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THE CRAZY FROM THE SANE by Peter Roger Breggin

THE CRAZY FROM THE SANE

By

Pub Date: July 22nd, 1971
Publisher: Lyle Stuart

That marginal distinction between thee and me -- this takes place within the walls of a large facility called Grand State and Dr. Breggin (he is a psychiatrist) verbalizes most of the problems of a profession which seems unable to heal itself or anyone else. Dr. Aaron Alquist, third year resident, relates much too well with his patients (old man Straus, young Margie with her spoken and unspoken feelings of grateful transference); on the other hand there's his friend Jay who equates the mental hospital with the concentration camp (like Thomas Szasz, who endorses the book) but also doesn't seem to have any answers (also like Thomas Szasz). The novel is intermittently instructive on some of the tenets and treatments (not of choice -- drugs or shock) and the scenes between Aaron and his wife, who has just had a baby, are downright distressing.