Growing up in the fifties, Carolyn Spiro was always in the shadow of her more intellectually dominant and social outgoing twin, Pamela. But as the twins approached adolescence, Pamela began to succumb to schizophrenia, hearing disembodied voices and eventually suffering many breakdowns and hospitalizations. Divided Minds is a dual memoir of identical twins, one of whom faces a life sentence of schizophrenia, and the other who becomes a psychiatrist, after entering the spotlight that had for so long been focused on her ...
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Growing up in the fifties, Carolyn Spiro was always in the shadow of her more intellectually dominant and social outgoing twin, Pamela. But as the twins approached adolescence, Pamela began to succumb to schizophrenia, hearing disembodied voices and eventually suffering many breakdowns and hospitalizations. Divided Minds is a dual memoir of identical twins, one of whom faces a life sentence of schizophrenia, and the other who becomes a psychiatrist, after entering the spotlight that had for so long been focused on her sister. Told in the alternating voices of the sisters, Divided Minds is a heartbreaking account of the far reaches of madness, as well as the depths of ambivalence and love between twins. It is a true and unusually frank story of identical twins with very different identities and wildly different experiences of the world around them.
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Add this copy of Divided Minds: Twin Sisters and Their Journey Through to cart. $54.40, good condition, Sold by Bonita rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Newport Coast, CA, UNITED STATES, published 2021 by Tantor and Blackstone Publishi.
This book tells about schizophrenia from the eyes of twin sisters, one who was personally affected. They take turns giving their point of views of the same experiences.....you won't be able to put it down. They write the book in a way that gets the reader to get into their experiences. I have a new view of schizophrenia. I am so glad I purchased this book. I feel that its contents will help me understand certain behaviors which I may not have understood as legitimate before. Some mental health staff can view behaviors as simple defiance. This book teaches the fears, thoughts, and hallucinations that can be behind those behaviors. This book gives an inside view of the mind of a schizophrenic and I am impressed by their ability to convey the images in the reader's mind. Anyone interested in this disease needs to read this book. Hats off to the Spiro sisters.
proof1
Apr 1, 2007
Schizophrenia Uncovered
Divided Minds tells the story of twin sister who grow up in a middle class New England family. The story takes the reader from their earliest memories to their mid adult years. What is most remarkable about their story is the descent of one of the twins, Pamela, into the depths of schizophrenia,in the time when psychopharmacological treatment was limited to the introduction of zyprexa which provided Pamela with some relief. The story presents vivid detail of the mind, pain and suffering of Pamela and her family and is written with the talent and the skill that was Pamela's promise as a young student. Carolyn, the other sister and a psychiatrist, adds her voice to the story and portrays the denial most families experience when first confronted with a diagnosis of schizophrenia in a loved one. It is truly difficult to see a family member disintegrate before ones eyes. The Book reads quickly but is filled with near heart-stopping pain.
