Welcome to My Country

Lauren Slater has written a number of memoirs, each more interesting than the last. This appears to be her first, and it is apparent that she hasn't quite found her footing yet. Not that the book isn't fascinating nonetheless; it is. It mostly relates Slater's experiences working in a residence for male chronic schizophrenics immediately after completing her medical training. Her treatment is not entirely standard, for she is determined to break through to the men in her group, to somehow find a way to communicate with them; sometimes she succeeds. But their worlds are almost entirely alien, and she must enter them in order to understand them, and the work is difficult and stressful, and Slater manages to make us understand both this show more and the rewards. How lucky I am, I came away thinking; how lucky I am to have a brain that functions properly. show less

Slater, a therapist who has suffered from mental illness of her own, recounts stories of treating severely mentally ill patients. She tries to show that the severely mentally ill yearn for friendship, love, and companionship just as much as their healthier counterparts do. This hardly sounds groundbreaking, but it does contradict certain psychological treatises-- most notably, Maslow's hierarchy of needs. Slater works with severely schizophrenic men. These men suffer hallucinations, their linguistic abilities have been stolen by disease, they are sometimes catatonic. In these conditions Slater uses talk therapy to find desire for connection, though it is often deeply hidden.

Slater manages to convey the sadness and despair that surround show more profound mental illness, though there are glimmers of hope too. The writing in this book is too florid at times, but Slater always approaches her subjects with grace and humanity. I enjoyed Slater's discussion of her academic training and the theoretical universe in which she works. Readers get to see how she uses academic training to make treatment decisions. We get to see how she thinks as a practitioner. This is a fascinating memoir, though perhaps not as groundbreaking as it was in 1996. show less

A sincerely poignant memoir of a psychologist who writes each chapter about a different mental condition and the "characters" in the early stages of her career. Not only is she perhaps one of the most gifted writers I've read, but she gets inside the very souls of her patients and expresses their pain in ways that only one who's been to those depths can. Slater is deeply compassionate in relating to her clients and opening our minds to the inner worlds of people with psychological disorders and emotional pain. Very enlightening!

This is psychologist Lauren Slater's first book, a somewhat fictionalized account of her work with the mentally ill.

Her empathy and desire to connect with her patients, even those with the most baffling, least treatable forms of mental illness, leads us to a better understanding of these conditions and the human-ness of those afflicted.

Her background in writing, as well as psychology clearly shines through. The book is clearly and evocatively written.

My major criticism is that it seems just as a story is about to truly begin, it suddenly ends. This is seen most clearly in the final chapter, where we find that Lauren herself has been hospitalized in the mental institution where she meets her last patient. And so the book ends just as she show more is beginning to look at her feelings of being former patient and current therapist. There are sequels to this book and I'm hoping they explore this subject further. As it is, I feel the book ended with the beginning. show less

I was impressed by this book and its stories about people with mental illnesses. It inspired me to read more of Slater's works

Welcome to my Country is a great book that effectively shows what it means to be diagnosed with a mental illness. It is nothing to be treated lightly. To do so would be insensitive. I was quite surprised on the author's use of descriptive language.

I am so used to doctors writing being so frank and succient that Dr. Slater descriptions surprised me. The stories were all heartbreaking in their own right. I felt bad for the schizophrenic who was once a genius and, could sometimes sense, what exactly he had lost and the depressed mother of two who is going have to endure a lifetime of perpetual depression just to have a few days of happiness.

Even Dr. Slater's own tragic past of abandonment and mental health illness was interesting as it show more showed an intregal part of how she treats and empathizes with her own patients. How can one person overcome their mental roadblocks and others remain stuck on the other side? show less

Welcome to my Country is a great book that effectively shows what it means to be diagnosed with a mental illness. It is nothing to be treated lightly. To do so would be insensitive. I was quite surprised on the author's use of descriptive language.

I am so used to doctors writing being so frank and succient that Dr. Slater descriptions surprised me. The stories were all heartbreaking in their own right. I felt bad for the schizophrenic who was once a genius and, could sometimes sense, what exactly he had lost and the depressed mother of two who is going have to endure a lifetime of perpetual depression just to have a few days of happiness.

Even Dr. Slater's own tragic past of abandonment and mental health illness was interesting as it show more showed an intregal part of how she treats and empathizes with her own patients. How can one person overcome their mental roadblocks and others remain stuck on the other side? show less