The Protest Psychosis: How Schizophrenia Became a Black Disease

Important book outlining the history of diagnosis as a tool for controlling Black men. I encourage all my mental health interns to read this before starting their training year with me.

I tend to think of people freaking out as a cultural response to the lack of wealth and status that will become more common as Americans run out of money and lose their homes. The Ionia State Hospital for the Criminally Insane is not likely to solve our problems after it has closed and the files were studied for how particular cases were treated during the twentieth century. I lived in Grand Rapids, Michigan, when I was in high school, and had greetings from the draft board in Michigan a few years later, but I have been avoiding the people who exhibit the kind of social activities I consider pathological as much as possible. Trying to say anything about the profound imposters who have set up tremendous repudiations that make a significant number of Americans seek treatment for mental illness is becoming as tricky as the condemnation of witchcraft was for a jurist who studied enough about wichcraft to practice it himself and turned himself in as a witch. American society is not particularly nice. Some fights become official matters which create hostile attitudes that makes any form of authority suspect. Then when DSM-II 295.3 Schizophrenia, Paranoid Type says, "Excessive religiosity is sometimes seen" (p. 96), it might be because so many religions get used to being persecuted. David Koresh was worried that April 19, 1993, was in the cards according to the book of seven seals in Revelation, but he did not want to be evaluated by anyone who was checking how rational he was.America is Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms. I was even in Vietnam when my commanding officer asked, "Why didn't you shoot him?" That attitude was part of the training.

This book provides very revealing evidence about how societal issues influence mental health diagnoses. It shows how subjective the DSM diagnoses can be-- and how they reflect the fears and perceptions of society. The "old" diagnoses of schizophrenia had more to do with its negative symptoms, like depression and social withdrawal-- whereas the newer diagnosis emphasizes violent and aggressive tendencies. The African American male-- during the civil rights struggle-- was viewed as an embodiment of those tendencies.

While this book brings up the important topic of institutions in America's history especially in the black community I found it fell short. Metzel does not seem able to fully develop many of the ideas he is trying to get across in the book leaving more questions than answers. However, I did think that it brought up a lot of important issues that were present in mental institutions in the past. However, he focuses on only one institution which I often felt was not necessarily a encompassing example of how all mental institutions seemed at the time. I think he started something for other authors to write on and set himself up for potentially future books yet did not feel that this book provided the amount of information where I remained interested the entire time and was often confused by his writing.

Excellent reference material for a layman and scholar seeking scholarship on the injustices facing Afro-Americans. The social structure of America is unveiled in this striking piece of literature. Two-thumbs up.

It's hard to recommend this book. From the beginning Metzl makes no bones about his controversial thesis. He then attempts to use a very limited number of primary sources to frame the argument. I give him credit for describing his investigative process with social science but even he admits such results, the substance from which his book is drawn, should be "taken with a grain of salt." Metzl's inclusion of fictional speculation, blended accounts, and factual narrative also dilute his point. In addition, by limiting himself to one mental institution (in Ionia, and a criminal one at that) it is hard to justify the sweeping claims his thesis sets up. An analysis of rap lyrics mentioning "schizophrenia," as a nod to its race-based past, also borders on the absurd. He cites Young Jeezy's "Standing Ovation." In the same sense I could take Jeezy's song "Trap or Die," and assert how his wordplay with "I got diarrhea flow..." ties to Mobutu's incontinence. As a psychiatry book it does have some interesting sections, such as drug ads with racial subliminal messages and the evolution of the DSM. As a history book it falls short of proving the believed schizophrenic pigeonholing.

Expertly documents how the pharmaceutical/ mental health-industrial complex criminalizes behavior. Good for those looking to see how mental health diagnoses serves to enforce a racist status quo and condemns people of color.

great book

Very interesting book, an eye opener. It’s a shame this topic isn’t widely spoken about. Institutional racism still exist.