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Alice Feller
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American Madness: Fighting for Patients in a Broken Mental Health System Kindle Edition

by Alice Feller (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
5.0 5.0 out of 5 stars 2 ratings
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In this clinical memoir, Alice Feller brings the reader into the world of serious mental illness using patient vignettes and personal accounts of her work, drawn from medical school, hospital wards, private practice, public clinics, and beyond, spanning a career from the 1970s to the present. Individual chapters are devoted to cases illustrating the impact on treatment outcomes of homelessness, substance abuse, racism, family involvement, and early intervention for schizophrenia cases. Feller identifies specific barriers to care and advocates for reparative strategies that would make the most meaningful and immediate improvements. This book is meant for anyone whose life is touched by mental illness, whether as a patient, in the family, or as a professional, and it is a must-read for policy makers in this field.

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  1. Print length
    247 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Sticky notes
    On Kindle Scribe
  4. Publisher
    Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
  5. Publication date
    April 8, 2024
  6. Reading age
    18 years and up
  7. File size
    3553 KB
  8. Page Flip
    Enabled
  9. Word Wise
    Enabled
  10. Enhanced typesetting
    Enabled
  11. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

Review

I can't recommend American Madness enough. Alice Feller uses anecdotes drawn from her years of practice as a psychiatrist to convey, in a few strokes, the realities of serious mental illness, not only from the perspective of the provider but also in the experience of the patient. The writing is engaging and the vignettes flow smoothly in a way that is accessible and illuminating for the general public and those dealing with these issues in their own lives. She defines anosognosia, the inability by many with serious mental illnesses to have insight into their condition, in the clearest way I have seen. The personal narratives culminate in the final expository chapters, where Dr. Feller evaluates our mental health system and its failures. Most importantly, her heart and commitment to her patients comes through, and I wonder how different our outcomes might be if the system didn't make it so hard for these patient-first attributes to guide treatment.

-- Patricia Fontana, activist and co-founder, Voices of Mothers

About the Author

Alice Feller, MD is a writer and a clinical psychiatrist. She has worked in private practice, hospital emergency rooms, psychiatric wards, chemical dependency programs and public clinics in East Oakland and beyond. Her writing, focused on mental health, addiction and homelessness, has appeared in the East Bay Express, the Laney Tower, CalMatters, fort da and Interconnecting Circles, as well as the opinion pages of the San Francisco Chronicle and the New York Times. She has served two terms on the City of Berkeley Homeless Commission and is an analyst member of the San Francisco Center for Psychoanalysis. She lives with her husband and daughter in Berkeley, California.

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0CSJTSXN2
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Rowman & Littlefield Publishers (April 8, 2024)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ April 8, 2024
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 3553 KB
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 247 pages
  • Customer Reviews:
    5.0 5.0 out of 5 stars 2 ratings

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Alice Feller

Alice Feller

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Customer reviews

5 out of 5 stars
5 out of 5
2 global ratings

Top review from the United States

Tony Johnson
5.0 out of 5 stars It's a maddening situation
Reviewed in the United States on April 12, 2024
Verified Purchase
Dr. Feller's empathetic and personal view of her treatments of patients with mental problems should be required reading for those in administrative positions in the area of mental health. The amount of dysfunction in the system of care mirrors the types of issues these institutions are meant to address, as if it itself suffers from the same psychotic disorders it is in place to ameliorate. Programs are designed specifically to ignore the patients in favor of the payment, resulting in breathtakingly callous treatment. This arrangement seems to have been designed by input from accountants, lawyers, and political ideologies rather than any scientific medical approach. Diagnosis is made for the benefit and protection of the agencies, not for those in their care. The influences of money and politics affect a lot of medical decisions, but in this specific instance, the vulnerable and defenseless patients do not have the emotional wherewithal to mount any kind of resistance. Dr. Feller is their voice.
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