In the mid-1970s, writer Two Lenz was diagnosed with schizophrenia, inaugurating a journey through the American mental health establishment that has lasted more than three decades. This finally took her to one diagnosis of schizoaffective disorder, numerous hospitalizations and treatment techniques.
WALKING THROUGH WALLS (OVERCOMING THE BARRIERS OF SERIOUS MENTAL ILLNESS) is an account of that history. It is a highly intimate and candid portrait of one woman’s struggle to take control of her personal destiny while sharing with others her hope for a more promising future. In clear, lucid prose, WALKING THROUGH WALLS weaves autobiographical narrative with an historical look at how mental illness has been understood throughout the ages. It shows the problems in modern approaches to handling the mentally ill.
This first-hand, yet authoritative viewpoint, makes the book applicable not only for those who suffer from mental illness themselves, but also for family, friends and co-workers of the mentally ill. It also give insight to those looking for a more thorough understanding of what the mentally ill go through on a daily basis. More than just an autobiography, WALKING THROUGH WALLS resonates with the experiences of millions of Americans who suffer from mental disorders such as schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, bipolar disorder, and clinical depression.
This book can useful to mental health care providers and other clinicians, students, social workers, nurses, chaplains, administrators, politicians, psychologists, and psychiatrists.
Two Lenz has been hospitalized about twenty-five times while acquiring first-hand experience of the mental health system. She has sat on multiple committees pertaining to matters regarding mental illness. As a member of the Alliance for the Mental Ill of Nevada, she earned the 1997 Nevada State Humanitarian Award. Lenz has worked as freelance journalist and college instructor. She obtained her Bachelor of Science degree in journalism and her Master of Arts degree in sociology. Lenz has won five national awards in writing competitions, four from excerpts from her book. Recently she won an EVVY Merit Book Award for WALKING THROUGH WALLS.