Dr. Patricia A. Farrell Ph.D., a well-known psychologist, takes you inside the often mystifying world of psychiatric hospitals and the patients who managed to survive there. It is a world mostly hidden from private citizens and which is both ugly and charitable and always thought-provoking. Divided into 3 sections, this book details the madness of murder and whether we can predict murderers, the viciousness and unsettling attitudes of mental health staff as well as dispelling the many myths about research.
What do you believe about The Stanford Prison Experiment? Do you know about the diabolical experiments of Hooker or the casual disregard for subjects in Milgram's experiment on obedience to authority? How about Spitz who showed that lack of touch and physical holding meant death for infants and toddlers? Read about all of it and then begin to question medicine and how greed has made fortunes for some and left patients wondering. Do you know your rights when it comes to surgical/procedural consent? Why you should constantly check your medical records now that EHR is here and what problems it may cause as well as the insurance fraud that may be found.
Next, go behind the scenes at TV shows and read about the real reality there. Dr. Farrell has appeared on over 100 shows of all types and has had vast experience. Allow her to take you there as no one else will. For a change of pace, Dr. Farrell also takes you into private interviews with John Lennon and Yoko Ono as well as Isaac Asimov and reveals her interactions with other famous persons.
Be prepared for reading that is not psychobabble, can be unsettling but always informative and entertaining as well.
