight on the topic. We feel undereducated about it, so the topic sparks our interest and makes us actually want to know more.

Our demographics don't really affect how we will read the book. We haven't been brought up to be "shun" the mentally ill, but since we haven't been exposed to the patients, we might be a little scared of the patients. We all went into this book with an open mind, since we haven't had any experiences that would make us think differently.

The only person who has really been "exposed" to the topic of mental hospitals is Krissy. She wrote a paper on Schizoprenia and did research on the subject for about a year. Otherwise, Neil and Alecia have no previous knowledge of the ethnography and are pretty much clueless.

In general, a bias towards mental patients are that they are crazy, depressed, loud, and unclean. These may sound mean, but people have biased opinions because they are undereducated about a subject, so they make up their own views and put wrong thoughts into there heads. None of us have had relatives in a mental hospital, so we are not directly related and will not be affected emotionally by this book.

Journal 4: 4/26/09

We have greatly improved our knowledge of this topic from reading this book. It is a highly underfunded area as far as public facilities go and that at some facilities the patients are treated very unkindly and unfairly. Drug companies have a big say in what the hospitals give out to the patients; the doctors practically shove the drugs down the patients throats even if they do not need them. There is also a big misconception about the type of people in the facilities. For the most part, they are just normal human beings who have reached a "fork" in the road.

Considering the situation, we think that what she did was totally ethical. If she were to go into the facility and be upfront and say that "hey I'm doing research and not really mental" she wouldn't get the correct research and the patients would probably shun her or protest what she was doing. At the same time, the patients were kind of "exposed" and that is kind of unethical. She does take steps to protect his or her identity though, by giving them pseudonyms.

Vincent's main conclusion is that you have to want to get better to actually get better. You can't just expect to get better by staying in the hospital/facility. Getting better requires participation and the want to get better. "Happiness is my right as an American. Not it's pursuit, but it's persistance..." Also, getting better is something that you cannot do yourself. You need to have people around you; to care for you, to give you support, to love you. You can lean on other people and be vulnerable, because that is a step to achieving happiness and becoming on the right path.

We really don't think that this kind of information can be discovered any other way. You actually have to be in the mindset and be in the situation to get the correct information and research. A doctor could try to inform you about it, but in reality he only sees what goes on on the outside. He is on the outside looking in, which looks totally different than being on the inside looking out. For her book, Norah Vincent did the right thing by becoming one of the patients.

We think that to some degree the ethnography is successful, but not overall. Norah Vincent had a lot of biased opinions and that kind of made some of the points not as fair as they should be for an ethnography. To have a successful ethnography, biases should be completely erased. We did think that it was a good book to shed light on the situation because no one really talks about mental hospitals or mental patients.

Graphic Organizer: 202-240-Alecia

Norah Vincent starts doing den chi bon with the rest of the patients. It was instructed by Sam, one of Mobius’s therapists. It consisted of yogic style stretches and deep breathing, and Vincent really got into it. Part of the healing process at Mobius is process therapy, where everyone goes around in a circle and says a behavior, the thought, and perception. Vincent’s said that her behavior was affairs. Finally, in a private therapy session, Vincent answers the behavior, thought, and perception question. This time, Vincent confesses her obsession with sex, and how she was molested as a child. She seems very nonchalant about it, and comes across as if it is old news and didn’t matter to her.

Vocab Builder: 241-283-Alecia

1. Antithesis (243): the direct opposite.
2. Despondency (245): depression of spirits from loss of hope, confidence, or courage; dejection.
3. Cognizant (248): having awareness.
4. Anatomizing (248): to examine in great detail.
5. Inexorably (248): unalterable.
6. Unfettered (249): to set free or keep free from restrictions or bonds.
7. Inundate (269): to overwhelm.
8. Cajole (275): to persuade by flattery or promises.
9. Impermanence (263): not permanent or enduring.
10. Crux (257): a vital, basic, decisive, or pivotal point.

Neil, Summarizer, 241-283

This passage begins with Norah venting about how the therapy had actually worked on her. It had revealed some things deep inside of her that she had no idea was ever there. In the long run she realizes that it may help but she is upset that she let the therapy get to her which resulted in her having a mild breakdown. Carol, one of the therapists, used a diagram method which helped Norah connect the molestation from her youth all the way to the suicidal thoughts she has had during her adulthood. She realizes that this therapy is working and she is happy to now have the tools needed to begin working on herself. Working on her happiness.

Towards the end of her stay Norah really realizes how much of a paradise Mobious is compared to St. Lukes and especially compared to Meriwether. They are not only given the two hour day passes each day but they do things like go to the beach or to the movies. If it was raining they would go to the museum or just hang around in each others apartments. The others complained about things like having to stay in the group and having to be driven around, but Norah is the only one who knows that this place is a paradise of mental facilities. Upon her release from Mobious the staff left her with warm and comforting good-byes. Her stay at Mobious was a pleasant and rewarding one she says, "in stark contrast to the way I felt when I left the other places I'd been, that I wouldn't be at all averse to coming back to Mobious for a tune-up if I needed one" (268).

She closes the book by looking back on her experiences in the three mental hospitals and trying to see what she has taken away from this experience. She has come to the conclusion that it is not only the hospitals fault for what she sees is a lack of caring, it is the patients fault as well. She sees it as many patients do not want to be there and therefore will not do anything to try and help themselves. "nothing and no one can do for a person what he will not do for himself, even if he is crazy" (274). She says the key to therapy isn't what type of institution you are in or what type of treatment you receive, the key is a willingness to change. If someone doesn't have the inner drive to change and help themselves become happy, there is no way a doctor or a hospital is magically going to be able to cure them. They need to go out and make a change they need to as Norah says "Do it yourself" (278).

summarizer - 202-240 - krissy

In this portion of the book, Vincent enters into her third and final facility of her research, a place she dubbed Mobius. This place, from her description, is far different from both of the previous facilities she attended. It's for more structured than St. Luke's was, and leaps and bounds above Meriwether's level. Vincent goes on to describe her arrival; meeting Diggs, who is basically a chauffer for the patients, meeting the other patients that she would be living with for two weeks and the doctors and other staff that would be caring for her while there. She also talks about, as she does with both of the other facilities, what the group therapy sessions were like. She makes a point that most people don't care, don't show interest in what's happening at these therapy sessions. It's safe to say that the nicer the facility, the more effort that is put into a mentally ill person's well-being, the less interest the person being cared for has in it all. It seems that at Mobius, and St. Luke's, most patients have no desire to be a part of the group. In addition to the group therapy sessions, Vincent talks about the other forms of therapy used at Mobius, many of which she is skeptical of at first, but as she participates, she finds that they really are somewhat of a relief to her.

graphic organizer - pgs. 177-202 - krissy

Through this part of the book, Norah is given a day pass, a form of trust, and from then on she shows even more improvement in St. Luke’s. This progression helps her come to the conclusion of what sort of facility to inhabit next, seeing as she saw herself as “stable” but not fully better.

Quizzer: Pages 177-202-Alecia

1. Norah Vincent's conclusions from staying at St. Luke's were that we need each other to cope with tough times in our lives. Do you agree?

I definitely agree with Vincent about this. I think that no matter how sad or depressed you are or how much you want to just be by yourself, you should always go to someone. It's better to get your feelings out and talk to someone than bottle them up inside. Everyone copes differently, but being with other people makes you feel happier.

2. Vincent gave us a short overview of the kind of treatment place Mobius is. Do you think that this will be affective or no?

I think that Mobius will be effective for only certain kinds of people. It seems to be more upscale, and if you like to do a lot of different activities throughout the day, then this treatment facility would work for you. However, I do think that there isn't as much group activity and togetherness, since they live in separate apartments.

3. At Mobius, they allow you to bring in your own drugs. Does this seem like a logical thing to do?

I don't really know how to feel about this. I think that on the outside, it seems like a logical thing to do, but the patients could bring in some really dangerous drugs and sell them to other patients or overdose. I think that it is best if the doctors handle the drugs, but it is nice that they get to choose what they want instead of just having drugs shoved own their throats.

4. Why wasn't Vincent's insurance company covering her stay at St. Luke's anymore?

Her insurance company wasn't covering her stay at the asylum anymore mainly because Vincent was from a different state. She wasn't taking any medication, which made it seem like she wasn't really sick. Vincent also was granted a 2-hour pass to go work out every day, and the insurance company didn't like that because she was out on her own and not being supervised.

Neil, Vocab Builder, 202-240

1. Catharses (210): purification or purgation of the emotions (as pity and fear) primarily through art.
2. Galvanized (213): to stimulate or excite as if by an electric shock.
3. Asunder (214): into separate parts or pieces.
4. Somnolent (217): of a kind likely to induce sleep.
5. Flagrante (226): in the act of committing a crime or offence; in the act of having illicit sexual intercourse.
6. Raucous (234): disagreeably harsh or strident.
7. Reverie (234): the condition of being lost in thought.
8. Crass (237): without refinement, delicacy, or sensitivity.
9. Scoffing (238): to show contempt by derisive acts or language.
10. Progenitor (239): an ancestor in the direct line.

Neil, Summarizer, 177-202

This passage begins with Norah explaining the second half of her stint at St. Lukes. She explains that she realizes tht a one hour day pass isn't long enough to get her full exercise so she goes and asks for a two hour pass. Surprisingly, something that would never happen at Meriwether, her request is granted and the doctors give her a two hour day pass. With this she was not only able to get in her full desired workout but she was able to get a real full meal with a couple very satisfying beers. She has a meeting with "Magic Doc" and he lets her know that because she is going on two hour day passes that her insurance company will no longer cover her stay at St. Lukes. They both vent about the drug companies pushing unnecessary medication on some patients and Norah expresses how much better this doctor is than the doctors at Meriwether.

Her departure from St. Lukes was far more smooth and orderly than her departure from Meriwether. She is not forced to wait for unwanted perscriptions to be filled and is not forced to sit and wait for her release. The staff is friendly and courtious throughout her departure, just as they had been for the duration of her stay. They gave her taxi vouchers to get into town and then another one to get to the airport. Upon her final release she expresses her overall appreciation for the way Magic Doc treated her. His nondependance on perscription medication and the fact that it seemed like he actually cared seperated him from the other doctors she had dealt with in the past.

She ends the passage by comparing her stays in both Meriwether and St. Lukes. Even though the facilities and ammenities they were granted at St. Lukes were much better, the price tag on the stay at both facilities was virtually the same. She claimed that the approach at St. Lukes was much more effective but was still far from perfect. She thought it simply provided a break from a person's normally hectic life. It was an avenue that she could take to get away from everything and just pause her life for 10 days. It wasn't totally effective, it wasn't going to be a magical cure for mental illness. She decided she needed to enter one final mental facility, one that offered a different approach "from the locked-ward" (199). The passage ends with her finding a final hospital that takes a different approach, Mobious Group, that she will enter for a two week period.

Neil, Graphic Organizer, 142-176

During pages 142-176, Norah really begins to describe her situation at St. Lukes. As she gets into the details of her experience there, she continues to compare it to her experience at Meriwether. With basically every comparison she makes a point to describe how much better St. Lukes is than Meriwether in almost every way. One of the main points she tries to make is how much better her doctor is at St. Lukes. How he actually cares about her as a patient and isn't there to simply flaunt his degree and perscribe her to every medication under the sun. She explains how he actually listens to her suggestions and gives her what she thinks get her back on the road to recovery.

Journal 3-3/12/09

As a group, we question her biased opinion on the drugs that many mental patients take and are prescribed. They may work not well for her, but for others the drug may have a different effect since they affect everyone differently. To check this information out, we could do more background research on the drugs that she talks about in the book and read up on them. There are many studies being done on drugs dealing with mental ill patients and depression patients, so they would help with clearing the air on the drugs.

Another thing that we question as a group is the hospitals/institutions that she is staying in. Since she is a patient on the inside, she is biased towards where she is staying and how much she is paying etc. She doesn't know how much or the kind of outside work that is being done to keep the place running and functioning as a hospital. To get more information on this subject, it would be a good idea to research the kinds of places that she stays. This would be a little difficult because Vincent used pseudonym names for the places she stays at, but we would research in general the types of places. For example, a public mental hospital, a private Catholic hospital, and then a sort of "new age" hospital.

To make the information presented easy to understand, Vincent talks as a normal human being. Her writing is a very loose style, and she doesn't use a lot of jargon to try to make her sound more professional. She knows a lot about the subject, so she knows how to word her knowledge and explains the types of drugs that we aren't familiar with.

There are many places where we could look for more information on this topic. W.H, a reviewer on amazon.com, recommends The Center Cannot Hold by Elyn R. Saks, The Quiet Room by Lori Schiller, and An Unquiet Mind by Kary Redfield Jamison for more material on mental illness and it's treatment. Books are a great way to learn more information about an unkown topic. Another great way to learn more is to get in contact with a Psychiatrist and talk with them because it would be a good biased in contrast with Vincent. We could also try to visit a mental hospital to try to experience it first hand.

quizzer-142-176; krissy

1 - In this section, Vincent talks about how one patient at St. Luke's mentioned using Meth to calm himself down, and that Ritalin wouldn't work anymore. Do you think that we over-medicate children with hyperactivity problems, potentially pushing them towards drug abuse?

I believe that, in America, we do tend to over-medicate our children, but I don't think that medicating them pushes them to drug abuse. That, in my opinion, would be caused by the parents casually overdosing them in an attempt to calm them. That daily overdose would eventually make the drug less effective.

2 - Do you think that a lenient (trusting, personable) doctor is advantageous to a mental facility?

Yes, I think that if a doctor is kinder to his patients, the patients are more likely to respond to treatments. Most people in those situations haven't been given much trust, and to have a person finally give them that back, I believe they'd be more willing to accept what treatments the facility has to offer.

3 - What do you think are the best conditions for someone to undergo "mental healing"? Which of these qualities does St. Luke's possess. Which ones does it not possess?

I think that privacy and structure are essential for healing in the mental capacity. Also, kindness and a sort of freedom (not total freedom, since they are potential dangers to themselves and others). St. Lukes has all of these qualities, except for structure. It seems that the patients are allowed a lot of time to themselves, which isn't productive for them at all.

4 - "Happiness is my right as an American. Not it's pursuit, but it's persistance..." What do you think Vincent meant by that statement, and how does it pertain to her being in a mental facility?

I think that, by that statement, Vincent meant that American's aren't taking control over their own happiness. They expect others to take care of it and ensure their happiness for them. This pertains to mental health in general in the fact that the facilities exist then, only to try and appease the selfishness of Americans and their demand for happiness. They're always going to want someone else to fix their problems for them, and they aren't seemingly taking responsibility for their mental health.

Journal 2

The author/ethnographer of Voluntary Madness is Norah Vincent. She is actually a journalist and her only other book that she has written is Self Made Man, where she disguised herself as a man and lived as one for a period of time. She used to be a weekly columnist for the New York Times, and she now writes quarterly articles for The Advocate. Vincent has also written for The New Republic, the New York Post, The Village Voice, and The Washington Post.

In Voluntary Madness, Vincent wanted to give people a better idea about what it is actually like to be in a mental institution. She wanted to clear up the stereotypes and set the talk straight about how mentally ill people really are. Since she was once in a mental hospital herself, she has a better insight about how it is to be mentally ill since she is "faking" it while doing her research.

Vincent's process was to enter a mental hospital for 10 days to up to 2 weeks. Our group thinks that she is somewhat flawed in this process because she only stayed for a short period of time. It's hard to really get close with people and make generalizations about them in only two weeks. Another flaw is how valid the information is that Vincent collected from the mentally ill patients. There may be fluctuations in what one person says versus another person.

After reading many reviews of Voluntary Madness, most readers do not like this book at all. The most common problem that people have with this book is that Vincent was biased towards certain medications even before she entered the mental hospitals because of her previous encounters with the medications. Jacinda, a reviewer on amazon.com, comments that there is no point to the book and doesn't know who it is written for. (amazon.com) She also notes that it is "practically an insult to who actually have a diagnosed mental illness, and full of opinions disguised as information" (amazon.com). The New York Times said that a more fair subtitle would be "My Five Weeks in the Loony Bin"(nytimes.com). Leigh-Ann from goodreads.com says that it would have been a better read if "it really had been an outsider's account of life in a mental institution, but instead, the book quickly becomes an account of Vincent's own battle with depression" (goodreads.com).

Summarizer: Pg. 142-176-Alecia

This reading is a continuation of Norah Vincent's stay at St. Luke's hospital. At St. Luke's, Vincent gets a room to herself and her own bathroom. Since she didn't have her own bathroom at Meriwether, Vincent says that she sat in the bathroom with the light out and the door shut and would just think. She then talks about spending time with her fellow hospitalmates. Bard was 19-years-old who had to stay there for 90 days. He didn't go to high school so he lived with his dad and worked at a thrift store. He got into drugs like crystal meth and Ritalin. One day Bard came home to find all the furniture and his dad gone. In their free time, everyone would play cards, especially the game bullshit.

The biggest difference between Meriwether and St. Luke's was that there was more freedom at St. Luke's. It was nearly impossible to escape at Meriwether, with no privacy and people watching 24/7. At St. Luke's, Vincent could slip away from her group whenever she wanted and no one came looking for her. There were three locked doors, but since they had time for smoke breaks, someone could run away then.

Vincent had an interesting encounter with her doctor. She had a sour attitude towards doctors in general, but this one was different. Vincent could tell that he really cared about her when he asked how she was doing. "I was so pleasantly surprised I could have shit myself right there and happily sat in it. He was a keeper". He talked about how he was dyslexic so that made him humble. They talked about grammar and how different languages were. She finally told him that she didn't want to be put on any medicine and he said "okay". This blew her away. He also gave her an hour pass to go running in the park daily, which was another surprise.

Now Vincent switches from the psychotic ward to the depressive ward. She said that it has a very different feel that the psychotic one. Gerald, a 60-year-old, was the first person she met. He had dead eyes that were unemotional and only spoke when spoken to. He wore the same clothes every day, was overweight, and didn't shower. Teary Molly usually could be found coloring. Trevor was a replica of Gerald. His pale skin shed in large flakes onto his grayish brown unwashed hair. He as well did not shower. Josephine was in her twenties, but acted like a stuck up 15-year-old. She constantly ate and always drank Vault soda. Delilah, a 65-year-old, functioned as a 6-year-old. She told the staff what they wanted to hear, and was immature and would tell guys when their zippers when down. Celine was in her seventies and was depressed because of old age. She still had humor though.

Vincent still had her own room and bathroom, but didn't have a shower. Her room was painted blue and she had her own night light and could control the lights as well.

Neil, Quizzer, 106-141

1. After such a terrible experience being locked in Meriwether for 10 days would you be able to voluntarily check yourself into another mental hospital?
After what she described during her experience I don't think I could voluntary check myself back in. After she described how amazing the feeling of freedom and fresh air was it would be very difficult for me to have my freedom taken again. If I had the distaste for Meriwether like Norah does I wouldn't be able to pick up everything and put myself right back into that terrible situation.

2. Do you have an issue with the drug companies having such an influence and say in what the mental hospital does?
I believe the way she portrays it, there is an issue with the amount of influence the drug companies have, but I believe Norah may also be very biased. She makes it sound as though the only treatment these hospitals rely on is prescription drugs. She makes it sound as though the drug companies are the primary financial backing for the hospital and therefore there is increased pressure to prescribe the patients to their drugs. I think Norah may be over exaggerating the drug companies influence but I believe that doctors are too quick to prescribe their patients to these drugs.

3. Do you think they should have the MI (mental illness) and the CD (Chemical dependency) patients in the same clinic?
It was quite odd to me when I read that St. Lukes housed both people suffering from mental illness and people suffering from chemical dependency in the same clinic. I was under the impression that these are two far different diseases and should be dealt with completely differently. I think that when they have them housed in the same clinic it is a much more general treatment as opposed to specialized treatment. It would be a more effective clinic if they moved away from general treatment and more towards specialized treatment for each individual patient.

4. Norah seems to think St. Lukes is a far better institution then Meriwethewr, do you agree?
I agree that St. Lukes seems like a better institution overall but I think there is still much room for improvement. I like that the patients have much more freedom and are allowed little things like a cigarette break and some fresh air. I also like that they are allowed to interact with other patients more freely because I think that is important to recovery. I however think that St. Lukes shouldn't have all of the patients mixed together and should like all hospitals, rely less on prescription drugs and more on actual rehabilitation.

Summarizer-106-141; krissy

In this section, Vincent introduces the second facility she checked into, dubbed St. Luke's. This facility is privately owned religious one, where it's immediately apparent that the care and quality of the facility is better than Meriwether. She then describes the admission process for this new facility, and how the questions seem a little strange at first, and finally being locked into the unit where she'd stay. Vincent, in typical fashion, then goes on describe her new company, ranging this time from druggies to psychotics, but all in better repair than those at Meriwether. Also, she goes into a detail about how St. Luke's is superior to Meriwether in the fact that there's more freedom, and smoke breaks that allow her fresh air (if she can avoid the smoke of the others, that is). This section ends with her coming in contact with a man who was discharged from the army for liking killing, which, in all honesty, is just a little creepy.

Graphic Organizer: Pg. 106-141-Alecia

In pages 106-141, Norah Vincent goes through a big change in her life. After she checks out of Meriwether, she thinks that she will make it and be fine. However, after she starts to stop taking her medicine, she stops feeling like her normal self. She wakes up in the morning and feels “dread”. Vincent starts having not normal thoughts and lies in a bathtub in a fetal position without the water running. She then
proceeds to check herself into St. Luke’s, and this time she doesn’t need to “fake it”. Vincent likes St. Luke’s a lot better than Meriwether because they get snacks, and can go outside and smoke.

Quizzer: Pages 71-105-Alecia

1. Do you think that the patients at Meriwether were handled and treated correctly? What grade would you give Meriwether based on their efforts?

For the basics, I think that Meriwether did an okay job. I would not praise them by any means, but they did get food, free time, and a place to sleep. Yet Meriwether was dirty, smelled like pee, and the head nurse was a witch. I think that all of the rules that they had there could make a person go insane even if they weren't when they first got there. I would probably give Meriwether Hospital an average grade of a C. They definitely didn't go above and beyond, but they did the basics for taking care of the patients.

2. Do you agree or disagree with the way that Meriwether diagnoses it's patients?

I definitely disagree with the way that they diagnose patients. I feel like they don't even fully evaluate them when they first enter the hospital and they are lazy about it. Vincent talks to a lot of the patients about the medicine that they are given from the doctors and medical students. She tells them that the medicine they are taking is wrong and is really surprised that the doctors gave them it; like they don't know what to really give them, so they just give them a random drug.

3. Do you think depression is a disease or just "in someone's head"?

I think that depression is a real disease. I have a very close friend who is clinically depressed and when she is not on her medicine she just cries and cries and is insanely crabby and just wants to be by herself. Depression is a chemical inbalance in the brain. Many people don't think that depression is an actual disease, they think that it is just a call for attention and in someones head.

4. Vincent said that her stay 10 day stay at Meriwether cost her around $14,000 or about $1,400 a day. Do you think that the cost is okay for the kind of treatment that the patients receive?

I think that the cost is absolutely absurd. The patients did not receive any sort of excellent treatment and they didn't get anything special. I think that the cost probably goes towards the doctors that are working there because they went to med school and deserve to be paid a lot. However, I think that they are slacking and need to be put on probation. I think that the money could be put towards better things like janitors because the place smells horrible and is kept dirty.

vocab builder, 71-105, krissy

Conjectural (74): Given to making conjectures; speculative, theoretical
Trenchant (76): incisive or keen, as language or a person; caustic; cutting
Languishing (76): expressive of languor; indicating tender, sentimental melancholy
Apocalyptica (77): of or like an apocalypse; affording a revelation or prophecy
Gustatorily (80): of or pertaining to taste or tasting.
Begrudging (80): to envy or resent the pleasure or good fortune of someone
Denigrate (82): to speak damagingly of; criticize in a derogatory manner; sully; defame
Impugn (82): to challenge another’s statements, motives, etc. as false, cast doubt upon
Paramount (83): chief in importance or impact; supreme; preeminent
Immersive (104): pertaining to immersing or plunging into something

Neil, 71-105, Summarizer

This passage opens with Norah continuing to explain the connections she is making her fellow patients at Meriwether. She explains how some of the patients look up to her and then are desperate for her attention. She then made the mistake of trying to cheer Ellen up by getting her some McDonald's and a Pepsi from the outside. Once another patient found out that she did this for Ellen, the flood gates opened and everybody was on her to get them stuff from the outside. She continued to do it for a few days until Kid asked her to get him an iPod, that was the last straw, she was done.

Norah then goes into a bit of a rant against prescription drugs. She talks about how many people not only inside Meriwether but around the country are over-prescribed to drugs. She notices that the hospital not only accepts drugging everybody, they promote it. Zyprexa, a mood stabilizer, was the flavor of the month at Meriwether. There was posters and fliers promoting the drug and the nurses even used a clipboard embroidered with the drugs name.

Norah thinks that some of the people who are in Meriwether do not need to be there at all. Casey for example simply was a little bit down and made some slightly suicidal remarks to her therapist, and here she is. Norah thinks that many therapists are way to willing to admit their patients to mental hospitals. She thinks they do this to cover their back, because if they didn't put them away and the patient ended up hurting them self or someone else it would be their head.

Norah then realizes her stay at Meriwether is coming to a close. She is reaching the 10-day mark, the mark she set out to be released on before she entered the hospital. After what she claimed was hours upon hours of paperwork on that final day she was released, she was free. When she got outside it was almost as if it wasn't real, she thought someone was going to grab her and bring her right back inside. Her time on the inside made her learn to not take for granted the little things you enjoy in everyday life.

After leaving Meriwether Norah realized that her research wasn't complete. She needed to investigate another hospital. A hospital that was much more white and middle class. She believed the inner city hospital she was at had provided good information but she is looking for more. The passage ends just as she finds "a place with a population that was both small and 95 percent white" (103).

quizzer 36-70; krissy

1.) How would you react to having many of your “basic wants” withheld from you (such as shoelaces and pens)?
I, like most of my peers, take things like pens and shoelaces for granted. Having to live without those things might be a rude awakening to other’s realities, and would show me that I am either more or less resourceful than I give myself credit for.

2.) If you were in Vincent’s position, and had access to little luxuries like cigarettes and fast food, would you, if at all, use that ability to your advantage? What advantage would you have?
If I were in that position, where I could gain power (to some degree) over the other patients, I honestly believe I would. Being sort of like a dealer allows you control over the people who want what you can supply. Also, being someone technically “sane” in a mental facility can be a trying experience, and having any sort of control over your situations would be an advantage to you.
3.) How would you react to having your privacy totally taken away from you?
I’m the sort of person that really appreciates her privacy, so being in the situation where I have it taken away from me would be very difficult. I’m used to being able to close a door have time to myself, when no one will bother me, but in a facility like Meriwether, that luxury is totally taken from you.

4.) Norah Vincent mentions that in Meriwether, no physical contact of any kind was allowed. How do you think you’d handle not being touched (hugged, kissed, etc.) for an extended period of time?
To be honest, I know that I would have a hard time dealing with a situation like that. As a human, touch is a necessary event that should happen daily. Many people, I think, would be confident in the fact that they could go for X amount of days without being hugged or anything like that, but I can’t say I agree. Without realizing it, you need touch to remain fully human.

Summarizer: Pages 36-70-Alecia

Pages 36-70 basically begins with talking about the rules the patients have to follow. It then leads into talking about all of the people that Norah Vincent has met so far at Meriwether and the relationships that she has with them.

Meriwether is a very strict place. The nurses enforce rules at all times, and it seems to Vincent that they have eyes in the back of their heads. The head nurse, Mrs. Weston, is the most strict of all. She takes away ballpoint pens, shoelaces, oranges, plastic bags, etc. Vincent used the orange peels and put them in the trash to mask the urine smell that was overwhelming in the rooms. She called it "prison potpourri". Vincent learned how to hide ballpoint pens and put the plastic bag under her pillow. From her boredom, she made shoelaces from toilet paper for her shoes and then would proceed to pace the halls for exercise. The staff also didn't let people smoke, although they always found ways around it.

Mr. Clean was her first encounter mentioned in the book. He tried to coax her to sneak him cigarettes. His hair was "long and nappy" (44), his breath smelled absolutely awful, and his eyes were yellow and bulged out.

Vincent has three roommates; Tracy Chapman, Ellen, and Sweet Girl. Tracy Champman had dreads and could carry on a decent conversation, and was in Meriwether because her foster children had "called her in" on indecent treatment. Ellen was in her last 60s, black, and liked to eat. She only left her room to eat, otherwise she sat in her chair and watched everyone. Sweet Girl was her third roommate. She was in her twenties and had attended college at a local university. As Vincent described her, she was "beautiful"(49). Sweet Girl had an imaginary friend, Patsy, and would talk to her constantly.

Another in Meriwether was Mother Teresa. She was given this name because she would preach all the time about God. She was an immigrant from Puerto Rico and came to the US by herself, leaving her three kids back in Puerto Rico with relatives.

Deborah was scary. The first time Vincent met her, she wolf-howled at her. Whenever Deborah would walk by Vincent, she whispered curse words under her breath. She always got into fights with her roommate, who had many tattoos and was Hispanic.

Her best friend at Meriwether was a patient named Casey. Casey worked as a teacher at a rough school. She was in the ward because she told her Psychologist that she was depressed and thought about committing suicide. Vincent gave her pointers about how to act so she didn't have to be in Meriwether for a long time.

Neil, 36-70, Vocab Builder

1. pervaded (38) To spread through or throughtout (something).
2. succor (39) Assistance in time of distress; relief.
3. puerile (41) Belonging to childhood; juvenile.
4. mewl (42) To cry weakly; whimper.
5. assuaged (43) To make (something burdonsome or painful) less intense or severe.
6. discernable (49) To detect with the eyes.
7. hermetic (50) Completely sealed, especially against the escape or entry of air.
8. vicissitudes (52) The quality or state of being changeable.
9. abating (53) To put an end to.
10. vitriolic (54) Bitterly scathing; caustic.

Summary pg.1-35 Krissy

In the first 35 pages, Norah Vincent introduces us to her research, explains why she decided to get into it, and then begins her narration of her first stint in a mental facility.
In her preface, Vincent talks about the depression she suffered soon after completing her research of “Self-Made Man”, and how that sparked the idea for a new ethnography for her to pursue, seeing as she had deemed it a good idea to check herself into a facility. She finishes her introduction saying that she hopes to “inform and entertain” those who read this book.
Her ‘adventure’ begins at a facility called Meriwether, a place that seems to fit most stereotypes of mental hospitals: full of ‘dangerous’ people, people who can no longer connect with society, people doomed to live in their own world. Vincent, almost lightheartedly, talks about some of the patients she comes in contact with, including Nil, whose end goal was to become nothing, and the doctors she faces within her first 36 hours there.

Neil Brooks, Quizzer, 1-35

1. What do you think mentally ill means?
I think that mentally ill is a term or diagnosis that is thrown around too much. I think that it is difficult to believe that based on a few tests, a doctor can declare somebody mentally ill. Just because someone has a few problems doesn't mean they have to be locked up for evaluation or take a hand full of pills every day. I believe that there are some people who suffer from mental illness but it is a diagnosis used too often.

2. How long do you think you could last in a mental hospital, and what would be your main reason for wanting to leave?
I honestly think I wouldn't be able to last more than a few days. I think I would want to quit right away but I may be able to push through for a couple days. The biggest issue for me would be to have my freedom taken from me in the blink of an eye. I can't stand being in a room for more than a few hours now, so locked in a hospital I would probably lose it.

3. If you were in her situation when they took her to the unsecure holding room, would you have ran?
Even though it sounded pretty terrible there already, i think if I had a reason to be there I would push through. It would be easy to just give up that quick but I think I could tough it out for a couple days. I would have taken her strategy and suppressed the anger and just take the hospital's tests.

4. Do you think if you did this you would "go in will and turn ill overnight" like Norah claims happened to her?
To some extent I believe that and to some extent I do not. I believe that being admitted there would shake me mentally. It would definitely shake some things up, but I don't think it would immediately turn me "ill". I find it very hard to believe that a few hours anywhere could change the status of my mental health.

Vocabulary: Pages 1-35-Alecia

1. Contemptuous: showing or expressing disdain; scornful. (Page 4)
2. Efflorescent: blossoming (Page 5)
3. Recluse: a person who lives in seclusion from the world; shut off (Page 6)
4. Inexactitude: the quality or state of being inexact or inaccurate (Page 10)
5. Commodious: spacious and convenient; roomy (Page 16)
6. Disconsolately: hopelessly unhappy, gloomy, cheerless (Page 18)
7. Amok: to run (Page 20)
8. Subterfuge: to escape a consequence, to hide (Page 21)
9. Furlough: a temporary layoff from work (Page 26)
10. Charlatan: a person who pretends to have more knowledge that he or she really possesses (Page 30)

Journal 1-Voluntary Madness: 2/24/09

Krissy has base knowledge about mental hospitals and asylums because she did a year long research project on schizophrenia. While Krissy had a lot of knowledge, Neil has a very limited knowledge when it comes to mental hospitals and mental illness. Norah Vincent, the author of Voluntary Madness, willingly admitted herself in a mental hospital for 18 months. She suffers from depression and was in a mental hospital before.



Some common biases about this subculture are that all of the patients are violent and unsafe for society. Many have problems with addiction and most outsiders view all of the mental hospital patients as crazy. Most people in the hospitals are probably totally harmless yet they have this negative cloud hanging over their head because they are in the mental hospital. Some people would be afraid of them if they encountered them on the street and the mental patients are looked down on.



As a group, we want to learn what the mental hospital system is really look contrary to every one's outside biases. Sometimes the biases will be true, yet we want to really see "behind the scenes". We want to see what really goes on inside a mental hospital, behind closed doors, to see what these patients have to go through each and every day. It will be interesting to see Vincent's experiences while in the mental hospital because she will be living there, instead of just doing research and writing about her findings. Also her encounters and experiences with her fellow patients, and to see if she can successfully blend into the crowd and be deemed "mentally ill".



We decided to choose this book overall because it was a very bold, out there thing for a person to do. Krissy picked this book because she did a research project on schizophrenia and she was interested in the topic. Alecia chose this book because she has always been interested in psychology and the way the brain works; coinciding with mental patients and if their brains function differently than everyone elses. Neil picked the book because it is a topic that is very interesting to him. He knows little about mental health and mental health facilities and would like to get informed.



This topic is significant to us now because it gives us better insight to how our social structure treats people with mental illnesses. Many people have biases and stereotypes that may not be true about mental patients, and we are interested in finding out if they are true or not. We are interested not in what these doctors claim in front of a board, but what actually occurs to these people once they are admitted to a mental hospital.