A mind that found itself [electronic resource].

Longmans, Green, and Co., 1907.

p. ; cm.

Access is available to the Yale community.

Electronic reproduction. Washington, D.C. : American Psychological Association, 2004. Available via the World Wide Web. Access limited by licensing agreement.

Access restricted by licensing agreement.

In this autobiography, Clifford Whittingham Beers describes his battle with "insanity" (psychosis) between the ages of 24 and 26 and his repeated committals to a series of mental hospitals, where brutal and inhumane treatment caused more emotional trauma. Beers argues, "the biographical part of my autobiography might be called the history of a mental civil war, which I fought single-handed on a battle-field that lay within the compass of my skull. An Army of Unreason, composed of the cunning and treacherous thoughts of an unfair foe, attacked my bewildered consciousness with cruel persistency, and would have destroyed me, had not a triumphant Reason finally interposed a superior strategy that saved me from my unnatural self." He also notes that his purpose in telling his story is to address the "needless abuse of helpless thousands" in mental hospitals. This autobiography provides a first-hand account of the abuse of mentally disordered patients in hospitals and strong recommendations for reform. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2004 APA, all rights reserved)

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June 03, 2010