Bedlam

By William M. Boylin

Book Overview

Travel into the world of the psychiatric hospital. Follow a young therapist as he fights to work with troubled teens in a facility run by an egomaniacal medical director. In his war against mental illness he faces battles with sexual abuse, lies, deception, violence and incest. Experience the elation that comes from helping troubled youth. Enjoy the humor that accompanies absurd and ridiculous behavior. Understand the devastation the therapist endures when the hospital fails a young patient. While working with his teen patients, the therapist, Kevin Murphy, uncovers a scheme to keep a beautiful young patient in the hospital. He uses his clinical skills to solve the mystery of her diagnosis, hospitalization and past treatment. His work with his clients provides him with the clues he needs to unravel the mystery and help his patient survive her pain. He has to be very careful there are many traps in the hospital including the client herself, which could end his career.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0595477518
• ISBN13: 9780595477517
• Release Date: May 2008
• Publisher: iUniverse
• Length: 344 Pages
• Weight: 1.20 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 6.0" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

Everyone is crazy, it is just a question of the degree

This novel deals with the struggles of a new doctor confronting the challenges of dealing not only with the youth admitted to his facility, but also with the challenges of dealing with the sometimes less than sane actions of the administrators running Bedlam. It is written from the perspective of someone who evidently has experienced both challenges in his professional life. Bad craziness has not been so entertaining since the days of Hunter S. Thompson.

Dr. Boylin's book "Bedlam"

Dr. Boylin has written a gripping novel about a young psychologist's heroic life and work in a tempestuous psychiatric hospial. The psychological, social, emotional and behavioral disturbances and disorders of both patients and staff are dramatically presented. Their struggle to bring some measure of peace and reason into their troubled lives is narrated and, fortunately, their successes maintain a narrow lead over their failures, largely due to the psychosocial therapies persistently provided by the competent committed Staff. The novel is a great read for anyone concerned with mental illness, mental health and psychiatric hospital inpatient treatment.

Wonderful Novel

This is a novel which is well worth reading. It takes place in a psychiatric hospital and is told by a family therapist/psychologist. It gives an insight into life in the inpatient hospital and deals with the patients, their families and the staff. It is suspenseful and the reader becomes interested in the characters. The reader wants to know what happens to them. He hopes those who are suffering will find some relief and understanding and that those who are cruel and manipulative will be punished. It is a very good read and I look forward to the author's next book.

"Celebrating Bedlam"

Kudos to William Boylin for creating a well written page-turner as well as a teaching tool for psychotherapists-in-training. Bedlam is a heart-wrenching novel told with respect and humor about life in a psychiatric hospital from the perspective of a young family therapist/psychologist. It is an accurately portrayed story about the challenging and suspense-filled process of psychotherapy. Bedlam also provides a riveting introduction to the milieu of inpatient hospitals. Boylin develops suspenseful twists and turns that occur in patients, their families and the hospital staff as the story unfolds. As a teacher of Family Therapy and a supervisor of psychotherapists, I recommend to my students that they obtain inpatient training, so that they can best prepare themselves for the parallel processes that occur across individual, couple, family and organizational systems. Bedlam provides a vivid orientation to all these systems simultaneously. Boylin shortchanges neither the stress nor the satisfaction of becoming a mental health professional, and he accurately depicts psychiatric systems with candor and empathy in Bedlam. Well done, William. Kathleen C. Laundy, PsyD, LMFT, LCSW Private Practice, Old Saybrook, Connecticut Faculty, Central Connecticut State University Counseling and Family Therapy Program

Excellent Novel!

This novel was captivating, humorous, shocking at times, and easy to read. It could potentially be therapeutic for someone who sees him/herself in a similar scenario. Although this book is fiction, there were many tidbits of wisdom to take from it and one of them is this: "Don't worry about the politics; concentrate on the psychotherapy" (p. 100) or in my opinion, concentrate on whatever profession you are in. This would be a great book to take on a vacation, on the train/bus, or read in your back yard while sipping lemonade or wine. I hope they make a movie out of this book. Peace, Tom