Table of Contents

INTRODUCTIONINSTITUTIONS

1. GRADUATE SCHOOL
2. THE CITY HOSPITAL
3. THE STATE HOSPITAL
4. THE COMMUNITY MENTAL HEALTH CENTER: "GIVE ME YOUR TIRED, YOUR POOR"
5. CHALLENGING CLINICAL CIRCUMSTANCES
   
   
6. COMPROMISED PATIENT CARE
7. PATIENT DEATHS
8. STAFF PARTINGS
9. PSYCHOTHERAPY
10. WWII HOLOCAUST SURVIVORS
11. TESTIFYING IN COURT
12. SCREENING OF POLICE APPLICANTS
13. CLINICIANS IN HARM'S WAY
14. CURIOUS AND TROUBLESOME CLINICAL EXPERIENCES
15. ABSURD STAFF BEHAVIOR
16. AWKWARD MOMENTS
17. PRACTICING WHEN OUT OF THE OFFICE: NO DOCUMENTATION REQUIRED!

18. A CHALLENGING SYSTEM

19. MENTAL HEALTH ADVOCACY
20. THE APPEAL OF 'PRESCRIPTION PRIVILEGES': "IF YOU CAN'T BEAT 'EM, JOIN 'EM!"
21. HEALTH INSURANCE ABUSES: OR UNSURANCE?
22. MONEY INEVITABLY DRIVES POLICY...AND POLICY LOSES
23. ESCALATING ADMINISTRATIVE CONTROL: ALL'S WELL THAT ORWELL
24. MOSTLY BUSINESS, MOST OF THE TIME: MINI-MALISM
25. ADMINISTRATIVE ABUSES OF POWER: PETTY MAL TREATMENT

AFTERWARDAPPUNDIX

About the Author

Max Heinrich, PhD., is a clinical psychologist who earned his PhD from Cornell University in 1968. He has worked primarily with the seriously and persistently mentally ill in hospital settings. For most of that time he directed various inpatient and outpatient services. He has won local, state and national awards for public advocacy on behalf of his profession. Currently his week is divided between treating patients and teaching students on a psychiatric inpatient unit in a public hospital, as well as maintaining an extensive private practice.

Reviews

"The book is a treasure chest of anecdotes and incisive humor; the author's memory is exceptional, many of the tales hilarious, and many of them horrifying. His advocacy on behalf of helpful policies, and against the idiocies that caused people pain and anguish--admirable, and beyond admirable. I liked his ability to deftly conjure up the people he worked with--patients and colleagues. He has an amazing perspective, and a rich inventory of all that was good, less good, and awful in the way we've dealt with mental illness for the past half century--in its more florid incarnations, and its less lethal instances. And the horrors noted in his early work at an old state hospital leavened by his wit made for an exceptional outlook on that era. Loved the book!" - Jay Neugeboren, Author of Imagining Robert and Transforming Madness.

"The book is a treasure chest of anecdotes and incisive humor; the author's memory is exceptional, many of the tales hilarious, and many of them horrifying. His advocacy on behalf of helpful policies, and against the idiocies that caused people pain and anguish admirable, and beyond admirable. I liked his ability to deftly conjure up the people he worked with, patients and colleagues. He has an amazing perspective, and a rich inventory of all that was good, less good, and awful in the way we've dealt with mental illness for the past half century in its more florid incarnations, and its less lethal instances. And the horrors noted in his early work at an old state hospital leavened by his wit made for an exceptional outlook on that era. Loved the book!" - Jay Neugeboren, Author of Imagining Robert and Transforming Madness.