is an implicitly trustworthy guide to this netherworld of psychosis and chronic illness. utterly unique book of essays: a deep, illuminating, and explosively written dive into a life of living with mental illness ( Entertainment Weekly) Her multifaceted arguments can be gratifyingly mind-expanding. often dazzling, and well worth the reconstructive work. The images and insights Wang summons are. In Wang's kaleidoscopic essays, memoir has been shattered into sliding and overlapping pieces.

Wang strikes a perfect balance between explanation and implication ( Brooklyn Rail) we learn what schizophrenia feels like from the inside. Wang writes about how mental illness is framed both within the medical system and by society.The word is often misused and trivialised.Wang's narrative, without pulling punches, goes a long way to dispelling such views.many would benefit from this book and I highly recommend it, both for the author's clarity and, ultimately, her expression of hope ( The Lancet)įragmented by design, the book's structure heightens the immediacy of its testimony ( New Yorker)

she is wise and eloquent, and heart-rendingly honest on the effects of the illness ( Spectator) 'synopsis' may belong to another edition of this title. The Collected Schizophrenias cuts right to the core and provides unique insight into a condition long misdiagnosed and much misunderstood. Wang's analytical, intelligent eye, honed as a former lab researcher at Stanford, allows her to balance research with haunting personal narrative. Following her own diagnosis and the many manifestations of schizophrenia in her life, she ranges over everything from how we label mental illness to her own use of fashion and make-up to present herself as high-functioning, from the failures of the higher education system to how factors such as PTSD and Lyme disease compounded her experiences. Written with immediacy and unflinching honesty, this visceral and moving book is Wang's story, as she steps both inside and outside of her condition to bring it to light. What happens when your whole conception of yourself is turned upside down? When you're aware of what is occurring to you, but unable to do anything about it?

In the midst of a high functioning life at Yale, Stanford and the literary world, she would find herself floored by an overwhelming terror that 'spread like blood', or convinced that she was dead, or that her friends were robots, or spiders were eating holes in her brain. mind-expanding' The New York Times Book ReviewĮsmé Weijun Wang was officially diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder in 2013, although the hallucinations and psychotic episodes had started years before that. in her kaleidoscopic essays, memoir has been shattered into sliding and overlapping pieces.

The collected schizophrenias book