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The Centre Cannot Hold: A Memoir of My Schizophrenia | 
 enlarge | Author: Elyn R. Saks
Publisher: Virago Press (UK)
Category: Book
Buy Used: $24.50
Used (5) from $24.50
Avg. Customer Rating:  58 reviews
Format: Import
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 313
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.3
Dimensions (in): 9.3 x 6.1 x 1.2
ISBN: 1844081621
EAN: 9781844081622
ASIN: 1844081621
Publication Date: January 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: Brand New, Perfect Condition, Please allow 4-14 business days for delivery. 100% Money Back Guarantee, Over 1,000,000 customers served.
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Product Description
Elyn Saks is a success by any measure: she's an endowed professor at the prestigious University of Southern California Gould School of Law. She has managed to achieve this in spite of being diagnosed as schizophrenic and given a "grave" prognosis -- and suffering the effects of her illness throughout her life.Saks was only eight, and living an otherwise idyllic childhood in sunny 1960s Miami, when her first symptoms appeared in the form of obsessions and night terrors. But it was not until she reached Oxford University as a Marshall Scholar that her first full-blown episode, complete with voices in her head and terrifying suicidal fantasies, forced her into a psychiatric hospital.Saks would later attend Yale Law School where one night, during her first term, she had a breakdown that left her singing on the roof of the law school library at midnight. She was taken to the emergency room, force-fed antipsychotic medication, and tied hand-and-foot to the cold metal of a hospital bed. She spent the next five months in a psychiatric ward.So began Saks's long war with her own internal demons and the equally powerful forces of stigma. Today she is a chaired professor of law who researches and writes about the rights of the mentally ill. She is married to a wonderful man.In The Center Cannot Hold, Elyn Saks discusses frankly and movingly the paranoia, the inability to tell imaginary fears from real ones, and the voices in her head insisting she do terrible things, as well as the many obstacles she overcame to become the woman she is today. It is destined to become a classic in the genre.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 53 more reviews...
 "Center " Takes Us Inside the Mind Having Schizophrenia July 7, 2008
"The Center Cannot Hold" by Elyn Saks, is well written by a brilliant woman, herself a mental health comsumer. As a bonus, it is easy to read. I highly recommend it.
My son has Schizophrenia and this book helped me to understand a lot of what he experiences but cannot or will not express to others. I immediately passed the book on to other parents whose child has this illness, to expend their understanding of what he lives with.
No, our loved persons with mental illness are not lazy, nor to they deliberately ignore us nor our requests of them. They are heroes for getting through the day. Their every day struggle with Schizophrenia is unbelievable. The side effects of meds often make waking up a major accomplishment.
The author shares in detail her experiences. She tells of the alternate approach to treatment she experienced in Great Britain, having been offered choices, to medicate or not, to be hospitalized or not. Throughout her life, she has engaged in ongoing psycho therapy.
In this country treatments are forced on the person which in many cases, diminishing his/her personhood, even it we think it is for his own good. She talks us through choices, meds or not, therapy or not.
Elyn Saks is the exception,
It leavs you with a deeper understanding June 20, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
We often associate mental disorders with people who cannot function in life. Getting this insight from a person who is not only very intelligent but able to live a productive life provides the reader with a new outlook and understanding of this disruptive disorder. In addition it is well written and keeps your attention from beginning to end.
 A fascinating look at the schizophrenics among us June 13, 2008
Ms. Saks uses poignant analogies and metaphors to really drive home what it feels like to be mentally ill. She is obviously a tireless advocate for those among us who are unable to represent themselves, or defend themselves in some cases. It was scary, but identifiable in a way. She did come off as a bit self-centered and childish in some instances, like when she would describe how she would run home and hide and cry and have a psychotic break if a professor or colleague didn't do back flips over how great her work was. But overall it was a good read.
The Center Cannot Hold May 27, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Excellent book! Gives a better understanding of what goes on in the mind of a schizophrenic; thus helping others be more compassionate and less judgmental.
Good personal account of schizophrenia May 12, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This was a great story of one womans struggle with coming to terms with mental illness and trying to maintain her life. It was both encouraging that she was able to finally overcome the illness to create a successful career and personal life, and at the same time discouraging that it took her over 15 years of struggle and denial to do so.
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