Day the Voices Stopped: A Memoir of Madness and Hope

FROM OUR EDITORS

In 1999, New York Times readers were struck by a story about Ken Steele, a 51-year-old Manhattan man who had almost single-handedly launched an empowerment project that registered 28,000 previously disenfranchised voters. Actually, that was only half the miracle. The other half was that for a period of 32 years, Steele had suffered heroically under the battering of schizophrenia. The story of his disease and his recovery is truly poignant.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

"For 32 years Ken Steele suffered the devastating symptoms of schizophrenia, tortured by inner voices commanding him to kill himself, ravaged by the delusions of paranoia, barely surviving on the ragged edges of society." "The Day the Voices Stopped is the story of Ken Steele's cruel illness and his hard-won recovery. It is also the story of how activism and advocacy helped Ken regain his sanity and go on to give hope to so many others like him. Here he shares not only the experience of living with schizophrenia, but offers advice on how families can help support loved ones coping with severe mental illness." "Ken Steele's Voter Empowerment Project, aimed at bringing people with mental illness to the voting booths, registered 28,000 previously disenfranchised voters in New York City alone. Through his work as publisher of the mental health advocacy newsletter New York City Voices, Steele helped move mental health issues to the forefront of public health debates."--BOOK JACKET.

FROM THE CRITICS

Newsday

This powerful advocate for the mentally ill has an important story to tell - and anyone who has had a serious mental illness will hear the resounding fear and hope that springs from these poignant pages.

Psychology Today

...offers readers a brilliant look into the darkest of places.

Publishers Weekly

From the age of 14, mental health advocate Steele battled the ruthless barrage of voices and hallucinations of schizophrenia. His arduous 32-year struggle is chronicled in this memoir, written with journalist Berman (What Am I Doing in a Step-Family?). Despite his parents' initial reluctance to admit the seriousness of his disorder, Steele, who died last year of heart failure, understood early on that his condition was pushing him ever closer to suicide. Only reading and writing provided him a haven, offering him flights of imagination that temporarily quieted the voices. Instead of seeking proper treatment, his family allowed him to drop out of school and stay idle at home, where he only got sicker. He tried to move to New York from Connecticut; to attend theater school, only to end up in a mental ward, the first of several hospitalizations. Steele then descended into alcoholism, homelessness and exploitation by male hustlers. After AA meetings, drugs, shock treatments and repeated hospitalizations, he eventually triumphed over the illness to fashion a new life. Many readers will be emotionally drained by the time he becomes a nationally recognized spokesman for the rights of the mentally ill and the publisher of New York City Voices, a publication heralding that cause. Steele's sobering yet resonant and inspiring narrative refuses to sugarcoat the tremendous force of this disorder and its stubborn resistance to recovery. (May) Forecast: Advertising in the New York Times, San Francisco Chronicle and Los Angeles Times should help this book find its audienceschizophrenics and their families, policy makers, mental health professionals and anyone who cares about the mentally ill. Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.

KLIATT

The dictionary defines schizophrenia as "a psychotic disorder characterized by withdrawal from reality, delusions, hallucinations, and disintegration of the personality." But what does it really mean to be a schizophrenic? This moving, first-hand account was written for the layperson by Ken Steele, who suffered from schizophrenia for 32 years. He describes his initial diagnosis at age 14, the subsequent withdrawal of support by his family, the nature of the voices continually prodding him to take his own life, his life on the streets, his experiences with the "revolving doors" of our mental health system, his personal haven in books and libraries, and his struggle with medication until "the day the voices stopped," when he was finally stabilized on Risperdal, one of the new generation of drugs called atypical anti-psychotic medications. Ken, a "survivor," shares his pathos, frustration, and ultimate success in this memoir in order to give hope to other schizophrenics and their families. Until his death from heart failure in 2000, he was an advocate, a nationally known speaker for the mentally ill, promoting their right to vote through his initiative, the Voter Empowerment Project. He also worked as newsletter editor and support group founder at the Park Slope Center for Mental Health in New York City. Because of the alarming number of schizophrenics in our society and the fears and misconceptions related to this disease, this excellent, easy-to-understand book should be required reading for every teen and adult. Category: Biography & Personal Narrative. KLIATT Codes: SA￯﾿ﾽRecommended for senior high school students, advanced students, and adults. 2001, Perseus, Basic Books, 258p., ,Lewiston, ME

Library Journal

In 1995, Steele, a schizophrenic, began taking a new antipsychotic medication. Suddenly, the voices that had tormented him for 32 years were silenced. In this posthumous memoir (Steele died of heart failure last year), he describes the paranoia and delusions that afflicted him as he wandered across the United States. He also chronicles his post-medication triumphs: after reading a politician's letter about how the mentally ill don't vote, Steele went on to become a leading activist for the mentally ill, organizing a voter registration campaign in halfway houses and treatment centers. As publisher of New York City Voices: A Consumer Journal for Mental Health Advocacy, Steele encouraged those with mental illnesses to share their stories, and some of these personal accounts are included in the book's final section. Through Steele's eyes, readers see the changes in psychiatric treatment from incarceration in mental asylums to integration into the community made possible by a support network of halfway houses, club houses, clinics, and advocacy programs. In an afterword, Steele discusses recent changes in mental health policy and treatment and outlines future needs if the mentally ill are to become fully functioning members of society. This remarkable, well-written, and inspiring memoir is recommended for all collections. Lucille Boone, San Jose P.L., CA Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information. Read all 7 "From The Critics" >

WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING

John M. Oldham, M.D., Director, New York State Psychiatric InstituteThis beautiful written, moving and riveting account is a remarkable story of courage and recovery, truly against the odds. Ken Steele has much to teach us, and he does so with eloquence. — John M. Oldham

Stephen M. Goldfinger, M.D., Professor and Vice Chair, Dept. of Psychiatry, SUNY, DownstateIn this gripping and startling memoir, Ken Steele reveals his world the world of severe mental illness with an intimacy and power few of us would otherwise be privileged to share.

In many ways , Ken is a classic American hero battling adversity, but the impediments he overcomes are within himself. His strength and his foibles, his rage and his courage, and finally his tenacity and dedication force us to confront ourselves and our world in a new light and with a new empathy. This memorable book will enrich the lives of everyone who reads it. — Stephen M. Goldfinger