Why would a man born in Hungary and living on Manhattan’s Lower East Side run down Delancey Street ranting “I’m king of the Puerto Ricans”?
What would compel a physically healthy woman to persuade surgeons to operate on her more than a dozen times?
How was it possible for a man wearing a straitjacket to commit suicide within a locked psychiatric ward while in the company of a well-trained guard?
Though these and the other stories in this volume read like fiction, each is true.
Former practicing psychiatrist Mark Rubinstein opens the door and takes the reader deep into the world of mental illness. From the chaos of a psychiatric emergency room to the bowels of a maximum security prison, the stories range from bizarre to poignant and the people from noble to callously uncaring.
Bedlam’s Door depicts the challenges mental illness poses for patients, their families, health-care professionals, and society. More importantly, it demystifies the subject while offering real hope for the future.