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  • Published: 6 June 2019
  • ISBN: 9780141991542
  • Imprint: Penguin eBooks
  • Format: EBook
  • Pages: 224

The Collected Schizophrenias




The phenomenal New York Times bestselling account of mental illness that remakes the nature of memoir

An intimate, moving book written with the immediacy and directness of one who still struggles with the effects of mental and chronic illness, The Collected Schizophrenias cuts right to the core. Schizophrenia is not a single unifying diagnosis, and Esme Weijun Wang writes not just to her fellow members of the "collected schizophrenias" but to those who wish to understand it as well. Opening with the journey toward her diagnosis of schizoaffective disorder, Wang discusses the medical community's own disagreement about labels and procedures for diagnosing those with mental illness, and then follows an arc that examines the manifestations of schizophrenia in her life. In essays that range from using fashion to present as high-functioning to the depths of a rare form of psychosis, and from the failures of the higher education system and the dangers of institutionalisation to the complexity of compounding factors such as PTSD and Lyme disease, Wang's analytical eye, honed as a former lab researcher at Stanford, allows her to balance research with personal narrative. An essay collection of undeniable power, The Collected Schizophrenias dispels misconceptions and provides insight into a condition long misunderstood.

  • Published: 6 June 2019
  • ISBN: 9780141991542
  • Imprint: Penguin eBooks
  • Format: EBook
  • Pages: 224

Praise for The Collected Schizophrenias

Wang's story is devastating... she is wise and eloquent, and heart-rendingly honest on the effects of the illness

Spectator

Wang writes about how mental illness is framed both within the medical system and by society...The word ["schizophrenia"] 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