Random House New Releases - Medical - Mental Health - Between May 18, 2012 and June 17, 2013.

Brooklyn Zoo by Darcy Lockman

2013-04-09T00:30:00-05:00

Brooklyn Zoo The Education of a Psychotherapist
Written by Darcy Lockman

In her eye-opening, ruthlessly honest account, Darcy Lockman shares the stress, frustratation, and exhilaration of her clinical training as a psychologist in the midst of institutional dysfunction at Brooklyn’s Kings County Hospital.

After leaving her career in magazine journalism to become a psychotherapist, Darcy Lockman confronted a slew of challenges including numerous troubling cases, struggles to provide the poor and chronically ill with adequate care, and the general and sometimes humorous indignities of being a trainee in any field. This compelling memoir will by turns deeply move, shock, and enrage you. Hope is not lost though, and Brooklyn Zoo introduces us to the many smart people currently trying to fix the mental health-care system, enhancing our understanding of what psychologists can make possible through their work.

January First by Michael Schofield

2012-08-07T00:30:00-05:00

January First A Child's Descent into Madness and Her Father's Struggle to Save Her
Written by Michael Schofield

Michael Schofield’s daughter January is at the mercy of her imaginary friends, except they aren’t the imaginary friends that most young children have; they are hallucinations. And January is caught in the conflict between our world and their world, a place she calls Calalini. Some of these hallucinations, like “24 Hours,” are friendly and some, like “400 the Cat” and “Wednesday the Rat,” bite and scratch her until she does what they want. They often tell her to scream at strangers, jump out of buildings, and attack her baby brother.

At six years old, January Schofield, “Janni,” to her family, was diagnosed with schizophrenia, one of the worst mental illnesses known to man. What’s more, schizophrenia is 20 to 30 times more severe in children than in adults and in January’s case, doctors say, she is hallucinating 95 percent of the time that she is awake. Potent psychiatric drugs that would level most adults barely faze her.

A New York Times bestseller, January First captures Michael and his family's remarkable story in a narrative that forges new territory within books about mental illness. In the beginning, readers see Janni’s incredible early potential: her brilliance, and savant-like ability to learn extremely abstract concepts. Next, they witnesses early warning signs that something is not right, Michael’s attempts to rationalize what’s happening, and his descent alongside his daughter into the abyss of schizophrenia. Their battle has included a two-year search for answers, countless medications and hospitalizations, allegations of abuse, despair that almost broke their family apart and, finally, victories against the illness and a new faith that they can create a life for Janni filled with moments of happiness.

A compelling, unsparing and passionate account, January First vividly details Schofield’s commitment to bring his daughter back from the edge of insanity. It is a father’s soul-baring memoir of the daily struggles and challenges he and his wife face as they do everything they can to help Janni while trying to keep their family together.

January First by Michael Schofield

2012-08-07T00:30:00-05:00

January First A Child's Descent into Madness and Her Father's Struggle to Save Her
Written by Michael Schofield

From the Hardcover edition.

Brooklyn Zoo by Darcy Lockman

2012-07-17T00:30:00-05:00

Brooklyn Zoo The Education of a Psychotherapist
Written by Darcy Lockman

A compelling memoir of a psychotherapist’s clinical and personal education amid chaos and dysfunction that delivers an emotional impact to rival Susan Sheehan’s classic Is There No Place on Earth for Me?

Seven years after her college graduation, Darcy Lockman abandoned a career in magazine journalism to become a psychologist. After four years in classrooms, she spent her final training year at the Kings County Hospital, an aging public institution on the outskirts of Brooklyn. When she started, little did she know that the hospital’s behavioral health department—the infamous G Building, where the Son of Sam serial killer David Berkowitz and the rapper Ol’ Dirty Bastard once resided—was on the cusp of its darkest era yet, one that culminated in the death of a patient in a psychiatric emergency room described by the New York Post as a “Dickensian nightmare.”

Brooklyn Zoo unfolds amid the constant drama and disorder of the G Building. Lockman rotates through four departments, each of which presents new challenges and haunting cases. She works with forensic psychologists to evaluate offenders for fitness to stand trial—almost all of them with pathos-filled histories and little hope of rehabilitation. The thorny politics of the psych ER compound her anxiety about working with its volatile patients, but under the wing of a charismatic if brusque mentor she gains a deeper insight into her new profession as well as into her own strengths and limitations.

As she moves to the inpatient ward and then psychiatric consultation liaison, Lockman’s overstretched supervisors and the institutional preference for pills over therapy are persistent obstacles. But they eventually present a young clinician with the opportunity to reexamine everything she believes and to come out stronger on the other side.

Lockman’s frank portrayal of her fledgling role in a warped system is a professional coming-of-age story that will resonate with anyone who has fought to develop career mastery in a demanding environment. A stark portrait of the struggling public mental-health-care system, Brooklyn Zoo is also an homage to the doctors who remain committed to their patients in spite of institutional failures and to the patients who strive to get better with their help. And it is an inspiring first-hand account by a narrator who triumphs over self-doubt to believe in the rightness and efficacy of her chosen profession.

Brooklyn Zoo by Darcy Lockman

2012-07-17T00:30:00-05:00

Brooklyn Zoo The Education of a Psychotherapist
Written by Darcy Lockman

Random House New Releases - Medical - Mental Health - Between May 18, 2012 and June 17, 2013.

Brooklyn Zoo by Darcy Lockman

Brooklyn Zoo The Education of a PsychotherapistWritten by Darcy Lockman

January First by Michael Schofield

January First A Child's Descent into Madness and Her Father's Struggle to Save HerWritten by Michael Schofield

January First by Michael Schofield

January First A Child's Descent into Madness and Her Father's Struggle to Save HerWritten by Michael Schofield

Brooklyn Zoo by Darcy Lockman

Brooklyn Zoo The Education of a PsychotherapistWritten by Darcy Lockman

Brooklyn Zoo by Darcy Lockman

Brooklyn Zoo The Education of a PsychotherapistWritten by Darcy Lockman

Brooklyn Zoo The Education of a Psychotherapist
Written by Darcy Lockman

January First A Child's Descent into Madness and Her Father's Struggle to Save Her
Written by Michael Schofield

January First A Child's Descent into Madness and Her Father's Struggle to Save Her
Written by Michael Schofield

Brooklyn Zoo The Education of a Psychotherapist
Written by Darcy Lockman

Brooklyn Zoo The Education of a Psychotherapist
Written by Darcy Lockman