Inside Madness: How One Woman's Passionate Drive to Reform the Mental Health System Ended in Tragedy

by Melissa Sweet

On 14 October, 2002, Margaret Tobin, the director of South Australia's mental health services, was shot four times in an execution-style shooting in her Adelaide office building. Thought at first to be an act of random violence, police soon heard rumours that the murder was linked to Margaret's efforts to reform SA's moribund mental health system. Less than a month later, however, a deregistered psychiatrist who had worked under Tobin in Sydney in the early 1990s was charged with her murder.

Inside Madness is a compelling tale that pieces together the methodical planning in the lead-up to Tobin's murder, the tragic aftermath, and the occasionally bizarre court case that followed. It also provides disturbing insights into the forces of madness and the current state of mental health services in Australia. But above all, it is the story of the courage and determination of a dynamic woman, determined to better services for the mentally ill. Margaret Tobin's death is tragic, but her life should be celebrated.

Genres: True Crime, Nonfiction

352 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 2006

About the author

There is more than one author with this name

Melissa Sweet grew up in central Queensland and she is now a freelance journalist in rural NSW, Australia, who focuses mostly on health.

She has been writing about health since the 1980’s and has worked at The Sydney Morning Herald, The Bulletin magazine and Australian Associated Press. She coordinates health coverage for an online news service, crikey.com.au.

She has written and contributed to many books including: Ten Questions you Must ask your Doctor, The Big Fat Conspiracy How to Protect your Family s Health, Inside Madness, and Smart Health Choices: Making Sense of Health Advice.


Melissa has a Master of Arts (Science and Technology Studies), Deakin University, 1997 and a
Bachelor of Arts (distinction) with a double major in journalism and agriculture from Western Australian Institute of Technology (now Curtin University of Technology), Perth, 1984.

She received the WAIT Academic Staff Association Medal for top graduating student.

A Dart Centre Ochberg Fellowship was awarded to Melissa for her book Inside Madness.

Melissa has also been awarded Adjunct Senior Lecturer at the School of Public Health at the University of Sydney and Adjunct Senior Lecturer at the School of Medicine at Notre Dame University in Sydney.

Her main interests are in: public health, mental health, rural health, media coverage of health, indigenous health, consumer participation in decision-making, evidence-based care, and quality and safety issues.

Reviews

[Nicki Walsh · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the most thoroughly researched and well put together non fiction books in Australian crime history that I’ve read.

[Alex Rogers · Rating 4 out of 5]

Absolutely fascinating. Both a true-crime story and a searing indictment of Australia's mental health system of the time, it reads like a novel, but with a depth or research and insight that sets it well and truly apart from the cheap pulp true crime genre. Very good.

[Melinda Elizabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this book fascinating. The administrative components of the deinstitutionalisation of mental health facilities in the 80's and 90's was a side I had never come across before. Being a student studying mental health, deinstitutionalisation is often spoken of, but the hardships and the guts of those who had the task of running the policies through is often less transparent. It was not a "this is how we are all going to approach it" type of scenario. It was ugly. There were death threats, casualties, strikes and a disregard for patient health and wellbeing that these days, would be all over the pages of newspapers, twitter and blogs.

[Karen Hunt · Rating 3 out of 5]

About Margaret Tobin’s life and death and the person who killed her. Obviously written by a journalist, but very interesting look at the SA mental health system (and other states) and how terrible it is.

[Jan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting. A bit technical in parts, owing to it being about real life.