The Lives They Left Behind: Suitcases from a State Hospital Attic Book

This book had such potential. Willard was a state psychiatric hospital in the Finger Lakes region of New York that only recently closed. The suitcases of people who died or left without family were catalogued and studied in hopes of learning more about their owners - especially to try to gain insight into the lives they led prior to their psychiatric admission. Last names were changed to protect privacy - except if one looks at the multiple pictures included, several actual names can be seen. So much for valuing patient rights and privacy, as the authors purport to do. The book also looks to expose the abuses of the psychiatric system - both historical and recent. I think the former is done with much more success than the latter. Although the authors attempt to raise questions about the modern psychiatric system, as someone who has worked within the psychiatric system, I can't help but feel that while the system is far, FAR from perfect, the book unfairly vilifies it almost to a point of irresponsibility: Suggesting that modern anti-psychotics have nearly no proven benefits goes against everything I have seen first-hand, as well as what I have heard from both families of people with mental illness AND those living with mental illness. Are the meds perfect? No! But to suggest there is NO proven benefit makes me question what sources they are using. I feel if they had focused more on the historical abuses, this book would have been much stronger.