I noticed there are no posts on this book yet. So I thought I would add something quick about the book for other perspective buyers. I am half way through the book at the moment, so I can only comment on the 1st half, but I will comment on the 2nd when I have finished it.

The book paints a vivid and brilliant image of working in a state hospital (the 1st) in the 50's-60's. Dr. Calloway writes with a plethora of knowledge and experience. His book is written as series of short anecdotes about various topics, such as treatments, hydrotherapy, ECT, insulin shock therapy, and the lobotomy. As well as, day to day life in the hospital, politics, therapy, and schizophrenia. Dr. Calloway shares some his triumphs with working with patients and some of his failures. With each antidote/chapter the reader is further drawn into the world of Worcester State hospital in the 50's.

Dr. Calloway gives a sometimes unseen picture of a state hospital that while with its clear limitations did the best they could with what they had. Dr. Calloway shares the compassions of staff and the sadism that sometimes occurred. He further portrays Worcester as a hospital that was focused not only on care and treatment, but also on research, giving much research to psychiatry and psychology, as well as caring for and treating patients. Dr. Calloway gives the reader the sense of a hospital that was a living entity, from patients, to staff to the public. "We were all inmates at Worcester."

The book is not for the picture seeking reader; however Dr. Calloway writes in a way that the ready does not need pictures to understand his story. This book is for a reader interested in learning what it was like to be a young resident in America's first state hospital, during a time when there were no psychotropic medications, but only dedication and compassion to fight the terrors and sadness of mental illness.