Danger to Self: On the Front Line with an ER Psychiatrist |  | Author: Paul Linde
Publisher: University of California Press
Category: Book
List Price: $24.95
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Seller: spectrumbooks
Rating:  15 reviews
Sales Rank: 102853
Media: Hardcover
Edition: 1
Pages: 280
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.1
Dimensions (in): 8.3 x 5.9 x 1.1
ISBN: 0520249844
Dewey Decimal Number: 616.89025
EAN: 9780520249844
ASIN: 0520249844
Publication Date: January 7, 2010
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
The psychiatric emergency room, a fast-paced combat zone with pressure to match, thrusts its medical providers into the outland of human experience where they must respond rapidly and decisively in spite of uncertainty and, very often, danger. In this lively first-person narrative, Paul R. Linde takes readers behind the scenes at an urban psychiatric emergency room, with all its chaos and pathos, where we witness mental health professionals doing their best to alleviate suffering and repair shattered lives. As he and his colleagues encounter patients who are hallucinating, drunk, catatonic, aggressive, suicidal, high on drugs, paranoid, and physically sick, Linde examines the many ethical, legal, moral, and medical issues that confront today's psychiatric providers. He describes a profession under siege from the outside--health insurance companies, the pharmaceutical industry, government regulators, and even "patients' rights" advocates--and from the inside--biomedical and academic psychiatrists who have forgotten to care for the patient and have instead become checklist-marking pill-peddlers. While lifting the veil on a crucial area of psychiatry that is as real as it gets, Danger to Self also injects a healthy dose of compassion into the practice of medicine and psychiatry.
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 15
 This book is in the top five books I've read in the past year. June 7, 2010
Elena Rakhaeva (Washington, DC)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This is not quite an entertainment, so those who look for "hot stories about crazy people" will probably be a little disappointed. The author does not display people in distress like they are in a human circus; he tells their stories in a calm and compassionate manner with respect for who they are and where they come from. Those who look for serious discussions of particular disorders or medications, or health care system will also be disappointed. This is not a textbook or a diagnostic manual.
Psych ER is a highly stressful environment with insanity pushed to its limits; patients represent a danger to self, or others, and to keep oneself not just calm and professional but respectful and sensitive to others' pain is a gift.
I like how Dr. Linde places main focus on his patients and the hospital/city environment, not himself; this allows seeing unfolding dramatic stories in a context of a bigger picture of current medical/urban reality. At the same time there is a strong author's presence in this book, and his personality gradually reveals itself through little phrases, observations, and humor.
I enjoyed every story and I highly recommend this book to those who are in the process of becoming mental health professionals or just curious what it is like to be a psych doctor in ER.
 Emergency psychiatry dispensed with humanity May 14, 2010
Deb (Palo Alto, CA)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
_Danger to Self_ provides a fascinating peek into what happens in between the walls of emergency psychiatry as well as in the mind and heart of a talented and dedicated psychiatrist. Regularly in high-risk, life-or-death situations with patients who are suicidal, psychotic, intoxicated, violent and the like, Dr. Linde exemplifies the heart and soul upon which real healing is based. As he says in his own words: "While I cannot fail to recognize and address painful emotions in my patients and my self, it is also my task to seek energetic joy and humor in the moment, to experience the buzz of empathy....my real strength as a physician comes from the heart."
While the book reads like a novel, it also seamlessly provides a wealth of information on the ethics, politics, procedures, and treatment involved in ER psychiatry. A great read for mental health clinicians...and curious laypersons.
A new world April 15, 2010
George Putnam
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This book takes you inside the hearts and minds of a psych staff. It's compelling, compassionate, and comprehensive. All the more so because very few of us have ever seen the goings-on of an emergency psychiatric ward.
 Just not enough . . . March 23, 2010
C. W. Petry
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
I, too, felt that this book was rather cold and clinical. The author would have better served his audience by offering more detailed stories about his patients. It read like a textbook. It left me wanting more and wondering why the author bothered publishing it. There just wasn't enough there. It would have made a better blog.
Have to disagree March 18, 2010
Steve in Scottsdale (Scottsdale, AZ)
4 out of 6 found this review helpful
I find it hard to believe that everyone before me has rated this book as 5 stars. I have to admit that, having worked in the mental health field for a number of years, I seem to read a lot of books in this genre. Most tell the stories of the doctors and the people they help in a clear, concise, and compelling way. While reading this book, however, I felt like I was back in school, listening to a lecture. There were just not enough STORIES in it. I wish he had spent more time relating situations and patients that he had come across in his practice rather than such technical information. To be honest, I couldn't wait to finish it so that I could move on to another book - any other book.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 15
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