The Ghost Garden: Inside the Lives of Schizophrenia's Feared and Forgotten

by Susan Doherty

Susan Doherty's book brings us a population of lost souls, ill-served by society, feared, shunted from locked wards to rooming houses to the streets to jail and back again. For the past ten years, some of the people who cycle in and out of the severely ill wards of the Douglas Institute in Montreal, have found a friend in Susan, who volunteers on the ward, and then follows her friends out into the world as they struggle to get through their days.
With their full cooperation, she brings us their stories, which challenge the ways we think about people with mental illness on every page. The spine of the book is the life of Caroline Evans (not her real name), a woman in her early sixties whom Susan has known since she was a bright and sunny school girl. Caroline has given Susan complete access to her medical files and her court records; through her, we experience what living with schizophrenia over time is really like. She has been through it all, including the way the justice system treats the severely mentally ill: at one point, she believed that she could save her roommate from the devil by pouring boiling water into her ear...
Susan interleaves Caroline's story with vignettes about her other friends, human stories that reveal their hopes, their circumstances, their personalities, their humanity. She's found that if she can hang in through the first ten to fifteen minutes of every coffee date with someone in the grip of psychosis, then true communication results. Their "madness" is not otherworldly: instead it tells us something about how they're surviving their lives and what they've been through.

Genres: Nonfiction, Psychology, Mental Health, Biography, Mental Illness, Medicine, Memoir

360 pages, Hardcover

First published May 24, 2019

About the author

Susan Doherty, educated at Concordia University and the University of Toronto, has worked at Maclean's Magazine and ran her own advertising production company for 20 years. Her debut novel, A Secret Music, published in 2015, led her to the Douglas Institute, where she spent 14 years volunteering with people suffering from extreme psychosis. The Ghost Garden is the culmination of her work in humanizing schizophrenia. Her novel Monday Rent Boy explores child abuse and the dangers of the Internet. Susan is an advocate for children experiencing trauma and the challenges of transitioning to adulthood. She also teaches creative writing to women struggling with addiction, mental health issues, and homelessness.

Reviews

[Petra X · Rating 2 out of 5]

You know those US tv documentaries about murders, where they present the whole life (how wonderful they were) and lots of testimonials (angels, saints on earth) from the family of the victim? This book is a bit like that, but in reverse. The victim's every weird action exposed and related to family. I could have stomached that, even the pedestrian, journalistic writing, until I came to this,

..."When she had a one-room bedsit in Verdum, she fell asleep holding a cigarette. Her dyed hair caught fire and melted the top half of her face. The months of painful recovery did not stop her from smoking, a habit that is highly correlated to mental illness."

Smoking is highly correlated with lung disease. For anything else, there are so many smokers in the world you could always say it is "highly correlated" with anything at all, but you can't try and say it is a causative factor in mental illness. At that point I decided to abandon the book since I was fed up with blow-by-blow story of Caroline, the main person with schizophrenia in the book, pissed off with her implied value judgements, "Her dyed hair", we say "dyed" when we want to imply it's kind of low-class and probably not well done. There is a lot of this very obvious 'clues' on how we should think of someone. It's all very journalistic, not very bookish.

All the 4/5 star reviewers (everyone else) either didn't care about the above or enjoyed it. For books on schizophrenics, I've read, this one didn't approach Divided Minds: Twin Sisters and Their Journey Through Schizophrenia, also personal stories, or the brilliance ofOperators and Things: The Inner Life of a Schizophrenic the story from the inside.
_________________

I have an abiding interest in schizophrenics. People living with schizophrenia are so different from us, they live in an alternative world where everything that exists in ours exists in theirs but doesn't have the same interpretation. There are things in their worlds, in their heads that don't exist in ours and to imagine the absolute realities of people living in your head and talking to you as you go about your business is a very hard concept to really, deeply understand.

The best book I ever read on schizophrenia was Operators and Things: The Inner Life of a Schizophrenic. Six months in the life of a woman with schizophrenia whose voices kept her moving across the US but who sometimes let her have a day off to go to the movies without them. That's as close as I've ever been to understanding how it feels. Maybe this book will add to that.

[Krista · Rating 4 out of 5]

I didn't set out to do this, but I have inadvertently created a forum that allowed the psychologically afflicted, medicated or self-medicated, the walking wounded, to voice their truths. Those who are ignored and stepped around on the streets, the homeless who cycle in and out of wards and through rooming houses, are hardly seen as human, and are left to wander in a ghost garden – an interior haven where emotional pain can be suppressed.

In 2009, after author Susan Doherty spent months researching the history of mental illness treatment in the archives of Montreal's Douglas Institute, she decided to give back to the facility by volunteering her time. Doherty assumed she would be given some clerical duties and was surprised when she was asked to simply spend time with one of the residents, a woman with schizophrenia whom Doherty calls “Camilla” (all of the patients and their families in The Ghost Garden have had their names changed for privacy). Doherty writes that she and Camilla became friends that day, and in the ten years since, the author has become friends with many other of the Douglas Institute's severely mentally ill patients; taking their calls at all hours of the day and night; keeping in touch with those who return to the community; giving physical human contact to the feared and marginalised – many of whom with no one else who will take those calls or hold their hands. Meanwhile, a woman that the author grew up with contacted Doherty and, after explaining that her own sister has struggled with schizophrenia for over thirty years, offered the author access to “Caroline's” medical files, interviews with the family, and time with Caroline herself in order to trace one person's entire history of the disease's onset, efforts at management, its effects on social and domestic relationships, etc. The book that resulted is mainly Caroline's story – and it is thorough and honest and affecting – interspersed with what Doherty calls eighteen “vignettes”: brief sketches of some of the other troubled friends she has made in the past decade of her volunteer work. This book is kind of amazing – forcing us to look closely at the kind of people that we usually avert our eyes from; forcing us to recognise the people behind the illness. There's nothing prettified in this narrative – there are body fluids and violence and families pushed to the brink – but it's also not a gratuitous freak show: schizophrenia is an aspect of the human story and Doherty is simply asking us to recognise that fact. Amazing. (Note: I read an ARC and passages quoted may not be in their final forms.)

Psychosis does not discriminate. The worldwide prevalence of schizophrenia is one percent, across all nationalities, professions, income brackets. Schizophrenia is not the domain of the needy, neglected poor, the marginalized lower classes, but its sufferers can quickly descend to rungs reserved for the downgraded.

I don't want to go over all of Caroline's story, but I will note that she was from a well off family in Montreal's Westmount neighbourhood, one of ten siblings born to a respected doctor and his homemaking wife. When she began to exhibit signs of mental illness, Caroline's parents reacted with shame and denial (her father's sister had been institutionalised, but neither that fact nor his medical expertise garnered Caroline any understanding from him), and ultimately, Caroline became so abusive and embarrassing that she drove away all of her family except for a couple of sisters. Throughout all of Caroline's story (and the vignettes) Doherty is never judgmental about how families deal with a mentally ill member; always stressing that schizophrenia is a series of never-ending and all-consuming tidal waves that some people, understandably, eventually need to shield themselves from. There are stories of parents who cut off contact with their schizophrenic children, parents desperately searching for the schizophrenic children who cut them off, and stories of those who have been left with no one. Caroline herself has a huge heart and a desire to care for everyone around her, but when she's suffering a psychotic episode, she hurls accusations of neglect and imagined sexual abuse at family members – which has left her isolated from everyone she wants to pour her love into. The book's title comes from one of Doherty's friends, Aleks, who is essentially alone in the world but who often reports that he has spent the night with his girlfriend, Jennifer Love Hewitt. When Doherty teasingly asked Aleks where the two of them meet, he replied, “Susie, I met her in the Ghost Garden. It's where I meet all the souls of people I love.”

I had to marvel. Aleks had just given me another gift: access to the hidden realms of mental illness. With that gentle correction, he'd shown me that a place of comfort exists for many who suffer from schizophrenia, an alternate world as real as Dorothy's Oz. So often we see the severely mentally ill as less than fully formed human beings, as ghosts of their “normal” selves. As ghosts, they can appear to be inanimate, unreachable, and frightening, but they, like all of us, tend an interior garden that is lushly alive.

With the knowledge that Doherty has gleaned from her encounters with Caroline and others who are afflicted with schizophrenia, she has come to some (perhaps) controversial opinions about overmedicating the disorder. Caroline has never found a perfect pharmaceutical cocktail – and the brain-numbing side-effects of what she has been prescribed prompted every one of her relapses when she has decided to stop her meds – and as Doherty sees it, the main goal of an institution at the moment of admitting someone who is displaying a violent psychotic break is to immediately subdue and sedate to prevent harm to the self and others. Although Caroline has admittedly had many caring and hands-on teams working with her in institutions over the years, Doherty notes the ineffectiveness of the drugs to keep her safe and stable after her eventual release into the community. Doherty takes a couple of swipes at “Big Pharma” (specifically calling out one company that markets both an antipsychotic and a drug to manage the diabetes that that antipsychotic causes), and quotes one of Caroline's sons when he recalls his disbelief that Caroline, in a diminished mental state, was ever able to consent to shock therapy, and ultimately, Doherty concludes that even today, not enough is known about schizophrenia or how to control it (and in the case of creative geniuses, questions the necessity of suppressing it).

A crisis reveals the mind's need to fix something that has been damaged. Psychosis is a sign of that need for repair, just as a fractured bone can be a signal of insufficient calcium. Without a psychotic break, there is no indication of the problem, and so no opportunity to address the issue. But when the breakdown is treated only with medication, the person suffering has no chance to dig into what's going wrong.

(Despite calling for alternatives, Doherty does ultimately conclude, “Clearly there are times when the drugs are beneficial.”) At the margins of every one of these stories is Doherty herself: someone who was initially scared to death to be asked to visit a ward for the severely mentally ill; someone who eventually befriended, emotionally supported, and held the hands of suffering humans who had no one else. I find that to be an impressive and inspirational transformation, and the book she made out of this experience has educated and changed me. Kind of amazing. I'll end on a favourite quote (attributed to the therapist of a schizophrenic's parents) that I couldn't fit in anywhere:

Living with a child with schizophrenia who isn't capable of accepting treatment is like eating a hippopotamus. The solution lies in the number of people at the table willing to take one bite at a time.

[Erin Clemence · Rating 4 out of 5]

“The Ghost Garden: Inside the Lives of Schizophrenia's Feared and Forgotten” by Susan Doherty is an eye-opening examination of the mental health system, specifically when it comes to those suffering from schizophrenia and other life-altering mental illnesses. Susan is a writer, and not in any way a psychologist, but she has spent many hours volunteering with the most severe sufferers of mental illness, schizophrenia in particular, and decided to take an up close and personal look at the effect of such a mental illness on the sufferers, and their families.

Using case studies from patients she has spoken to, Susan outlines the various and differing struggles each family and patient has. It is disturbingly obvious that those who the system fails most are those with no family support, low income, and a complicated mental health disorder, such as schizophrenia, whose symptoms seem to ebb and flow, regardless of medication.

The clients and families Susan details in this book are receiving support in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, and its surrounding areas. As a large, urban city, with an extensive hospital system and several mental health hospitals, there is obviously a large population of patients suffering from mental illnesses, residing independently (often on the streets), in the hospital system, and within group homes. What hit home to me is my own realization that smaller cities, rural towns and those other locales farther away from support, will have fewer cases, but the failures of the mental health system would be even more grievous.

I really enjoyed Susan’s personal approach, not only in her writing but also with the patients. In her writing, she showed the utmost respect for the individuals, with a lot of person-first language. It was obvious that Susan cared deeply for these individuals, far beyond what you would expect from an investigative writer. Susan also highlights the failings of the mental health system, but manages to give much-deserved props to the healthcare workers in these systems, knowing that those workers have large hearts and a desire to help, but the system itself is tremendously broken.

“The Ghost Garden” shows how varied the symptoms of schizophrenia can be, and how sufferers can often be shunned and stigmatized, even by those in their own families. Not only does “Garden” help a reader experience the terrible tragedy of long-term mental illness, but it also encourages an attitude of humanity and kindness. There is no thick, medical language in Doherty’s novel, and the chapters are short and engaging, as she tells the tales of patients using their own (and their families') words. An eye-opening examination of mental illness, and the impact it has on loved ones, “Ghost Garden” is an important and relevant read.

[Bjørn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Life-changing, heart-breaking, important.

The mentally ill are so often seen by the society as walking diagnoses. Doherty's book, the stories of real people behind the diagnosis of schizophrenia, is extremely unusual in its approach: she talks about those diagnoses as if they were human. It doesn't sound like a lot...but it is.

Doherty tells a story of Caroline, a schizophrenic woman, Caroline's family, children, life. The dirty, the raw, the beautiful, the heart-breaking parts are all there, as Doherty does her utmost best to avoid judging those who were, let's say, less kind towards Caroline than others. But that's not all. The author has been volunteering working with the mentally ill since 2009. She met a lot of people, each of whom had – has – a story. All of those lives share one characteristic: loneliness.

Andrea: "Being heard was usually all it took to bring her back to safety." Aleks: "Somerset Maugham once wrote that tolerance is nothing but indifference. Aleks has been tolerated for far too long." Thomas: "I realised every person in that room just wanted to be seen as a human being, that their hearts were no different than any human heart." Sounds so simple. Why isn't it, then?

It's so difficult for me to avoid the phrase "those people", which so neatly divides Us from Them, Normals from Schizos. But most mentally ill people know that they are ill. They, too, have dreams, urges, needs, the biggest of which is the same one that we all share: to love and be loved. "It's a bitter pill to swallow," writes Doherty, "especially for those who had lofty dreams: the pre-med students and engineers, the writers and musicians and athletes who left adolescence with aspirations." Some of us want to look really good, to become a pop star or Instagram influencer, some dream of being able to eat a warm meal every day. The illness robs people of all of those dreams. A lot of people with schizophrenia have nobody to take care of them and nothing left, ending up homeless. Alcohol and drugs are their only escape from their own mind, the gulag in which they are permanently locked, where the "guards" – their own thoughts – are sometimes polite and distant, only to attack violently for no reason the next day.

The topic of medication is approached very carefully as Doherty struggles not to let her personal views affect her writing, which is both warm and impartial, filled with sympathy for the people on both sides of the hospital door. She cites an anecdote about a psychiatrist who used to prescribe antipsychotics until she, too, found herself in the middle of a psychotic episode, and her colleagues prescribed the very same drugs to her. For the first time, the doctor found out how the patients actually feel, both when medicated and not. Mental illness is not a simple cold or a broken leg. You can't see it, touch it, x-ray it. Psychiatrists do not know how or why the meds work (or even whether they do or not). That particular doctor's approach to drugs had changed radically once she had tried her own medicine (sorry). Experiencing a drug is a very different thing from reading about it.

It's not the doctor's fault. It's not even Big Pharma's fault, although the author does remark that Eli Lilly produces both a medication the side effect of which is diabetes AND the insulin that diabetics need, cashing in twice. Psychiatry is in its Bronze Age, and I am being extremely polite here. We don't understand why the right level of antidepressants in the brain is reached within hours, yet they take weeks to work (or not). Antipsychotics, to a large degree, are simply sedatives that allow both the sufferer and their family to wait out the episode in relative safety. But hugs, phone calls, text messages, visits are not only invented, tested, available, even popular among "normal people". The need to be seen and loved unconditionally applies to those with schizophrenia and other mental illnesses as well. Them. Me. You. Us.

The author emphasises many times how difficult it is to be on both sides of this equation. Both those who need care and who provide it often suffer terribly, if in different ways. Caroline's sisters are in terrible pain when they see how their sister's life has unfolded and how much she is forced to rely on kindness of strangers. (Her brothers decide Caroline is not their problem.) Sometimes her mind tells her that she has been sexually abused by more or less everyone she had ever met. Sometimes it just reminds her about her horrible weight gain – side effect of medication; the fact that she is almost always alone; that the voices she hears will go away, but they will always return. Her sisters can clean up the apartment, wash her clothes, but at the end of the day they go home. Caroline remains locked inside her brain. Whether she's physically located in a hospital or in a hotel, her feelings, dreams, needs have no "home" to go to, to escape the broken mind that torments her.

I firmly believe that people with mental illness are the toughest of warriors, because their battle never ends. You can escape an abusive partner, mobbing, etc., no matter how difficult it sometimes is. People whose own mind is their own enemy have nowhere to go. Even if physically they are being taken care of, at the end of the day they will always have to deal with the thoughts, voices, inabilities that so many of us take for granted. It's easy to despise or laugh at someone who believes FBI are watching them through the TV, treat those beliefs as a funny anecdote. It's harder to imagine ourselves in the shoes of Caroline, Aleks, Andrea, and so many others Doherty writes about.

One of the acts of kindness that Doherty provides to people she is writing about is simply her presence and a listening ear. It's not easy, especially when there are twenty or thirty people relying on her, calling at the strangest times of day or night. If there were more people like her, the world would be a better place. But the world is what it is, and people are who they are, both those whose biggest problem is what to wear tomorrow and those who are being watched by FBI through their television sets. We are all human. We share similar struggles and needs. Unfortunately, unconditional love, hugs, kindness, even basic politeness are not available from pharmacies.

[Eli-lit · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow! Tout le long du livre je me demandais : "mais qui est cette femme incroyable et si généreuse?" Elle réussit à donner la parole et faire comprendre les personnes aux prises avec la schizophrénie. Ce livre m'a fait du bien et m'a aidé à mieux comprendre, à mieux aimer.
Je le recommande pour toute personne qui a un proche atteint de problème sévère de santé mentale ou pour quiconque souhaite comprendre leur réalité. C'est une immersion dans leur monde. C'est triste et frustrant, mais puissant de vérité et de prise de conscience.

[Ian Shaw · Rating 5 out of 5]

Susan Doherty's The Ghost Garden offers wonderful insights into the lives of people suffering from mental illness and does so in a way that does not demean them or devalue their humanity. If anything, Doherty elevates the people, whose journeys she follows, to a level where the average person can begin to understand them. For a group that it is far too often shunned even by their families, this is a blessing. Thank you, Susan Doherty, for having the courage and the compassion to place yourself in the midst of those so marginalized by society and to tell their stories with such eloquence and resounding honesty.

[Colette Connors · Rating 5 out of 5]

Having just finished this amazing book I am so overcome with sadness that I cannot put my thoughts together to write a review at this moment. I will highly recommend to all.

[Lori Spence · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book. I normally prefer reading fiction as I normally find non-fiction dry - The Ghost Garden was anything but. The story was gripping and very well written, filled with metaphors and perfectly chosen words. I learned much about the terrible disease of schizophrenia but never felt I was being lectured to. I became engrossed in the story of everyday people that were placed in terrible circumstances and couldn't put the book down because I cared so much about them. The vingettes that interspersed the main story provided welcome relief to a very intense narrative, and helped demonstrate the fact that this disease is not an obscure phenomenon that affects individuals with poor genetic background or upbringing, but can and does strike people from many different circumstances. And that like every human, individuals with schizophrenia crave relationships and life with meaning. As I turned the last page I wanted to read this book again because I knew that the people that Susan Doherty wrote about had lots to teach me and I wanted to make sure I hadn't missed out on any important lessons.

[Wendelle]

Drawing from deep pools of compassion, the author immersed herself in long-term volunteer work with Montreal patients grappling with the devastating and all-consuming condition of schizophrenia. In this book she returns the dignity of people that could easily be dismissed as society's most marginalized or expendable, by granting them the service of telling their individual life histories: the persons they were before the onset of schizophrenia. Then came the initial phantasms, the auditory presences of as many as 20 voices, the terrifying visual hallucinations, the imaginary constructs of persecution and violations, the inflation of self-worth to messianic vocations that grant them causal power to guarantee global salvation if they just do some sacrifice. It also tells the story of their caretakers , the weary agony of people who have to disrupt their own lives time and time again to cater to new stages of paranoia or throes of psychosis, how they get maligned by the people they love but withstand it with empathy. This book also discusses some of the changes that helped some schizophrenics-- steady help from clinical professionals, warm empathy, and alleviation of boredom through purpose, such as a peer support network, that allows them to help others with the same unique life experience and short-circuits their reliance on other harmful loops, such as hard drugs or perennial arguments. The author is such a rare, kind person-- she is not advocating or hectoring others from an arm's length but truly provided these patients with the friendship they needed, driving them around, helping them visit shops, talking to them, listening to their voicemail, etc

[Athena Paradissis · Rating 5 out of 5]

I sat down to read The Ghost Garden with anticipation - here I was, about to invite a new set of characters into my life and they, in turn, about to invite me into theirs. What I did not anticipate is how much these characters would reflect different parts of me - I have been Isabel, Arthur, Rosalind, Ian, and, when I was much younger, there's a part of me that was Caroline. Who hasn’t experienced Isabel’s fear when confronted by mental illness? Who hasn’t experienced Arthur’s anger, resentment, and bewilderment when mental illness creeps into the home and threatens the sanctity of whatever normalcy we can hold onto? Who hasn't, like Rosalind and Caroline's other siblings, offered support and kindness and not experienced an underlying resentment or a nagging suspicion that perhaps we are being manipulated? Who hasn’t recognized a part of themselves in Caroline? We are each of us incredibly fragile and sometimes we escape going down one path by nothing more than a lucky twist in our path.

The truth is, we all inhabit the ghost garden. When we walk by someone in distress, not only do we perceive this someone as less than “fully formed” but we, ourselves, behave as less than fully formed. What is more fully formed than an untainted empathy and compassion for our fellow human beings? What is more fully formed than the words, I am here and I am willing to listen and to learn? What is more fully formed than recognizing that someone else's fragility mirrors our own?

Susan Doherty’s book has made me realize that the next time I think of someone as "crazy", I need to call myself out. The next time I hear someone else call someone crazy, instead of politely laughing or even agreeing, I need to call both of us out. It is by pointing out our misperceptions that we can begin to help each other become more fully formed so that we may, together, enter a reality not occupied by ghosts.

Only a great book can change your perception and make you realize something about yourself.

Athena Paradissis

[Jamie Moesser · Rating 5 out of 5]

(Note: I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review) I read this book primarily as a way to do research for my own book, a science fiction novel with a main character sent to a state mental hospital where he meets and spends a lot of time with a character who has schizophrenia. Ghost Garden provided what my in-person, on-foot research had not, details about what it's actually like to live with the illness and what the inside of a mental hospital might look like. More than that, though, it provided an amazingly deep view into the lives of people who suffer from schizophrenia and other severe mental illnesses. It did so with compassion for the sufferers and lack of judgement of the family members.

Having had a brother-in-law who succumbed to severe mental illness, loving several people with moderate mental illness, and having depression myself, I know that no matter the type of illness and the severity, it can be an incredibly complicated journey just to get to diagnosis. And that journey often becomes even more so after. It's miserable for the sufferer, but it's also unspeakably difficult for the family members tasked with trying to help their loved one. It's heartbreaking to think that Ghost Garden, depicting not only Caroline and her family's journey but also several others', is but a fraction of the whole bramble of lives distorted, trapped, and siderailed by mental illness; governmental and societal mental health treatment infrastructures rendered inadequate by insufficient funding and understanding; pharmaceutical approaches that have made a huge difference but still have a long way to go; and family support systems that can be difficult to discover.

Hopefully, though, Doherty's fluid and compassionate writing will become a springboard upon which to build awareness and encourage discussion about an issue that affects so many so deeply.

[Christine · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book in one sitting, which I rarely do. Aside from the fact that it's compelling, gripping and absolutely 'unputdownable', it also stirred emotions that have stayed with me long after I finished it. In both my work and my personal life, I spend a lot of time with people with severe mental health challenges; Susan's perspective has made me look beyond their illnesses to their "selves". I also applaud the Evans family for their courage in telling their story. This is a Tour de Force, do not miss it.

[Cathy · Rating 5 out of 5]

By far the best book written about schizophrenia I've ever read. Extremely well written and captivating. A long, compassionate case study of a sister, growing up in a family of ten, with an aunt having the same condition. Intriguing anecdotes of a very humane writer's years of volunteering at a psychiatric hospital, developing relationships, and offering non-judgmental connections to a marginalized population.

[Marilyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

What an extraordinary book. Susan's compassion, generosity and warmth for these tortured souls and their families is evident throughout. The stories are sad, at best, and nightmarish at worst. Yet, Susan's insistence on hope and human touch save the book from utter despair. Very glad I read this.

[jenna denis · Rating 5 out of 5]

i got to hear susan doherty speak back in march before starting my psychiatry rotation. i love how she sought out the individual behind such a stigmatized illness. i think this book translates just that.

[Gina Roitman · Rating 4 out of 5]

A remarkable and compassionate journey into the lives of schizophrenics and how they and those who love them must navigate rough waters.

[Luanne Ollivier · Rating 5 out of 5]

Susan Doherty's recently released book, The Ghost Garden, is hands down one of the best non-fiction books I've read. And it is one of my favourite reads of 2019.

I work in the public sector, often waiting on those who have some form of mental illness, some more visible than others. The Ghost Garden has given me a different perspective - more understanding of those living with mental illness as well as those who love and care for them. And a renewed sense of empathy and awareness for carers, families and sufferers.

Susan Doherty has volunteered at the Douglas Institute in Montreal, Canada for over ten years. The Douglas houses those with severe mental illness - psychosis and schizophrenia. She has come to know many of the patients well and has continued those relationships outside the hospital. A childhood friend asked Doherty if she could write the life story of her sister, a woman who has struggled for decades with severe mental illness.

The family gave Doherty full access to their family history, dynamics and struggle to help their sister. And the result is a fascinating, gut-wrenching book that is hard to read, but hard to put down. Interspersed between chapters of Caroline's life are short vignettes of other patients Doherty has come to know. Their stories were all told with their or their family's permission.

"My hope is that this book will help family members and others pinpoint warning signs and thereby, perhaps, be in a position to identify incipient mental illness - thus preventing the harrowing lives experienced by the people I have written about.....And if that lofty goal proves hard to reach, at least I can tear down some of the fences that prevent us from seeing those with schizophrenia as intelligent, productive, engaged, hilarious, beautiful, poetic, insightful, maternal, responsible human beings - and above all, worth of love."

The Ghost Garden is so well written and the subject matter is handled with honesty and compassion. A must read book for everyone in my opinion.

[Meagan Houle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Everyone should read this. The narratives are striking in their tragedy, their joy, their simple, relatable humanity. At the end of the day, whether we are afraid of, threatened by, or drawn to people whose realities do not perfectly match our own, they are as human as we are, as deserving of dignity, as in need of purpose and as hungry for connection. What would happen, at the societal level, if we really understood that? I think we get just a glimpse of the answer through Susan and her brave, constant commitment to living out that understanding. And I think it's a paradigm shift worth fighting for.

[Marie-Ève22 · Rating 4 out of 5]

I learned a lot about Schizophrenia and the reality of people living with it. I like how the book was written. I felt that it was a little long sometimes, especially with the fact that it's a never-ending circle, so the themes were repeated a lot. I see how the repetitions are useful however.

[PG Pariseau · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 stars rounded up to 5. A superb account of what schizophrenia does to we mere mortals, how it destroys lives and shatters families. I found it difficult to put down, a rare occurrence for my ADD mind. One of the most gripping things I've read in decades, carefully drawn from ordinary lives blighted by encounters with a terrible, mysterious disease. Unlike another recent reviewer, I found it compassionate but honest - no romanticizing or dismissing the problems the illness brings or contributes to. (Of course smoking is highly correlated to mental illness - tobacco use disorder is itself a DSM diagnosis - as nicotine promotes production of acetylcholine, a neurotransmitter found at depressed levels in schizophrenics. And those with ADHD of any kind.)
It left me wanting more information on the state of medical research into the causes and operation of schizophrenia within the brain, but that was never the book the author wanted to write. I doubt she could have written such a moving account of ordinary lives with psychosis if she had included a scientific or medical approach.
I bought this book remaindered on a whim, as I have a long-standing interest in psychology and psychopathology. It's the most serendipitous purchase I've made in many years. This is a book anyone with any interest in psychology, homelessness, crime, drugs, madness or families might benefit from reading.

[Devogenes · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think this book does an excellent job of communicating the severe challenges faced by those with chronic psychosis while demonstrating the humanity of those suffering. I found the descriptions of the damaging side-effects of anti-psychotic medications to be especially illuminating. It's not something I'd really heard much, if anything, about and it helps to explain why it can be difficult for so many schizophrenics to stay on meds. The connections between homelessness, poverty, addiction, and schizophrenia are tragic and disturbing. It's clear that we are failing these people.

The narrative is also very interesting. The main narrative is compelling and all the various side-characters that are introduced throughout the book are all interesting people with interesting, though generally tragic, lives. So it's a readable book I guess is what I'm saying.

The author makes a compelling argument that medication, while it can decrease psychotic symptoms, is an insufficient intervention. Not only are the side-effects of medication physically severe, and not only are they ineffective for some patients, but the emotional and cognitive dampening they cause is a great loss to the individual. It's hard to imagine the despair one must feel when, despite having a history with life-altering psychotic breaks, the need to "feel alive" is so strong that one would make the decision to stop medicating. The drugs address the symptoms of psychosis without addressing the conditions that triggered the psychosis in the first place, which Doherty argues is significant given that genetics are insufficiently deterministic of psychosis (an identical twin of a schizophrenic person has a <50% likelihood of being schizophrenic).

The main message of the book seems to me to be that people with schizophrenia are in fact people, with hopes and dreams and personalities, with humour and creativity and intelligence. But they also have a condition which can make life extraordinarily difficult, both intrinsically and because of how we as a society and as individuals treat them, which is to say by discarding and disregarding them. The resulting self-alienation and social-alienation is deeply tragic and Doherty and her book deserve much credit for trying, at least, to ameliorate the latter.

[Lesley R M · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was a hard read. Exploring Mental illness even harder. Throughout the book I kept praying for Caroline, she was the bulk of the book, and the many others the author included. If you want to read about schizophrenia and it’s nastiness on the poor soul and their family members this is your book.

[Len · Rating 5 out of 5]

Having watched a very dear friend battle severe mental illness from its onset, I am passionate about learning about bipolar disorder, schizophrenia and similar conditions.

The Ghost Garden is many things - it is very well written; engaging and fascinating while also being instructive and informative. But, more movingly, the book is very similar to the experience of those with severe mental illness: harrowing, ecstatic, filled with despair and sometimes, somehow, continuing to find hope.

Ms. Doherty's closing thoughts on the stigma and treatment of mental illness should form a public talk, so revealing and thoughtful are they. For me, though, the overarching piece that I was left with from The Ghost Garden was the strength and doggedness of both "Caroline" and her family, who kept going, long after I suspect many of us would have thrown up our hands.

[Maryellen · Rating 5 out of 5]

“People need human touch, and the lack of it amplifies the loneliness of those afflicted by mental illness.
Hugs strengthen the immune system.”
.
.
This book has changed me in ways I cannot even begin to explain. So very painfully informative and educational. I would never again judge a person that I would come across that would not fit into a box that I am familiar with.
I wish this book would be taught in schools to teach younger people tolerance and acceptance.

The only thing is that I wish Caroline’s sisters were given more credit ! How deep and true was their love to stick by their sister and did all that they did for her.

Thank you Ms.Doherty for this book!

[Kevin Boyle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ghost Garden showed me more about EMPATHY than any book, ever. I can now see the sadness behind the scowls and the stories in the shadows of the people I pass, as well as of those close to me, who suffer from mental illness. Susan's devotion inspires me to listen and to help, to give someone (that needs it) that one more chance. That alone makes the book worth it. I recommend.

[Hayley MacGillivray · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this book so much I wrote the author Susan an email about it which I will copy and paste below.

Hello Susan,

My name is Hayley & I live in Winnipeg, Manitoba. I came across your book Ghost Garden when scrolling through my local library app for my next audiobook, and having just finished it I felt drawn to look you up and send this email (I promise, it's all good).

I am a Social Worker working on my masters to become a psychotherapist, and have experience both professionally and personally with a variety of mental health challenges. I have had a basic understanding of schizophrenia and am always interested in reading biography type books. I was genuinely so moved by this book, how you gave a voice to Caroline and so many and how this was done in such a compassionate and genuine manner. I've always considered myself to be someone who uses a person centered approach, but your writing has really illustrated how incredibly powerful and important allowing people with any "diagnosis" to feel heard, seen and accepted is. I feel reading this book has genuinely motivated myself to look more into non-medication approaches and working against the bias I can experience when hearing about those who are not medication compliant.

You yourself providing such accepting support through volunteering with these individuals is also inspiring and heartwarming. I applaud you for seeing people who are easy to ignore, and giving them dignity that many in similar circumstances are not able to find. Thank you for what you have done.

I hope you are well, and also hope the individuals you wrote about are doing their best - whatever that looks like. Caroline's story feels like a gift she has shared with us, and I am confident I will never forget this book and her experiences. The devotion of her sisters made me emotional, as it made me think of my own two sisters and what I would do in a similar situation. They are incredible and I hope they are able to know what a gift they have given Caroline with their devotion.

Thank you sincerely,
Hayley

[Juli Rahel · Rating 3 out of 5]

I first became interested in schizophrenia a few years ago, as part of a growing awareness around mental health and its impact. I was absolutely fascinated by Robert Kolker's Hidden Valley Road, an inside look into both the impact of schizophrenia and the science around it. The Ghost Garden leans more heavily into the personal, but is a very valuable read for exactly that. Thanks to Penguin Random House Canada and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Schizophrenia is a complex disease, one which affects people across all kinds of social boundaries, one which may be genetic in nature but may also be caused by environment. It is an affliction that has become a slur, something thrown around, something associated with bad things happening. As with many of these things, the truth is that those afflicted often suffer the most. The rate of schizophrenics who become violent is small, the damage the disease does, however, is extensive. While the world of those who are schizophrenic falls apart, so those the world of those around them. The Ghost Garden is very thorough in the way it tracks the fallout of schizophrenia, the way it affects parents, children, and friends, and how it puts a strain on relationships of all kinds. The book is also very explicit in its call for more resources, which is does not necessarily through an active call-out but by highlighting the life-saving work some hospitals, doctors, and charities perform in the lives of the people it discusses. With its detail and unflinching look, The Ghost Garden gives a voice to a group of people who are marginalised and overlooked and for that it is important in and of itself. While not everything in the book worked for me, or perhaps resonated with me as intended, I nonetheless found it a very enlightening read which will inform me moving forward.

The Ghost Garden centers on the story of Caroline Evans (Doherty changed all the names, except those of medical professionals for the sake of privacy). We meet her first at what can be described her lowest point, before jumping back in time to her childhood. One of ten children, Caroline seems like your average teenage girl but because we know what is coming each oddity turns into a warning sign. Thanks to extensive conversations with Caroline herself and her siblings, Doherty is able to sketch an incredibly detailed portrait of Caroline's life and I couldn't help but get wrapped up in it. Due to the depth of detail, I at times almost felt overwhelmed, which may have been Doherty's intention. A life with schizophrenia is a life of constant underlying tension and dread. I couldn't help but feel for Caroline and her siblings and was immensely impressed at their willingness to share to the extent they did. Caroline's story is interjected with short vignettes of other people suffering from schizophrenia, one way or another, who Doherty has met during her time volunteering. These vignettes frequently functioned to highlight, underline, or even contrast to what was happening to Caroline and I felt that this back and forth was very well done. A part of me did wish to meet more people, to hear more of these smaller stories to understand the breadth of experiences people have with schizophrenia.

One aspect of The Ghost Garden I felt a little uncomfortable with was the intense focus upon the physicality of the people Doherty was meeting. While I do understand it is important to point out how a person's appearance impacts the way they are received by society, I couldn't help but feel that there was an almost implicit judgement in these descriptions as well. Something along the lines of 'These people suffer so much that they can't help but smoke and overeat and smell'. I fully believe that this is not how Doherty intended these descriptions to come across, but the sheer accumulation of them, which included frequent references to faded clothing, cheap food, dyed hair, and body odour, hit a sour note for me. It is made clear that much of this is down to medication and a lack of assistance, and it is important to face that and not let the extremity of certain situations overwhelm the instinct to help, but I nonetheless question whether this was the best way to express it. I do have to admit I don't necessarily know a better way.

Another thing worth noting about The Ghost Garden, as I mentioned all the way at the top, is that this is a deeply personal and subjective book. Susan Doherty is writing from her own experiences, detailing her own emotions, and trusting to the memory of those around her. The major benefit of this is that you get to see how deeply these people affect her and how much love and kindness they have to share. The whole stigma around people with schizophrenia being "insane", or any other pejorative, falls away once you see them through Doherty's eyes. A downside is that The Ghost Garden strays into being an argument against medicating patients. And I do understand this after having read the book and the experiences described therein, but I nonetheless feel it could be risky. I don't think medicating people to the gills and hoping they'll stay still long enough to not cause damage is the answer, absolutely not. I do also think that some medications have very intense side-effects which need to be considered. But, I also think that schizophrenia is too complex to dismiss medicine as an option. In a perfect world we would have all the money and resources to give each person that suffers the time and support and talk therapy etc. which they need, alongside the right balance of medication which helps them but does not disable them. Unfortunately that perfect world is not here yet and schizophrenia's complex nature makes it difficult to pinpoint a cure or even a cause.

The Ghost Garden is an intriguing, but most importantly empathetic and gentle, portrait of those suffering from schizophrenia, both directly and indirectly. Doherty's kindness shines through in her writing and has definitely helped me inform my own thinking. While this a subjective book, in the sense that Doherty speaks from her personal experience rather than a professional position with medical knowledge, there is nonetheless a lot of insight to glean.

URL: https://universeinwords.blogspot.com/...

[Michelle Reimer · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book provides an in-depth look at psychotic breakdowns leading to the diagnoses of schizophrenia. Susan Doherty provides an intimate portrait of a number of different people she comes to know with schizophrenia and by the end of the book you are convinced more research is needed to better understand this debilitating disease and its treatments. You learn that Schizophrenia is highly misunderstood and that family members are quickly caught up in the medical system trying to understand what is happening, at the same time they suffer in helplessness and shame. I will never forget this book and its characters.

[Koen · Rating 4 out of 5]

A heartbreaking, closeup look at the, at times bleak, realities of living with mental health problems in general and schizophrenia particular.

Doherty tells the story of Caroline, a woman now in het sixties, who lived a life of severe mental health problems. Provided access to complete medical records and with full cooperation from Caroline and her sisters, Doherty's book gives us a rare and almost uncomfortably personal insight into a life with schizophrenia.

It's emotional and tough read. It's hard to imagine having the strength to deal with a life like Caroline's. Doherty does an amazing job of telling it us straight, from Caroline's, as well as from her sisters' perspective. There's much more to this book though which i find hard to put in words. The review by Bjorn, down here below on Goodreads, does a much better job than i ever could. Doherty will definitely leave you mulling things over for a while.

[Rachel Schwartz · Rating 5 out of 5]

I rationed the last few stories and saved Sixty Thoughts to read when the world was quiet except for the birds this morning. Thank you Susan. Thank you for doing the hard work so many of us avoid. Thank you for having the courage of vulnerability to share, so eloquently, both what you learned about others but what has so clearly become part of your fabric. I am so moved by your book and view the complicated world of mental health with a new level of sensitivity.