Mental Health Book Review: Insane: America’s Criminal Treatment of Mental Illness by Alisa Roth

Overall Rating:

The Mental Health Book Club Podcast enjoyed this book, Becky gave it 5* and Sydney gave it 4*.

This book blows open the way America treats the mentally ill in their justice system, from encounters with the police to standing in front of the judges, to being in prison. The stories Alisa chose will break your heart and shock your core, yet they are only the tip of the iceberg of examples.

This book is thoroughly researched and open about the limits it had when accessing the system. Alisa details not just the problems but goes through any solutions she came across as well. The depth of information in this book is vast and to its credit.

This book not only questions the American justice system but makes the reader question what is going on in their own country. Being British Becky and Sydney did just that. Reducing the stigma and improving the treatment of the mentally ill could reduce those within the justice system.

We recommend you read this book as it will show you that any one of us could end up in some of these situations.

Find our full review and interview with Alisa at www.mentalhealthbookclub.com, on iTunes or where ever you get your podcasts.

Episode 85 – Personality Disorders with The Secret Psychiatrist

Find out more at www.mentalhealthbookclub.com

Trigger warning: this podcast discusses all personality disorders, suicide, self-harm, impulsivity, substance mis-use and unusual behaviour

If you feel suicidal call 999/911 immediately.

If you need to talk you can contact:

Samaritans on:

Mental Health Resources:

Rethink Mental Illness

Mind The Mental Health Charity

  • Infoline: 0300 123 3393 (Our lines are open 9am to 6pm, Monday to Friday (except for bank holidays)
  • Text: 86463
  • http://bit.ly/2p6rntK

Social Media

Twitter:

Becky: @BLawrence85

Sydney: @sydney_timmins

The Secret Psychiatrist: @thesecretpsych

Podcast: @MHBC_Podcast

Facebook

Podcast: https://www.facebook.com/MHBCpodcast/

Sydney: https://www.facebook.com/Sydney-Timmins-1695774814065575/

Episode 84 – Re-release of Episode 6, Sydney talks about Borderline Personality Disorder

Find out more at www.mentalhealthbookclub.com

Trigger warning: this episode contains discussion about suicide, panic attacks, anxiety, self-harm and depression.

This Episode supports Episode 4,  Episode 5 and Episode 83

If you feel suicidal call 999 immediatly

If you need to talk you can contact:

Samaritans on

Anxiety support groups:

Anxiety UK

  • Infoline: 08444 775 774 (Mon-Fri 9:30am – 5.30pm)
  • Text Service: 07537 416 905
  • Or visit their website http://bit.ly/1DRRCUb

 Better Help

Mental Health Resources:

Rethink Mental Illness

Mind The Mental Health Charity:

  • Infoline: 0300 123 3393 (Our lines are open 9am to 6pm, Monday to Friday (except for bank holidays)
  • Text: 86463
  • http://bit.ly/2p6rntK

Information sources:

Mind

Re-think Mental Health

The American Psychological Association

World Psychiatry. 2015 Jun; 14(2): 234–236.

Very Well Article: Borderline Personality Disorder is More Common Than You Think

Optimum Perfermance Institute Article: The history of BPD

MentalHealth.net: DSM-5: The ten personality disorders: cluster B

Gulf Bend Centre: Alternative Diagnostic Models for Personality Disorders: The DSM-5 Dimensianal Approach

Personality Assessment in the DSM-5 By Steven K. Huprich, Christopher J. Hopwood Pg 47-48

Psychology Today: Borderline Personality Disorder: Big Changes in the DSM-5

Harv Rev Psychiatry. Author manuscript; available in PMC 2007 Apr 26.

About Kids Health: Your effect on your childs attachement

National Insitiute of Mental Health: Borderline Personality Disorder

Psych Central: 7 Myths of Borderline Personality Disorder

Camden and Islington NHS Trust: Myth Busting

Interview 5 – Alisa Roth Author of Insane: America’s Criminal Treatment of Mental Illness

Find out more at www.mentalhealthbookclub.com

Trigger warning: this podcast discusses self-harm, prisons, justice system, suicide and poor treatment of mental illness.

Get the book here

It was an absolute pleasure to speak to Alisa Roth author of Insane: America’s criminal Treatment of Mental Illness. We could have talked for hours about Alisa’s book, we think this interview is fascinating but at times the conversation is graphic.

Follow Alisa Roth:

Twitter : @alisa_roth

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/alisa.roth.90

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/alisa_roth_reporter/

Alisa Roth’s Website

 

If you feel suicidal call 999 immediately.

If you need to talk you can contact:

Samaritans on:

116 123 (UK)
116 123 (ROI)
Find out more at their website http://bit.ly/2wMpKZ5

Mental Health Resources:

Rethink Mental Illness

0121 522 7007
http://bit.ly/1s7txdq

Mind The Mental Health Charity

Infoline: 0300 123 3393 (Our lines are open 9am to 6pm, Monday to Friday (except for bank holidays)
Text: 86463
http://bit.ly/2p6rntK

Social Media

Twitter:

Becky: @BLawrence85

Sydney: @sydney_timmins

Podcast: @MHBC_Podcast

Facebook

Podcast: https://www.facebook.com/MHBCpodcast/

Sydney: https://www.facebook.com/Sydney-Timmins-1695774814065575/

Episode 48 – Insane America’s Criminal Treatment of Mental Illness by Alisa Roth Pt 3

Find out more at www.mentalhealthbookclub.com

Trigger warning: this podcast discusses police shootings, self-harm, body fluids and suicide.

Get our next book here

If you feel suicidal call 999 immediately.

*Sponsor*

Happiful Magazine

Thanks to the lovely people at Happiful Magazine who have sponsored Sydney to attend the Mental Health First Aid Course this July.  We will be bringing you some special episodes on the course as Becky has completed the young people’s Mental Health First Aid Course.

If you haven’t heard of Happiful Magazine before here is what they are trying to do:

Their mission is to create a healthier, happier, more sustainable society. Aiming to provide informative, inspiring and topical stories about mental health and wellbeing. They want to break the stigma of mental health in society, and to shine a light on the positivity and support that should be available for everyone, no matter their situation. The e-magazine is free. Hard copies are available, see their website for more details.

If you need to talk you can contact:

Samaritans on:

Mental Health Resources:

Rethink Mental Illness

Mind The Mental Health Charity

  • Infoline: 0300 123 3393 (Our lines are open 9am to 6pm, Monday to Friday (except for bank holidays)
  • Text: 86463
  • http://bit.ly/2p6rntK

Social Media

Twitter:

Becky: @BLawrence85

Sydney: @sydney_timmins

The Secret Psychiatrist: @thesecretpsych

Podcast: @MHBC_Podcast

Facebook

Podcast: https://www.facebook.com/MHBCpodcast/

Sydney: https://www.facebook.com/Sydney-Timmins-1695774814065575/

Episode 48 – Insane America’s Criminal Treatment of Mental Illness by Alisa Roth Pt 2

Find out more at www.mentalhealthbookclub.com

Trigger warning: this podcast discusses police shootings, self-harm, body fluids and suicide.

Get our next book here

If you feel suicidal call 999 immediately.

*Sponsor*

Happiful Magazine

Thanks to the lovely people at Happiful Magazine who have sponsored Sydney to attend the Mental Health First Aid Course this July.  We will be bringing you some special episodes on the course as Becky has completed the young people’s Mental Health First Aid Course.

If you haven’t heard of Happiful Magazine before here is what they are trying to do:

Their mission is to create a healthier, happier, more sustainable society. Aiming to provide informative, inspiring and topical stories about mental health and wellbeing. They want to break the stigma of mental health in society, and to shine a light on the positivity and support that should be available for everyone, no matter their situation. The e-magazine is free. Hard copies are available, see their website for more details.

TV Documentries

Live and Death Row – BBC

Cruel and Unusual – Channel 4

If you need to talk you can contact:

Samaritans on:

Mental Health Resources:

Rethink Mental Illness

Mind The Mental Health Charity

  • Infoline: 0300 123 3393 (Our lines are open 9am to 6pm, Monday to Friday (except for bank holidays)
  • Text: 86463
  • http://bit.ly/2p6rntK

Social Media

Twitter:

Becky: @BLawrence85

Sydney: @sydney_timmins

The Secret Psychiatrist: @thesecretpsych

Podcast: @MHBC_Podcast

Facebook

Podcast: https://www.facebook.com/MHBCpodcast/

Sydney: https://www.facebook.com/Sydney-Timmins-1695774814065575/

Episode 48 – Insane America’s Criminal Treatment of Mental Illness by Alisa Roth Pt 1

Find out more at www.mentalhealthbookclub.com

Trigger warning: this podcast discusses police shootings, self-harm, body fluids and suicide.

Get our next book here

If you feel suicidal call 999 immediately.

*Sponsor*

Happiful Magazine

Thanks to the lovely people at Happiful Magazine who have sponsored Sydney to attend the Mental Health First Aid Course this July.  We will be bringing you some special episodes on the course as Becky has completed the young people’s Mental Health First Aid Course.

If you haven’t heard of Happiful Magazine before here is what they are trying to do:

Their mission is to create a healthier, happier, more sustainable society. Aiming to provide informative, inspiring and topical stories about mental health and wellbeing. They want to break the stigma of mental health in society, and to shine a light on the positivity and support that should be available for everyone, no matter their situation. The e-magazine is free. Hard copies are available, see their website for more details.

If you need to talk you can contact:

Samaritans on:

Mental Health Resources:

Rethink Mental Illness

Mind The Mental Health Charity

  • Infoline: 0300 123 3393 (Our lines are open 9am to 6pm, Monday to Friday (except for bank holidays)
  • Text: 86463
  • http://bit.ly/2p6rntK

Social Media

Twitter:

Becky: @BLawrence85

Sydney: @sydney_timmins

The Secret Psychiatrist: @thesecretpsych

Podcast: @MHBC_Podcast

Facebook

Podcast: https://www.facebook.com/MHBCpodcast/

Sydney: https://www.facebook.com/Sydney-Timmins-1695774814065575/

Book 20 – Insane: America’s Criminal Treatment of Mental Illness by Alisa Roth

An urgent exposé of the mental health crisis in our courts, jails, and prisons

America has made mental illness a crime. Jails in New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago each house more people with mental illnesses than any hospital. As many as half of all people in America’s jails and prisons have a psychiatric disorder. One in four fatal police shootings involves a person with such disorders.

In this revelatory book, journalist Alisa Roth goes deep inside the criminal justice system to show how and why it has become a warehouse where inmates are denied proper treatment, abused, and punished in ways that make them sicker.

Through intimate stories of people in the system and those trying to fix it, Roth reveals the hidden forces behind this crisis and suggests how a fairer and more humane approach might look. Insane is a galvanizing wake-up call for criminal justice reformers and anyone concerned about the plight of our most vulnerable.

Mental Health Book Review: Dandelion Angel by C.B. Calico

Our Review:

Overall rating:

Sydney’s rating:

Becky’s rating:

Our behaviour is influenced by our parents, we often take on their mannerisms and behaviours. Let’s face it how many times have you found yourself doing something that you can associate with one of your parents?

But, what happens if a parent has an undiagnosed mental health issue that impacts their emotional response to the world around them? Well, it can have a long lasting and devastating impact late into their children’s adult life.

Dandelion Angel by C.B. Calico follows the stories of four adult daughters and their mothers who have undiagnosed Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) or Emotionally Unstable Personality Disorder (EUPD). A parent with this mental health condition often results in an emotionally chaotic and unstable home environment for the children in their care. These mothers are often demanding, emotionally neglectful, rage filled and even physically abusive towards their own offspring.

In our opinion C.B. Calico explores the impacts of BPD on the entire family, in a sympathetic way, whilst not excusing the mother’s actions or behaviours. We learn about the childhood stories of the mother’s and whilst they are heart breaking in themselves, they are not there as an excuse to justify their later behaviour towards their children. Their stories are provided to give an insight into the situations that shaped them into the people we read about in this book. Each grown up daughter still bears the emotional scars left by their mothers, but yet all four have been able to move forward with their own lives in differing ways. This story provides hope to those who may have experienced similar upbringings.

Listen to Pt 1 of the full review here.

Listen to Pt 2 of the full review here.

Episode 6 – Borderline Personality Disorder

Find out more at www.mentalhealthbookclub.com

Trigger warning: this episode contains discussion about suicide, panic attacks, anxiety, self-harm and depression.

Get the next book here

This Episode supports Episode 4 and Episode 5

If you feel suicidal call 999 immediatly

If you need to talk you can contact:

Samaritans on

Anxiety support groups:

Anxiety UK

  • Infoline: 08444 775 774 (Mon-Fri 9:30am – 5.30pm)
  • Text Service: 07537 416 905
  • Or visit their website http://bit.ly/1DRRCUb
 Better Help

Mental Health Resources:

Rethink Mental Illness

Mind The Mental Health Charity:

  • Infoline: 0300 123 3393 (Our lines are open 9am to 6pm, Monday to Friday (except for bank holidays)
  • Text: 86463
  • http://bit.ly/2p6rntK

Information sources:

Mind

Re-think Mental Health

The American Psychological Association

. 2015 Jun; 14(2): 234–236.

Very Well Article: Borderline Personality Disorder is More Common Than You Think

Optimum Perfermance Institute Article: The history of BPD

MentalHealth.net: DSM-5: The ten personality disorders: cluster B

Gulf Bend Centre: Alternative Diagnostic Models for Personality Disorders: The DSM-5 Dimensianal Approach

Personality Assessment in the DSM-5 By Steven K. Huprich, Christopher J. Hopwood Pg 47-48

Psychology Today: Borderline Personality Disorder: Big Changes in the DSM-5

. Author manuscript; available in PMC 2007 Apr 26.

About Kids Health: Your effect on your childs attachement

National Insitiute of Mental Health: Borderline Personality Disorder

Psych Central: 7 Myths of Borderline Personality Disorder

Camden and Islington NHS Trust: Myth Busting

Episode 5 – Dandelion Angel Pt 2

Find out more at www.mentalhealthbookclub.com

Trigger warning: this podcast discusses suicide, self-harm and parental emotional neglect

Get the book here

This discussion is about the first two mother daughter relationships in the book

If you feel suicidal call 999 immediatly

If you need to talk you can contact:

Samaritans on

Mental Health Resources:

Rethink Mental Illness

Mind The Mental Health Charity

  • Infoline: 0300 123 3393 (Our lines are open 9am to 6pm, Monday to Friday (except for bank holidays)
  • Text: 86463
  • http://bit.ly/2p6rntK

Find out more about Borderline Personality Disorder with Episode 6

Episode 4 – Dandelion Angel Part 1

Find out more at www.mentalhealthbookclub.com

Trigger warning: this podcast discusses suicide, self-harm and parental emotional neglect

Get the book here

This discussion is about the first two mother daughter relationships in the book

If you feel suicidal call 999 immediatly

If you need to talk you can contact:

Samaritans on

Mental Health Resources:

Rethink Mental Illness

Mind The Mental Health Charity

  • Infoline: 0300 123 3393 (Our lines are open 9am to 6pm, Monday to Friday (except for bank holidays)
  • Text: 86463
  • http://bit.ly/2p6rntK

Find out more about Borderline Personality Disorder with Episode 6

Book 2 – Dandelion Angel by C.B. Calico

Book Blurb

What do women learn from their mothers? Everything they want to be and everything they don’t. After all, not all mothers are created equal.
In C.B. Calico’s stunning new contemporary fiction novel, Dandelion Angel, we meet four German women brought together by the pain of their mothers. Each matriarch suffers from Borderline Personality Disorder—a condition their daughters never knew had a name when they were growing up. They wish they had. They wish someone had told them this was treatable, or that other girls were being raised like they were: isolated, confused, and completely unsure of their worth. 

Caren has known all her life that her mother, Ute, cannot be pleased. Yet, she tries. Even in her thirties, she will do anything to gain her approval; she’ll even risk her marriage. But, Ute’s own wounds, buried in layers of history and tragedy, go too deep.

To the outside world, Irja’s childhood looked like a dream. A famous actress for a mother, trips to Disneyland, she had it all. They didn’t see her mother’s rages, her tantrums and insults. Irja suffered it all, quietly, until her mother’s cruelty threatened Irja’s own son. With the instincts of a lioness, she finally breaks, and breaks free.
Jo gave up everything—including her spare time and small joys—to look after her needy, dependent mother. Only after her mother’s eventual death does she gain some solace.

Mandy calls herself Angel. Unimaginably wounded by the scars her mother carried from her East German upbringing, Mandy ran away from home young. Mute, stunted by a heartbreaking stutter, she squats in Berlin. At a crossroads, she meets the right cop at the right time and finally begins to heal. Angel emerges from the desperation of her life, just as the stubborn dandelion on her balcony breaks through a tiny crack in the concrete.

With a sensitive hand, Calico reveals the intertwined lives of these four remarkable women. A touching and fascinating work of commercial fiction, Dandelion Angel is a revelation of the tenacity of the human spirit as it focuses on the recovery of the daughters, rather than the abuse by their mothers.

Podcast Episodes:

Find part 1 of our review here

Find part 2 of our review here

Our Good reads and Amazon Review:

MHBC Review