The Day the Voices Stopped The Day the Voices Stopped is the autobiography of Ken Steele, a man who suffered from schizophrenia for the majority of his life, only finding peace and solace after finding the right anti-psychotic medication. Steele began hearing voices at the age of fourteen through the radio, before eventually leaving his parents’ house ,without their support, at the young age of seventeen years. The voices regularly told Steele to commit suicide, to harm himself, and to give up on himself because he wasn’t worth anything. The voices told him to “hang himself…set yourself afire” because, “the world will be better off. You’re no good, no good at all (page 1)”. It is interesting to see his version of events, to see him slowly slip into the world of psychosis. It is much different than seeing someone or hearing about someone who is already a schizophrenic- it gives a different perspective by allowing the reader to understand the pain and suffering that one goes through. At first, Steele notes that he could hear voices, but he couldn’t understand what was his reality versus what the voices were telling him. His parents were terrified, especially after he thought he could talk to others, as well as the unborn baby brother that his mother was carrying (page 7), “Grandma would overhear me responding out loud to the voice’s demands and think I was on the phone to a friend (page 8). Steele continued to note, through heartbreaking and very interesting stories and perspectives, on how the voices would not leave him alone and how they were relentless, “Voices dogged me at every step, Look at you Kenny. You’re a real mess…when was the last time you washed (page 92)?” Steele noted that what the voices said usually came tr... ... middle of paper ... ...pitals and psychiatrists were like that, although he only paints a negative picture of this, it would have been better to see a more neutral sided view of the account of hospitals and psychiatrists during that time. Similarly, the thing that I did not like about Jamison’s An Unquiet Mind was her way of relying on others so much. She was personally struggling with a disease that she needed help with, but she focused too much on herself (although this is understandable as she was in pain and depressed). She really did not care for others and had the empathy to understand the pain that her disease was putting on them as well. Overall, both books were highly enjoyable and uplifting and shows one that even the people in the harshest of conditions and illnesses can overcome their illness and thrive if they take the right medication and struggle through to the end.
From reading and reflecting her personal experience and journey with her sister, Pamela, I acquired a personal outlook of the deteriorating effects of mental illness as a whole, discovering how one individual’s symptoms could significantly impact others such as family and friends. From this new perspective mental health counseling provides a dominate field within not only individuals who may suffer mental illness such as Pamela, but also serve as a breaking point for family and friends who also travel through the illness, such as Carolyn.
Through John's interference he turned what was considered a minor case of a chemical imbalance into to full blown schizophrenia. During the turn of the century, which is when this story took place, what scientists knew of the human mind wouldn't fill the inside of a matchbook. This was for certain the case when it was a woman who was the patient. If there was any deviation in the accepted behavior of a woman as deemed by society, the woman was considered hysterical. When dealing with these patients, instead of seriously considering the consequences of their actions, they went along with obscenely stupid notions on how to deal with problems of the mind.
Both stories are one of a kind and deserve to be read. They share both common and uncommon ideas, but in the end, both are nice.
Both of the books were great and they were fun to read i liked The Book Thief
The film gives a historical overview of how the mentally ill have been treated throughout history and chronicles the advancements and missteps the medical community has made along the way. Whittaker recounts the history of psychiatric treatment in America until 1950, he then moves on to describe the use of antipsychotic drugs to treat schizophrenia. He critically summarizes that it is doctors, rather than the patients, who have always calculated the evaluation of the merits of medical treatment, as the “mad” continue to be dismissed as unreliable witnesses. When in fact it is the patient being treated, and their subjective experience, that should be foremost in the evaluation. The film backs up this analysis with interviews of people, living viable lives in the town of Geel, Belgium. I would recommend this film to anyone interested in the history of medicine and specifically to those examining mental illness. It provides a balanced recounting of historical approaches to mental illness, along with success stories of the people of Geel, Belgium. And although I had to look away during the viewing of a lobotomy procedure, I give credit to the power of the visual impact the footage
both stories shared similar ending and moral which is receiving enlightenment in first hand. "The
While reading Mr. Steele’s memoir, there were many times when the stories he told made me feel terrible and I did not want to continue reading.
Randye Kaye had trouble 'fixing' her son because of incorrect diagnoses and inefficient procedures. Along with his mother, sister, and friends, I became disappointed how unsuccessful his treatments were, and I also became eager for Ben's mother to find something that actually worked. I thought to myself: "why can't you just get better?" This became an engraved thought in my head as Kaye began to deny and question Ben’s mental health. I noticed that when Kay refused to accept Ben’s Schizophrenia, and continued to search for counter-solutions, became an Achilles heel to the
...rphy knows the other patients are not crazy but the big nurse convinces them that they are. One student says “the book gave her insight into the mental institutions and that she liked the characters’ care free quality, even though they were ill.”(LA times) Kesey expected the same response from all of his audience, although, he received a negative response from parents. As author Upton Sinclair said about his book The Jungle, ‘I aimed my book at America’s heart, but I hit it in the stomach.” (Books Reconsidered), so did Kesey.
In the 1950’s, mental hospitals weren’t what they are now. In Ken Kesey’s One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, he shows how people in mental hospitals were treated at that time all through the eyes of an Indian man named Chief Bromden. Ken Kesey uses his personal experiences to add settings and even characters to show this in his writing. His life is clearly seen by McMurphy’s problem with authority which goes perfectly with his own and by the setting of a mental hospital, which Kesey once worked in.
Both stories give off an unexpected twist, each woman helps to make each title into an object of either denial or exception. Even though both stories have great similarities, the authors' individual points of view resulted into the concerning of their surroundings. In the end of both stories, the items that they psychologically and then physically create take over the wife and Emily, their minds became weak that quickly took over them completely. Soon finalizing their mental and/or physical illness to their own time of death.
The themes that are similar in both of the novels are that guilt is detrimental to oneself and that redemption is key to happiness. These points are especially
works of literature have tremendous amounts of similarity especially in the characters. Each character is usually unique and symbolizes the quality of a person in the real world. But in both stories, each character was alike, they represented honor, loyalty, chivalry, strength and wisdom. Each character is faced with a difficult decision as well as a journey in which they have to determine how to save their own lives. Both these pieces of literatures are exquisite and extremely interesting in their own ways.
Both narratives compare as timeless tales of reputable heroes. They both include similar plots of long journeys back home. The main characters’ flaws are arrogance which is the source of many of their troubles.
The struggles both characters face demonstrate character development and contribute to the themes of the stories. Both short stories prove to be literally effective in that they disclose the main themes at the outset of each story. Although the themes may alter over the course of the stories, they are clearly defined in their respective introductions.