∎ Download The Day The Voices Stopped A Memoir of Madness and Hope Ken Steele Claire Berman 9780465082278 Books

The Day The Voices Stopped A Memoir of Madness and Hope Ken Steele Claire Berman 9780465082278 Books

Download As PDF : The Day The Voices Stopped A Memoir of Madness and Hope Ken Steele Claire Berman 9780465082278 Books

The Day The Voices Stopped A Memoir of Madness and Hope Ken Steele Claire Berman 9780465082278 Books

This book is frightening and inspiring. Ken Steele was about as mentally ill as one can be. In and out of hospitals for decades, fighting every day against his voices, he continued to look for answers and eventually found them late in his life. His story is very real and often very sad. One of his main goals became to help others which he most definitely did in many ways.

I watched a 20/20 piece on YouTube with Ken Steele and the interviewer seemed to have no idea, no clue at all what its like to live like that. Maybe no one can really understand unless they go through it, but to read this book is to get a true portrayal of the pain, frustration and desperation of mental illness.


Tags : The Day The Voices Stopped: A Memoir of Madness and Hope [Ken Steele, Claire Berman] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. <div>For thirty-two years Ken Steele lived with the devastating symptoms of schizophrenia, tortured by inner voices commanding him to kill himself,Ken Steele, Claire Berman,The Day The Voices Stopped: A Memoir of Madness and Hope,Basic Books,0465082270,Schizophrenia;Biography.,Schizophrenics;United States;Biography.,1948-2000,Autobiography: general,BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY General,Biography,Biography Autobiography,Clinical psychology,GENERAL,General Adult,Non-Fiction,PSYCHOLOGY General,PSYCHOLOGY Psychopathology General,Psychology,Psychology : Psychopathology - General,PsychologyPsychopathology - General,Psychopathology - General,Schizophrenics,Steele, Ken,,United States

The Day The Voices Stopped A Memoir of Madness and Hope Ken Steele Claire Berman 9780465082278 Books Reviews

I developed an interest in Schizophrenia after a special person in my life developed this illness. I have been reading everything trying to educate myself regarding this illness. After reading Ken Steele's book, I was heartbroken to read about the lack of family support. The way his family turned their back on him was inexcusable and inhumane, but he forgave them. This book gives a deeper insight into the world of Schizophrenia. Steele actually conveys to the reader what was going on inside of his mind during his psychotic episodes; he heard voices repeatedly demanding him to take his life for 32 years of his life. The book also details Steele's many visits to mental hospitals. Finally, a doctor prescribed him the antipsychotic drug, Respirdal, and this was "the day the voices stopped." This is an absolute great read!
Steele's book is one of the best I've seen on the subject. He tells us an insider's view of schizophrenia that is rarely portrayed so accurately. He does not tout a particular drug or a particular doctor, therapy, or procedure, which I feel is important because so many times an author credits a "miracle cure" for their recovery. There are many treatments for this illness and the appropriate one may differ from one person to another. I found I could identify with Ken in his quest to start living after thirty years of being out of commission, his drive to unite people with mental illnesses and improve conditions for us all. After I went through 18 years of mental illness and recovered, it seems there is a lot to do to make up for lost time. The memory of Ken Steele will stay with the reader for a long time, and so will his message.
A very well written book that highlights the life of Ken Steele,from beginning to end, who struggles with Schizophrenia. Ken Steele battles over decades with his hallucinations, as well as drug addiction, homelessness, and prostitution. He ultimately finds relief of his mental illness due to the development of better prescription drugs. Steele presents clear examples of struggles of being institutionalized throughout his life, disowned by his family, reconnecting to life via advocacy of the poor and of course his disbelief the day the voices stop in his head.
I don't read much but this book was recommended to me since I work with mentally ill clients by a coworker. I felt like I couldn't put my kindle down. His life was so crazy and everything he went through at a young age. I would recommend this to anyone, well written.
A couple of years ago I was sitting in the office of a psychiatrist. She had just diagnosed me with schizophrenia. I said to her, what is this stuff? How can I learn more about it? It is terrible, how can I learn more about it? I just could not believe that there were others out there who could have voices in their heads like me.

She wheeled around in her big chair, turned towards this long bookshelf and grabbed a book out of it. She said to me, "Here is a book I am going to lend to you. It was written by another person who had schizophenia. You should be able to learn from it."

So I started reading the book that same day. I finished the book about 4 days later. It was a fast read. It was an incredible tool in helping me understand schizophrenia. And proving to me that I wasn't the only one with voices in my head.

What Ken Steele went through was wild. From institution to institution it was simply terrible. Beyond comprehension. It was in a way totally fascinating.... and frightening.

But a part of what Ken said in the book was mystifying. He said that when he went into a psychotic episode he could not remember, that he blacked out and forgot.

Not me. I can remember. There are loud, non-stop command voices. The voices run day and night and seem like they are being beamed down from a satelite into your head. There is continual insomnia. You go to bed at 10 pm only to finally fall asleep at 2 am, and then to awaken at 4 am. This happens night after night. There are intense paranoid believable delusions which seem so real. But they are not. The non-stop voices tell you that you have done terrible things, that you are a terrible person and that you should just end your life.

Yea, to me, this is psychosis. The book really did not talk about this. Maybe it doesn't have to. Maybe for those of us who know, maybe we can fill in the blanks. Whatever.

I was also surprised to hear that Ken lost his life shortly after this book came out. This was due to the fact that his anti-psychotic meds made him fat. I have to struggle with this phenomenon as well because the latest anti-psychotic meds make you put on weight and raise your blood sugar levels. There is always a down side.

The book is not pretty. But then again schizophrenia is not pretty. There is no Hollywood ending to our story. There just isn't.

Kudos to Ken and the lady who put this story into a book. It is extraordinarily difficult to put a schizophrenic's story down on paper because it is so difficult to regurgitate and talk about it. I know, I have tried. As you talk about a psychotic episode it pulls you down into it and you start to relive the psychotic episode. It becomes extremely frightening to do it. I have tried and can't do it even though I am an Airborne Ranger. It doesn't matter.

Captain Jimmy Stevenson, Airborne Ranger
Sufferer of Schizophrenia
This book is frightening and inspiring. Ken Steele was about as mentally ill as one can be. In and out of hospitals for decades, fighting every day against his voices, he continued to look for answers and eventually found them late in his life. His story is very real and often very sad. One of his main goals became to help others which he most definitely did in many ways.

I watched a 20/20 piece on YouTube with Ken Steele and the interviewer seemed to have no idea, no clue at all what its like to live like that. Maybe no one can really understand unless they go through it, but to read this book is to get a true portrayal of the pain, frustration and desperation of mental illness.