Reading 72 Hour Hold by Bebe Moore Campbell gives an insight into mental illness and psychological disorders by showing us readers what the loved ones of those struggling with wither of those goes through. In other novels we have read, for example, Marbles: Mania, Depression, Michelangelo, and Me, we follow Ellen Forney through her struggle with Bipolar Disorder. In 72 Hour Hold, we get to read Keri’s (Trina’s mom) perspective.

While reading this novel, I found it so interesting to be able to see what it was like for Trina’s mom as she struggled to get her daughter the help she needed. I always knew it was a struggle for the loved ones of those struggling with mental illness or psychological disorders, but I never really knew much about what it was like for them. I personally have anxiety, so I know how hard it is/was for my parents especially when I was younger and would worry about even the smallest things. If I knew I was going to be going somewhere the next day that would be full of people, I would worry all night long to the point of making myself sick which in turn would mean my mom would be up with me all night.

72 Hour Hold showed us that many times those who are suffering from a mental illness or psychological disorder do things they don’t even realize they are doing, or do things that they don’t mean to do. For example, we see Trina destroy her mother’s house because of the things going on in her head. She didn’t mean to do it, and wouldn’t if she was having a “good” day. This is the episode that caused her to be diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder.

There are two themes that really stick out to me in this novel. The first one being “mental illness affects everyone associated with that person, especially the close family.” In this novel, we see Trina’s mother trying her best to get Trina the help she needs to get her bipolarity under control. Personally, I feel that if Keri wasn’t there with Trina every step of the way, that Trina may not have gotten the help she needed on her own.

The other theme that really stood out to me in this novel is “fight for what you beleive in.” Keri knew that her daughter needed help, and she knew that she needed to do something for her, so she did everything it took to get her that help. First, Trina was put on a 72-hour hold, then she got out and went into an outpatient rehabilitation program, etc. It is because of Keri fighting for what she believed in that Trina got the help she needed.

Reading The Lovely Bones has given me insight on things such as mental illness and psychological problems because we see Mr. Harvey who kills Susie. Clearly, if someone kills another person, something is wrong in their life. We are able to get a glimpse into Mr. Harvey’s childhood, and we also get to see some of the memories he had with his mom. This helps us as readers see Mr. Harvey as a person and understand why he killed Susie and what his motives were.

Before reading this, I didn’t know a whole lot about serial killers, and I still don’t, but what I did know is that they likely have a psychological disorder, or a mental illness where there is a voice in their head telling them to do these things to other people. No human being in their right mind would just decide to go out and become a serial killer. I also knew that there had to be some sort of similarity that links all of thier murders to one another. For example, the Happy Face Killer would leave a smiley face somewhere at the crime scene. Others, may only kill women, they may only kill people who look a certain way, etc. There is some sort of preference to serial killers that makes them keep killing.

After reading The Lovely Bones, I now know that there is always a motive as to why serial killers choose to kill certain people who look a certain way, etc. Something had to have happened to them at some point in their life that leads them to this motive that will cause them to commit multiple murders.

To reach out to serial killers before they kill can be difficult. A lot of times, they are disguised in our community as good people and we have no clue what they are plotting in their head. If we do know or think they are going to kill, we can get them the help they need.

Reading The Lovely Bones has influenced the way I think about the human condition. I have realized that there may not be enough of the help these people need around, so they feel as if they have been pushed to the point of killing someone to get attention. Many times, when these people are caught, they end up thrown in prision where there is no help for them that they can get (I don’t want to say always because I’m not sure how every prision does things). We need more help for people with mental illnesses and psychological conditions. We also need these people to know that it’s okay to speak up and get help.

Reading Marbles: Mania, Depression, Muchelanngelo, and Me, I feel as if I understand a little bit more about mental health than if this novel would have been written in the form of your “traditional novel.” By that, I mean that by this novel being written in the form of a graphic novel, I was able to learn more about this particular mental illness (Bipolar Disease). This novel was drawn by Ellen Forney, which is who it is about. I think that by her drawing out all of the illustrations for her novel, she gave us readers more of a look into her life. Many of the drawings were drawn so that the readers could feel and understand what was going through her head. I have come to truly appreciate people like Ellen Forney, and Lori Schiller (author of The Quiet Room) because they have written out their life story for people they don’t even know all across America and even the world to read.

From this novel, I learned that mental illness can really affect how you feel about yourself on a day to day basis. There were many times throughout that we saw Ellen practically begging Karen to put her on a different medication, or take her off of them completely because she didn’t like how they made her feel. Lithium was the medication that Ellen had the hardest time taking because of the side effects and she was worried about how it would affect how she did her work and her daily life from day to day. She went from manic moods to depressed moods, so she was never really happy with who she was.

This novel absolutely ties in with the other novels we have read for this class. We saw Lori Schilling’s struggle with Schizophrenia through her story that she told. She told it from the points of view of different people in her life at that time, and she also added in some of her medical records. In this novel, we were able to go through Ellen’s story as she walked us through it and drew out what appointments with Karen looked like, what going out with friends, or her mom looked like, etc. Not only that, but we were able to just see how she was able to finally find the right combination of medications to help her overcome this mental illness so it wouldn’t determine her fate on a day to day basis. These two novels taught me a lot even though they were written in two totally different formats, but with how each of them was written, I don’t think they would have as much of an impact if they were written in any other format.

The Quiet Room changed the way I think about a lot of things. Mental health is something that is talked about a lot this day in age, but not many people really understand it. This novel was written in a way that showed not only Lori’s point-of-view, but also her family and friends. When I say that The Quiet Room changed the way I think about a lot of things, I mean that it changed how I view people with mental illness. I never looked at them as weird, or crazy, but I never knew what it was like to have these different illnesses. After reading this novel, I understand that all mental illnesses are very different from not only one another, but also from person to person.

This book was very different from some of the books I have had to read for other English classes. In High School, we read more books like The Kite Runner, and To Kill A Mockingbird. Books about mental illness wasn’t something my school assigned, or talked too much about. In my first college Engligh class (EN111), we read a book called Writing My Wrongs, and it was similar to this in the sense that the narrator was the person actually going through the struggle, rather than someone else telling their story, but it wasn’t about mental illness.

When it comes to reading for pleasure, I like to read more mystery/thriller/psychological thrillers. This novel was pretty out of my comfort zone as far as what I normally read, but I absolutely loved it and can’t wait to read more books like this. Personally, I wouldn’t have picked this up and read it on my own because I hadn’t read anything like this before but now that I have, I will for sure pick up more.

Mental illness is something that is being talked about more in today’s society. It is becoming a sort of “normal.” So many people have been diagnosed with mental illnesses such as anxiety, depression, etc. The Mayo Clinic website has a lot of information about mental illness. Their website is: http://www.mayoclinic.org. From what I have learned, you can’t determine whether or not someone has a mental illness just by looking at them because it is an illness in the brain. Mental illness may not be something you can see, but it is important to bring awareness to it as well as educate and inform people that it is real and that many people are struggling with it.

Literature and popular culture have shaped what I know about mental illness quite a bit. In movies, you are able to watch how mental illness affects the person struggling with it and see how they go through their daily life with whatever disorder they may have whether it be anxiety, or schizophrenia. In books, the author will describe different scenes that deal with mental illness and the reader then has to fill in the gaps that are missing from the story. The biggest influence on the shaping of my knowledge of mental illness is socila media. On social media, some people talk about it, and others feel as if it is a topic that shouldn’t be broadcasted to the public. I feel as if the people who share their stories with mental illness deserve a major round of applause, because it isn’t easy for someone to talk about their personal struggles. From seeing people talk about their personal struggles it allows the audience to hear about a real life story and it helps bring awareness. There are some things about mental illness that only those suffering from it may understand, therefore they are able to inform those who are not going through the same things to gain a better understanding of the situation and what they are going through.

The poem by Kaitlyn Tramp really hit me in a way I can’t describe. It showed that those suffering from mental illness sometimes feel the need to lie because they don’t want to be seen as “crazy,” or “weird,” etc.

The poem by Anne Sexton is another one that shapes our understanding of mental illness. Some people who are suffering from it have suicidal thoughts because they feel as if all of their burdens as well as the burdens of others they are close with will go away. Mental illness truly takes over the lives of some poeple.

Thanks for joining me!

Good company in a journey makes the way seem shorter. — Izaak Walton