A Philosopher's Madness

by Lishan Chan

This is a personal and philosophical account of schizophrenia that aims to raise awareness of mental health issues. The personal aspect of the book reveals the gritty reality of what it is like to have schizophrenia, and explores issues faced by those with mental illness, such as secrecy and recovery. The philosophical aspect of the book raises questions concerning the nature of mental illness, such as whether or not mental illness is ultimately physical or mental. Referencing contemporary debates, such as whether madness is a disease or a culturally- determined label, this book is relevant not only to persons with an interest in a true story of psychosis, but also to those with an interest in the relationship between philosophy and madness.

Genres: Nonfiction, Philosophy

110 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2012

Reviews

[Tish · Rating 3 out of 5]

Insightful and honest. She was really brave to write this, and I'm glad I read it. I just wished there was a bit more content (for the $22 I paid, which hopefully goes towards supporting mental health in Singapore), and that the author could make the chronology clearer because she seemed to skip around a bit. I read a Straits Times article that informed me which parts of the book actually occurred in Dubai, etc.

The appendix section––The thoughts of a schizophrenic––is particularly fascinating, as I found a lot of profound truth in her "mad" ramblings. (Uh oh?) Some examples of truth:
* “I am more or less a beginning essayist at the moment. I can write more and differently, I know. I am like the sort of painter who paints a thousand pictures, all imitations of style... This is the sort of thing a student does. The more ways in which one can write, the more ways in which one can think.”
* “Falling. Falling ensures that you end up somewhere else, if you survive your fall.”
* “There are two kinds of adventurers. The adventurer in search of escape is fundamentally distinct from the adventurer in search of truth.”

And some of my favourites:
* “Time and position determines where you are at. But just like smoke emanating from a cigarette, people’s starting positions are not in any instance the same.”
* “There is a fear that is aroused in a man when he is aware that others know what he does for a living, where he stays, and what his thoughts are. The fear is unbearable. The fear is what gives rise to nightmares.”

[faith · Rating 3 out of 5]

felt a bit mad reading this, a bit scared, a bit sad.

[Kes · Rating 4 out of 5]

I rated it 4 stars to increase the rating but honestly it’s more like 2.5-3 stars.

It’s the author’s story about her struggle with psychosis / schizophrenia. Plus points: it starts nicely with her backstory / history. She goes to uni, deals with psychosis. (What she actually did while sick is glossed over.) we get some of her diary entries from her pre uni days - which I honestly felt didn’t add much value to the narrative. We see her talk briefly about her recovery and managing herself now.

What I appreciated was her musing on the nature of madness - was it physical? A result of chemical imbalance? Or was there a mental aspect (how we view our experience). But this was a rather short chapter.

I liked the appendix where she put excerpts of her writing - it made a weird kind of sense.

[raeann · Rating 4 out of 5]

i sped through this is an hour or so and i liked it very much. i see bits of myself in the writer and i think the link between philosophy and madness (sometimes thought of as the antithesis of philosophy) is very interesting, once thought of as tenuous but in actuality is rather substantial. as someone who has been through a short bout of psychosis and has had similar worries, doubts and questions as the writer, i find this book highly relatable. i like that this book isn’t your typical mental illness book (aka inspiring recovery journey etc etc). short but interesting read, just wish it was more fleshed out

[Jake · Rating 1 out of 5]

I wish there was more philosophy being discussed; in particular the complete lack of reference to Deleuze and Foucault was surprising (but not a major issue). I was particularly fascinated by the background Chan has in analytic philosophy, which was not sufficiently delved into. But I liked the Appendix, far more than the rest of the book.

[Dayna · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really wanted to adore this book. I really, really, did.

The premise gripped me right from the start. You had me at exploring madness philosophically.
I bought this thin 100 page book for 22$ in BooksActually.

I was excited.
I was going to learn so much.

First of all, it was really hard for me to stay concentrated because her writing really did not sit with me. It was really quite frankly, bad.

Secondly, the "exploration" of madness in philosophy really was not much at all. She did briefly skim on the possibility of duality, and flimsily referenced several philosophers here and there which while appreciated, did not really offer any depth at all.She skimmed over them so briefly, her writing jumping here and there incoherently from personal to theory to this that plus her writing.

It was more of her personal accounts than philosophical concepts. The ones that were, were so shallow and not in depth at all. There was a segment where she questioned on what grounds should insanity be founded upon, eg art, language etc which was interesting but still, way to fleeting.

I felt like this short book as a whole has zero cohesiveness and is very messy.

With all this said, I enjoyed that I got to hear her personal account of her schizophrenic episodes. I am very happy for her that she is in a better place and doing advocacy work. I admire her zest for philosophy, she is clearly very passionate about it.

[I Read · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was expecting more exploration of the philosophy of mental illness. Instead I got that in a chapter or two and not in much depth. The rest of the book was a personal account of her experience with schizophrenia, and here I must commend the author for being brave enough to share such a personal story about mental illness. But frankly, it was a drag to read and not helped by the boring writing style. The appendix, comprised of her journal entries written while suffering from her illness, was surprisingly great. It did a way better job of putting me in her shoes. I would have loved the book if she had interspersed these journal entries within the narrative and beefed up the philosophical analysis.

[Jean · Rating 2 out of 5]

I am uncertain who this book is written for, or what readers ought to take away from it. For me, this became an awkward read since it wasn't positioned as a mental health awareness/advocacy/personal journey, or an analysis of mental health concepts book - this made me feel as though it fell short of even moderately achieving both. I do think however, there are some semblance of ideas and questions scattered in the book about how we ought to position 'madness' and what the word/concept even means.

[Ali · Rating 3 out of 5]

An insightful read about schizoaffective disorders and the experience of someone with it. Somewhat repetitive and sometimes lacking in detail, as though she herself was still processing her episode of psychosis and that writing the book was part of that process. Albeit, she does get to draw boundaries around what she chooses to reveal and not. Overall an enjoyable read that I'm glad I picked up.

[Sabrina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Such a brave, clearheaded, warts-and-all exposition of the breakdown and the healing. A very important read

[Priyanka Naidu · Rating 3 out of 5]

A great insight to what it's like to be living with schizoaffective disorder and the journey of recovery. My favourite part was the Appendix where the author shared her schizophrenic thoughts.

[Weiqi · Rating 4 out of 5]

I admire Li Shan for sharing her experiences with schizophrenia in this account. This gave me a truthful perspective of what living with mental illness is really like, and how a warped perception of reality due to the disease could actually seem so normal and justified in the eyes of the victim. Many times, Li Shan's account was also very thought-provoking and made me question many things about how we perceive reality, and how we view those with mental illness and the stereotypes we assign them. Overall a very good read that gave me understanding about what mental illness is like, from a first person perspective

[Jenny O · Rating 5 out of 5]

This amazing work took me by surprise with the insight and thoughtfulness the author uses to draw you into her mind, and then send you soundly back out, questioning your own assumptions and stereotypes.