Edited by David A. Karp and Gretchen E. Sisson
One of sociology's most important missions is giving voice to those whose experiences are typically otherwise blunted, marginalized, or simply ignored. Featuring memorable, first-person accounts of mentally ill individuals, Voices from the Inside: Readings on the Experiences of Mental Illness
allows students to connect directly with real-life "experts" who know mental illness all too intimately.
This unique anthology addresses a variety of central topics surrounding mental illness, including suicide, hospitalization, the meanings of medication, the experiences of caregivers,
and the stigma attached to mental illness. Each section of readings opens with a "sensitizing" introduction that outlines key questions, specific matters for student consideration, and ways in which social scientists approach relevant substantive issues. The thought-provoking discussion questions
following each set of readings are designed to foster vibrant class discussion.
Comprehensive enough to be used throughout a course--but brief enough to be combined with other supplementary materials or a full-scale textbook--Voices from the Inside is ideal for upper-level undergraduate
or graduate courses on the sociology of mental health and illness. It can also be used in courses in medical sociology, social work and mental health, nursing and mental health, and abnormal psychology.
Each Part opens with an Editors' Introduction:
Introduction
David A. Karp: Giving Voice to the Mentally Ill
Part I. The Illness Experience
David A. Karp: 1. An Unwelcome Career
Kay Redfield Jamison: 2. Flights of the Mind
Mark Vonnegut: 3. The Eden Express
Elyn
Saks: 4. The Center Cannot Hold
Judith Rappaport: 5. The Auto Accident that Never Was
Carolyn Knapp: 6. Denial and Addiction
Part II. Caregivers Speak
Clea Simon: 7. Everything Falls Apart
David A. Karp: 8. Till Death Do Us Part
Part III.
Hospitalization
Kate Millet: 9. The Looney Bin Trip
Lori Shiller: 10. The Quiet Room
Part IV. The Meanings of Medication
Lauren Slater: 11. Prozac Diary
David A. Karp: 12. Teens Talk
Part V. The Reality of Suicide
Carla Fine: 13. No Time to Say
Goodbye
Part VI. The Stigma of Mental Illness
Carol Owen: 14. To Tell or Not to Tell
Sharon O'Brien: 15. Depressives in the Lounge
Part VII. In the Community
Pete Early: 16. The Ninth Floor
Michael Wiherip: 17. 9 Highland Road
Part VIII.
Recovering
Martha Manning: 18. Undercurrents
Marya Hornbacher: 19. Wasted
There are no Instructor/Student Resources available at this time.
David A. Karp is Professor of Sociology at Boston College. His books include Is It Me or My Meds? Living with Antidepressants (2006); The Burden of Sympathy: How Families Cope with Mental Illness (OUP, 2000); and Speaking of Sadness: Depression, Disconnection, and the Meanings of Illness (OUP,
1996), which received the Charles Horton Cooley Award from the Society for the Study of Symbolic Interaction. Gretchen E. Sisson is is an advanced doctoral student in the Boston College Sociology Department and an alumna of Amherst College.
Making Sense in the Social Sciences - Margot Northey, Lorne Tepperman and Patrizia Albanese
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