An informative account of nontraditional healing methods, but one that won’t convince skeptics.
In this debut memoir, a caring mother avidly seeks to cure her schizophrenic son by exploring both traditional and alternative healing methods.
When Forbes’ 19-year-old son, Chris, returned home to Geneva, Switzerland, in 2003 after failing his first-year courses at the University of Toronto, she noticed a drastic change in his personality—he seemed unmotivated and self-destructive. The author sought professional help for him, and before long, Chris was officially diagnosed with schizophrenia. In the first several chapters here, Forbes provides quick snapshots of Chris’ disorder, including his sense of grandiosity, hallucinations, and his feeling of being disconnected from the real world. Then she documents her own long, arduous quest to find a way to heal him. In Geneva, he attended an outpatient program that initially showed promise, but Forbes became disillusioned by the attitudes of psychiatrists who believed that schizophrenia was chronic and incurable. She began to seek out alternatives, such as consulting an American doctor who said that he could remotely diagnose Chris’s nutritional deficiencies and prescribe supplements to strengthen his energy field; visiting a doctor in England who claimed to be able to realign Chris’ “assemblage point”; investing in a magnetic mattress; and engaging in “family constellation” therapy. The book seems to move toward an ending in which Chris is healed of his schizophrenia; however, his condition seems much the same throughout the book, aside from inevitable ups and downs, which casts doubt on the various healing methods’ efficacy. Nonetheless, this eloquently written memoir provides a valuable account of the different methods at hand, as well as a close-up view of Chris’ behavior, which provides readers with a unique view of schizophrenia. The book also contains valuable insights about developing more hopeful and less fatalistic views of mental illness.
An informative account of nontraditional healing methods, but one that won’t convince skeptics.Pub Date: Jan. 16, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-9960424-0-6
Page Count: 261
Publisher: Inspired Creations
Review Posted Online: Feb. 27, 2018
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis...
Privately published by Strunk of Cornell in 1918 and revised by his student E. B. White in 1959, that "little book" is back again with more White updatings.
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis (whoops — "A bankrupt expression") a unique guide (which means "without like or equal").Pub Date: May 15, 1972
ISBN: 0205632645
Page Count: 105
Publisher: Macmillan
Review Posted Online: Oct. 28, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1972
This is not the Nutcracker sweet, as passed on by Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. No, this is the original Hoffmann tale of 1816, in which the froth of Christmas revelry occasionally parts to let the dark underside of childhood fantasies and fears peek through. The boundaries between dream and reality fade, just as Godfather Drosselmeier, the Nutcracker's creator, is seen as alternately sinister and jolly. And Italian artist Roberto Innocenti gives an errily realistic air to Marie's dreams, in richly detailed illustrations touched by a mysterious light. A beautiful version of this classic tale, which will captivate adults and children alike. (Nutcracker; $35.00; Oct. 28, 1996; 136 pp.; 0-15-100227-4)
Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1996
ISBN: 0-15-100227-4
Page Count: 136
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996
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