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The Locked Ward: The Memoir Of A Psychiatric Orderly (2012)

by Dennis O'Donnell(Favorite Author)

4.1 of 5 Votes: 1

ISBN

0224093606 (ISBN13: 9780224093606)

languge

English

genre

Memoir & Autobiography

publisher

Random House UK

review 1: Author Dennis O'Donnell worked in the "Locked Ward", a psychiatric institution, for seven years. This book tells of how he was invited to work there while he was caring for elderly patients, and of his experiences.Not surprisingly, O'Donnell has a very good knowledge of mental illness and the different forms it can take, as he talks about various patients he has dealt with, ranging from people with schizophrenia to even nymphomania. Most of the individual chapters talk about different patients, but you can tell there is a linear progression through the book as his time in the ward is charted.Inevitably, this book is quite harrowing and very gritty in its realistic portrayal of mental illness, and although it felt a bit repetitive (how many accounts of patients taking their... more clothes off and attempting to have sex with others did the book need?), I found the book to be compelling. Surprisingly, there were some very humourous moments, for example O'Donnell noting that he was so alarmed he might have dashed through the wall leaving a cartoon-like hole that was shaped like him, and there are some occasional depictions of the absurd conversations that he and his colleagues have had. To be honest, I think if you're working in a place like this you need to have a good laugh at times, or you'd go crazy yourself!
review 2: I probably shouldn't describe a book like this as funny as it deals with a serious subject but O'Donnell writes in such an amusing way that I couldn't help but laugh. He wasn't being mean about his patients but there's humour to be found in every situation and that's what this author did. He treated the serious subjects with grace and sincerity and there was no point where you thought he was making fun of the patients. An entertaining and informative read. less

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