Stories about the border between mental health and mental illness.
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Act One
Girl, Interrupted
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)
Act Two
Guided By Voices
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)
Act Three
Plague Of Tics
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” by 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)
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Act Seven: Saturday and Sunday, Gainesville and Coral Springs FL
On Saturday, Laura Hucke graduated from the University of Florida in Gainesville.
Act Three: Better Call Dave
When you need to retrieve all manner of treasures secured behind steel doors and complex locks, there’s one man you can count on: safecracker Dave McOmie.
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