52:
Edge of Sanity
Originally aired 01.31.1997
Stories about the border between mental health and mental illness.
Story of a romance that began in a mental hospital. Sometimes, the line between crazy and not crazy is blurry; certain behavior could mean either thing. (4 minutes)
Susanna Kaysen reads from her account of living at McLean psychiatric hospital for about two years, starting when she was eighteen. Her book, Girl, Interrupted, describes daily life on the ward. (12 minutes)
Dr Patricia Deegan hears voices in her head. She's a psychologist and she believes that the only way mental health workers can really understand what their patients go through is if they hear voices themselves. So she and a few other voice-hearers put together a tape for mental health workers. It's a simulation of what the voices say and how they sound. She says that she and others actually hear the voices, as if they are voices in the room. Dr Deegan's organization is the National Empowerment Center. (10 minutes)
David Sedaris tells a story from his boyhood, when a voice inside his head commanded him to lick every light switch and tap his forehead with his heel. It's from his book Naked. (14 minutes)
Song: "Psycho", Elvis Costello
Act Four. You Don't Have To Be Crazy To Work Here, But It Helps.
Joel Lovell tells a story about working in a mental institution, and what it's like when it feels like your grip on the keys isn't so steady. (10 minutes)
