Lendle

This book gives us the rare and meaningful insight that is not often to be found in the world of psychiatry and mental health, an area which even today a large proportion of society still associates with stigma and shame. The main reason the author chose to devote his time to this project was to help raise awareness about mental health, particularly in India. This book is invaluable in that it presents a patient’s perspective to the reader, shedding new light on the amount of suffering a mental illness such as schizophrenia can cause. The quality of mental health care in India, the social stigma arising from such an illness when described by someone who has firsthand personal experience makes a greater impact.One of the greatest successes of the author in writing this book is in the lucid way he presents his material. We, as the reader, are taken on a journey of the life of this man right from his earliest school days till present, we read and learn about the author as a young boy, a student, and as a young man when the first symptoms of his illness begin to manifest. We then follow the whole course of the authors’ struggle with his illness, his slow, then rapid decline, and then recovery. Throughout the entire course of the narrative the author does a brilliant job of explaining the thoughts, the experiences and the struggle he experienced as a victim of mental illness in such a way that the reader is unable to read without empathizing and question how it would feel if their own mind were to turn against them in such a way.The mental health care available in India is another pertinent question that this book raises , true we have come a long way from the days of asylums and isolations, with social acceptability slowly increasing and treatments now being much more effective and available , we still have a long way to go, to reach all those who are suffering. There is a dire need for increased awareness about mental health throughout India particularly in rural areas, an issue which needs to be taken up at the national level. Works like this help to forward the cause