Millett’s memoir of a period in her life when she was hospitalized is
a classic of sorts. It’s one of the earliest in the rash of memoirs of
madness that were so popular in the 1990s. It was first published in 1990,
and has now been republished by a university press. She was first diagnosed
with manic depression in 1973. Worried about the long-term effects, and
bothered by the immediate side effects, she decided to go off her medication,
lithium, in 1980, and soon enough, her friends decided that she was becoming
a risk to herself or others, and arranged for her to treated against her
will.

The story is apparently one of injustice, betrayal, and sexism. It portrays
the intolerance of modern society towards people who are different, and
the self-confirming effects of labeling people as mentally ill. It shows
the plight of the mentally ill and places Millett as one of the foremost
critics of psychiatry.

The problem for such a book is that Millett tells just one side of the
story. She tells it very well, and it’s easy to sympathize with Millett’s
plight. But it’s just as easy to be suspicious of her version of events,
and it’s possible that her hospitalization was completely justified. In
reading each episode in Millett’s book, the reader has to decide whose
side to take, and how much to accept her narrative.

There’s a contrast in attitude between The Loony-Bin Trip and
other memoirs of hospitalization. For example, Suzanna Kaysen’s
Girl,
Interrupted is ironic and questioning of the treatment that she
received as a teenager. But Millett is angry and condemning of the way
that she was treated. She is also very smart and eloquent, and her memoir
is undeniably powerful, even if her antipsychiatric leanings are not convincing.
She manages to bring alive her experience, the struggle with unhappiness,
the weight of the loss of her friends and lovers, and her outrage at the
way she was treated.

Millett’s book is certainly provocative and engrossing, and when I read
it in 1991, it introduced me to many important ideas. But on looking through
these pages again, what strikes me most is not the ideological and ethical
debate, but the beauty of Millett’s writing.. Even though I am suspicious
of Millett’s account and the conclusions she draws from her experience,
I am very glad that it is back in print.

© 2001 Christian Perring. First Serial Rights.

Christian Perring,
Ph.D., is Chair of the Philosophy Department at Dowling College,
Long Island. He is editor of Metapsychology Online Review.
His main research is on philosophical issues in psychiatry.
He is especially interested in exploring how philosophers can
play a greater role in public life. He is available to give talks
on many philosophical or controversial issues in mental health.

Categories: Memoirs