Search - Welcome to My Country

Dr. Lauren Slater(psychologist)takes us on an in-depth tour of her world -- a place to which most of us would never be welcome except for her invitation. She works with severely disabled people -- (schizophrenics, borderline personalities)-- people whom we would find highly unattractive. However, as we walk through her interactions with them, she strips away much of the mystery that usually cloaks the person hiding inside the disability.

Her compassion and her faith in possibilities stems, in part, from the fact that she has experienced the mental health system from the other side as a teenager. Her prognosis was not very promising, but her story reminds us that one kind person can make a huge difference to a person suffering mental illness.

I highly recommend this book to anyone who people in the helping professions as well as the families of people who suffer with mental illness -- and to anyone who just wants to understand human behavior.

This book provides an in depth look in to the world of mental illness, however, the book didn't seem to have a nice flow to it. I appreciated the raw and uninhibited detail provided, but stories of various patients would disapear as the book moved on. Some of the deatils the author provides seem almost like nonsensical ramblings. This is not a self help book in any way, but it can be an interesting read for anyone interested in the mind of someone with a mental illness.

An interesting book; not sure that I'd want the author for a therapist, but her take on the various patients she dealt with was thought-provoking even when I didn't agree with her. Made me wonder if all therapists are as insecure as she presents herself, or are that way only at the beginnings of their practices.

This was an assigneed reading for my masters class. I enjoyed th book and really showed what it was like to work with clients in the mental health field