Falling into the Fire: A Psychiatrist's Encounters with the Mind in Crisis - Softcover

'Montross explores the practical, emotional, and philosophical challenges of working with patients whose illnesses of the mind are often intractable and deeply disturbing'

'A piercing portrait of psychiatry... Montross seamlessly weaves together history, reportage and memoir while reflecting on the difficult questions that arise as she digs into psychiatry s past.'

'An absorbing glimpse into the darker rooms of the human mind. Christine Montross offers a personal guided tour through fascinating case histories and reveals how very much our minds are our selves, and not always operating in our own best interests.'

'A mind-boggling inventory of psychiatric pathologies... Dr Montross, an award-winning poet before attending medical school, is passionate about her work and her patients plight... The book emphasizes neither their madness nor our sanity in the face of mental disease, but our fragile and shared humanity.'

'Falling Into the Fire is as good an account of the labyrinth of mental health care as you re likely to read. [Montross s] work in critical care psychiatric settings is the source material, and she launches from discussions of clients into larger questions about the nature of psychiatry and of mental health. Montross writes beautifully about the deep-seated illnesses that challenge therapist and psychiatrists.'

'Montross exposes and explores the challenging, sometimes paradoxical role of psychiatric professionals... Her intriguing analysis is anchored by [a] humble and empathetic voice.'

'Her poetic insights into how tragedies may be understood stir empathy, as Montross delves into the details of the history of her patients... This beautifully written book doesn t offer answers but rather encourages compassion.'

'Montross writes of [her] encounters with a dramatic flair, ever empathetic but unsparing of occasional negative feelings, fears and frustrations... As an antidote to her daily coping with extreme behaviors, Montross writes serenely of a home life with her family. No triumphs of modern psychiatry on display here, but rather a sympathetic portrait of seriously ill patients that could guide future practitioners on the art of helping, if not always healing, the sick.'

'These stories are fascinating in the macabre way that psychiatric case studies can be, but Falling into the Fire is not a mere catalogue of human oddities... Her patients' neurons are certainly misfiring, but these individuals have just as certainly led beleaguered lives with fractured relationships... Powerful.' 

This account by a practising psychiatrist is the kind of confession doctors aren t supposed to make: that they don t always know what to do, and they may spend their entire working lives learning on the job... revealing.'

'Fascinating... [Montross] is very good at exploring the ethical issues raised by her practice... that there are no certain answers to these questions only makes them more absorbing... Montross writes beautifully.' 

'Christine Montross is the latest recruit to our distinguished line of literary psychologists... Montross goes into a great deal of interesting detail.'

Dr Christine Montross is Assistant Professor of Psychiatry and Human Behaviour at Brown University and a practising inpatient psychiatrist with an MFA in poetry. Her writing has appeared in literary journals and women s magazines as well as the New York Times. She lives in Providence, Rhode Island.