Ruthie J. You have my Soul

I know that many of you are aware that I am disabled. And that it is a mental disability. Yes, that makes me CRAZY, thus the blog Crazed Mind! Yes, I have heard the pokes and prods of what is mental illness. And there is not an easy answer. Nor can I really tell you what goes on in my own head most of the time.

But I loved being able to relate to the story The Jagged Years of Ruthie J. In this story I met Ruthie J. and found that she has a strong fortitude. Ruth Simkin, M.D. shared her life as she traveled through the mental health system of the 1960's. Not a pretty road but surely on of the roads less traveled. Especially when we learn how she over came the abuse she suffered there. What amazes me is the history of Mental Health. What has been considered mental illness in the past is often now seen in the clear light of chemical imbalances. Also that the path to health is not covered in thorns thanks to so many who have suffered from the hands of incompetent science. Simkin shares her inexplicably bizarre behavior as a teenager that was eventually diagnosed as epilepsy. This landed her in the Chestnut Lodge mental hospital in Maryland. Ruthie J. was traumatized by a sadistic doctor and hung onto her own sanity. After her release, Simkin went on to become a successful physician.

DISCLOSURE: I received a complimentary copy of this book to facilitate this review. No other compensation was provided.