Testimonials…
from mental health professionals…

Mostly just a small, somewhat representative sampling of the unsolicited, complimentary emails I’ve gotten through the years, edited for concision and anonymity …

“I am not a crier except when I am in physical pain but this book has had me tear up and question so much the way my patients with schizophrenia view me and the ‘help’ that I believe I am giving them. I can think of no book — including the DSM — that those of us treating severe mental illness need to be more familiar with than this one.” [a psychiatrist]

“I wanted to drop a line to share something. I was talking to one of my supervisors …way back when, we had had a conversation about mental health in the ER, I brought up AKOMP, we talked about how we both had family members who carry psychiatric diagnoses. Fast forward a couple years … [s]he mentioned she had bought and read AKOMP, and that her experience with that book along with family experience had affected how she treats some of her patients. I've noticed it too in my practice as a doc. I don't have the skills to describe it without rambling on and on forever, but the gist is, one of the really hard parts about this job is that sometimes you just have to make a decision to not let people do what they want. People who are at risk of harm, who for whatever reason can't process the risk/benefit conversation, and of course the distinct category of people who are actively violent. Occasionally it's obvious, more often it's complicated in lots of ways. But what we've both noticed is that the window has shifted, the line has moved a little. We both had examples of patients that our classic training and habits would have warranted a sedation, or at least a hard conversation about a medication they may not have wanted, but we were able to see things a little differently and go another way. Unfortunately we're not at the end of sedation, nor an immediate revolution in how we administer emergency psychiatric care. But I thought you might like to know that there are at least a handful of people walking around that had less difficult and traumatic experiences with the healthcare system because of the work you did. I'm glad you're keeping it up.” [a physician]

“WOW - and such a beautiful, loved filled story. I am a teacher and a mental health therapist who works with teachers in care and treatment settings ... I’m going to suggest your book as a book for us all to read. Thank you for sharing Bob’s story. We all need to hear it.”

“I worked in experimental and clinical neuropsychology and neuroscience for years in the US [and abroad] … My interests have always been motivated by personal experiences too little of which ever gets related alongside the statistics of things; things become a human science without any real human dimension that way. That you so much for relating that dimension in the story of your uncle Bob … I personally dealt with anxiety issues and my best friend is currently trying to get a handle on the voices he hears. Marginalisation is all about robbing people of the agency to act or be, so finally, thank you for restoring that for yourself for [me], your uncle, and my friend, and everyone who I’m sure you touched (my parents and friends will certainly be pressed into listening). I am thinking, I may have to get your book too.”

“I just listened to the podcast you were featured in: how to be a better human. I felt compelled to write to you because so much of what you were saying deeply resonated with me. I have never heard anyone with this same view point so I just bought your book to hear more about your research and perspective. … I have an incredible opportunity to pursue my masters in Global Mental Health at [prestigious university abroad]. I have been thinking a lot about my dissertation project and what I want to write about, but more specifically what impact I want to have on the world. I would be honored to talk to you and pick your brain a little bit!”

“I love everything you’ve ever written. … I think this context might be helpful: I am a social worker in the suburbs of [mid-sized American city in a red-leaning state] and I work primarily with gender divorce adolescents and young adults in an outpatient therapy setting. … I have shared your work with clients and their families. I have found that for parents that are struggling to understand their child, your Esquire piece tends to result in transformational shifts in the way they parent. (Your “Marie Kondo” piece has been circulated a time or 30, too. I go back to it over and over.)

“(Subject: Book) Just finished it!!!! Thank you for sharing your uncle’s story! Mental health advocate here too!!!!”

“I am an ER nurse and interact with all sorts of people whom society is unkind to on a daily basis. It is part of what has driven me to my work; the desire to provide care at the margins, in a structure that is unkind, unjust and unsatisfactory, I seek opportunities to show individuals that I seen them, their uniqueness and that I care for them. Your piece on TAL is one of many that has moved me to inspire me to continue doing the work that I do. In particular your thoughts as which pertain your Uncle Bob; I work with many people whose stories are similar to his and, yet, simultaneously completely different, which are not always recognized by our current social structures …You are a marvelously inspiring being.”

“My hope is that it will become a classic and universally read by all psychiatrists.” Dr. Howard Forman, Albert Einstein Medical School, reviewing AKOMP for The Psychiatric Times [mainstream psychiatry’s largest publication]

“[Allen] shows a burgeoning critical mental health gaze.” Jessica Pons reviewing AKOMP for ISPS-UK [International Society for Psychological and Social Approaches to Psychosis, a more radical-leaning professionals organization]

…and from people with lived experience/psychiatric patients & their families

“I’ve spent most of my 70 years trying to heal and understand the experience of having had a paranoid schizophrenic mother. Your book gave me another perspective on probably the biggest sorrow … Thank you for giving me more insight into my mother, into myself, and I’m grateful to both you and your uncle…”

“What a beautiful and moving book. Thank you for making it happen! Speaking at least for myself it can be hard for people with extreme mental illness to get their stories out since basic functioning does not always happen. It means so much that you were game to do this.”

“I just wanted to tell you that I loved your book. It made me laugh and cry. My brother has schizophrenia. I’m giving it to my mother to read next. Thank you for being so kind to Bob and for sharing his story.”

“Thank you for writing the book about your Uncle. It has been so helpful to me and has opened my eyes to the history of mental health care and the possibilities for a brighter future. I just wanted to let you know that it has made a huge difference in my family’s life.”

“As a mother of a 55 year old son with a diagnosis of Schizophrenia, I thank you for the respect you showed your uncle by including his book within your book… You allowed your uncle to have a voice and I hope others will follow your example.“

“…your book was so good. I feel like I really get your Uncle Bob by the way you shared his life from his own words. I had an Uncle [first name] growing up that schizophrenia and who lived in San Francisco. I didn’t know much about the illness back except he lived alone and studied the Egyptian calendar for years and was trying to figure out its meanings and actual start date. My son started having mental health issues at age 20 and is now 30 with schizophrenia. There are events in your book, like the military telling him don’t mention about the mental health issues when enlisting and being hospitalized I can relate to. Or all the jobs that didn’t work out or the medicines that make your a zombie or the knife carrying and collections. … Thank you for writing this, it helps change society’s thinking on those with schizophrenia are treated.”

“I just want to say thank you. Thank you for sharing, thank you for your ramblings. Thank you for being so strong. Thank you for being you!! I love everything you write. I bought your Uncle bob and Mirraculas Paradise book right after I heard you on our local NPR station… I am now going to buy more copies for my nephew, currently writing his thesis in psychology, and my niece third year into her bachelors in psychology. Thank you for all that you do.”

“I was inspired to sign up for your newsletter and to listen to your audiobook after hearing you on the how to be a better human podcast… It was a very interesting story to hear about your uncles [sic] life. I also found it inspiring since my brother has high functioning autism I find it interesting to hear about peoples lives with mental disabilities.”

“Thanks for your articles helping those of us to understand the PoV of a trans man. As a mother of two trans men, I have been accepting and supportive, but your articles really help me to understand and feel what they have gone through in this life of theirs.”

“I just finished reading your ECT piece in The Believer - so well written and thorough and important. I, too, live with a complicated head, ‘caught between this life and something’ and ultimately choosing life…”

“(Subject: Your ECT story in The Believer) Thank you for the wonderful article. I am [huge deal career specifics I won’t republish.] I have done the dance with depression for most of my life, and I’ve taken most of the psychiatric and drug treatments…”

“Lyz Lenz included your article on ECT in her sunday links today … As a survivor of long term psychiatric hospitalization in 1969-70, I was lucky the shock shop where I was had been shut down. Thorazine (in massive doses) was the chemical of choice for patient control in those days. Anyway thank you for your article. It resonated. I have gone on to have a life (as an out Lesbian) in spite of all that but the memory is never far away. Especially these days.” [Note: my book, mostly set in the late 60s and early 70s, is largely focused around discussions of antipsychotics including Thorazine and of involuntary psychiatric treatment.]

“I am a nonbinary person [abroad] … My mother has schizophrenia … As a small child I found myself often caring for my mother, although I never understood exactly why. The last time I remember being a child myself was when I was 7. .. A friend recommended Mad Chat to me after I had a breakdown which floored me … Not only did Mad Chat keep me going through one of the darkest times of my life, but your book, well audiobook, my own struggle is that I cannot focus on written materials, has saved me once again. I have cried so much, and will cry so much more.
Thank you
Thank you
Thank you
This has saved my life, and salvaged the love I have for my mother… I will raise a toast for Bob often - I am not spiritual, not religious, but I wish I could just tell Bob, I hear you, I don’t get you and I never will, but I hear you and you are beautiful and brave and sticking it through in a world that simply won’t have the ‘likes’ of you.”