Bedlam

An Intimate Journey Into America's Mental Health Crisis

By: Kenneth Paul Rosenberg

Narrated by: Kenneth Paul Rosenberg

A psychiatrist and award-winning documentarian sheds light on the mental-health-care crisis in the United States.

When Dr. Kenneth Rosenberg trained as a psychiatrist in the late 1980s, the state mental hospitals, which had reached peak occupancy in the 1950s, were being closed at an alarming rate, with many patients having nowhere to go. There has never been a more important time for this conversation, as one in five adults--40 million Americans--experiences mental illness each year. Today, the largest mental institution in the United States is the Los Angeles County Jail, and the last refuge for many of the 20,000 mentally ill people living on the streets of Los Angeles is L.A. County Hospital. There, Dr. Rosenberg begins his chronicle of what it means to be mentally ill in America today, integrating his own moving story of how the system failed his sister, Merle, who had schizophrenia. As he says, "I have come to see that my family's tragedy, my family's shame, is America's great secret."

Dr. Rosenberg gives readers an inside look at the historical, political, and economic forces that have resulted in the greatest social crisis of the twenty-first century. The culmination of a seven-year inquiry, Bedlam is not only a rallying cry for change, but also a guidebook for how we move forward with care and compassion, with resources that have never before been compiled, including legal advice, practical solutions for parents and loved ones, help finding community support, and information on therapeutic options.

An honest look from someone who knows.

As a woman with ADHD that went undiagnosed until I was 32, I agree with outrage that do many people sweep mental health issues under the rug. It's far rarer to meet someone nowadays who isn't affected by anxiety or depression or on some sort of medication. It's throwing darts at the wall to guess at which medication might help you, and the one that helps me the most is a controlled substance that's nearly impossible to get.
I'm glad the author/narrator got the chance to see and learn from so many people that helped put his sisters illness into perspective. I wish the history of mental health care in any part of the world was a nicer story, It's up to us to make it better going forwards.

A must-read

I loved this book, even though it is heartbreaking. It paints an accurate and devastating view of the various failings of mental health care in America, told through the lens of people living with serious mental illness and their loved ones. At the end is a list of practical advice, which is a lovely way to wrap it up & give people some hope while working toward wide-spread, systemic change for the most vulnerable among us

Mental Illness

I enjoyed this sad story. If you hadn't gone through something like this with a family member you can't imagine how it changes your life. For the most part I understood most of it some parts I had to go back and listen to the more medical parts. A very human story.

An intimate novel for the mentally insane

A written documentary of unrealistic and inefficient approach to the mental health reality in America that the author reveals in this poor dramatization of his own and personal actual events.

Overall, a decent book. But it is heavily guided by traditional treatment methods

Overall, a decent book. But it is heavily guided by traditional treatment methods for those with SMI and doesn't add anything new to the conversation. Highly influenced by the author's status as a physician, so doesn't come at it from the side of someone upset or concerned about the current state of medicine or treatment for SMI. He recommends clozapine and ECT...