Volume 47, Number 3 · February 24, 2000
In the Locked Ward
By Tim Parks
Imagining Robert: My Brother, Madness, and Survival
by Jay Neugeboren
Morrow, 305 pp., (out of print)
Transforming Madness
by Jay Neugeboren
Morrow, 390 pp., $25.00
'Throw away your Sigmund Freud, Mrs. Neugeboren…because I am going to cure your son!' It is 1968 and Dr. Cott is offering massive doses of vitamins B-6, B-12 and C. One of the first of a score of psychiatrists to take charge of the schizophrenic Robert Neugeboren, whose story is told in these two books, Cott's confidence is, alas, unwarranted. Still, the same could be said of most of those who follow him, each with his own favorite wonder cure, whether it be electroshock, insulin, Adapin, Mellaril, lithium, Stelazine, or any number of others. When one doctor announces with great excitement that he is going to try the 'brand-new' anti-convulsant Depakote, Robert's brother Jay, who is telling the story, has to remind him that actually Robert has already been on Depakote. He responded briefly, then relapsed.
Review, 3049 words
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