Pathological by Sarah Fay

 

Pathological. The True Story of Six Misdiagnosis, the unforgettable memoir by Sarah Fay  describes with accuracy the drama of the modern health system, in the US, when it comes to mental health. It is a drama of misdiagnosis and overmedication, part due to the institutional inability, part to the pervasive pharma network.

At first, I was tempted - by reason of mental simplicity - to compare it with Prozac Nation, but it is more than that. The fact that over the course of three decades she was misdiagnosed with six different psychological conditions and administered the medication recommended with is not the end of the book, but a permanent desperate search for the real cause of her personal distress. 

I am an advocate of always asking the help of a mental health specialist, when it comes to mental problems. But in America - as well as in Germany and elsewhere - the symptoms are classified according to standards that sometimes do not correspond to a complex reality, such Fay´s. In the US, for instance, the diagnosis is mostly following the standards set by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders which seem to be a disorder in itself. 

Diagnosis is a cultural act, based on social acception, scientific limitations, plus a certain percentage of pharma industry affiliation. It is sometimes more a matter of perception than on cold scientific evaluation. In the end, the person in need of a diagnosis is twice of victim: of medical incompetence and of social stigma. No wonder that many people may actually give up and chose refusing medication and diagnosis or just committing suicide or eventually find some placebo-hippy solutions or maybe follow a mindfulness kind of ´therapy´. 

By the way, there is almost no discussion about the side-effects of yoga and meditation and all the shining positivity. Sarah Fay does it and, indeed, people affected by a mental health issue may be negatively influenced by some - or all - of those emotional juggling.

I wish there is more empathic writing about the struggle of mental health. In a way helping us to understand not necessarily what really happens when one faces the struggle, but the many layers involved by the political-institutional approach of the medical/health establishment. And there may be non-Americans considering that this is a Made in USA kind of issue, I have a bad news: Germany is having serious problems when it comes to diagnosing mental health, and the overdosing of the wrong medication is not an isolate situation.

Pathological is a balanced and direct testimony - although the narrative sounded at times less organised and structured - of the many aspects regarding life with a mental health problem, particularly after facing the institutional misdiagnosis. The struggle is particularly dramatic because one may feel that instead of receiving a hand to swim until the shore, rather receives a push to drown instead. The power of words and of a memoir may one day change all of this.

Rating: 4.5 stars