Unshrunk

I began to think about the forces at play, not just within me, but beyond me. What if my life hadn't fallen apart in the way that it had because of 'treatment-resistant mental illness', as I'd been led to believe, but because of the treatment itself?

At age fourteen, Laura Delano's parents took her to her first psychiatrist. At school, she was the model student, but at home Laura felt an uncontrollable rage that she unleashed on family, friends and herself. She was promptly diagnosed with bipolar disorder and started on a course of mood stabilizers and antidepressants.

It was to mark the beginning of a painful and relentless journey. For the next thirteen years, Laura sought help from the best psychiatrists and hospitals, accumulating an ever-expanding list of diagnoses and prescriptions for nineteen different drugs. She accepted her diagnoses and embraced the pharmaceutical regime she'd been told was necessary to manage her incurable, lifelong disease. But as her symptoms only got more severe and eventually she was deemed 'treatment resistant', Laura began to wonder if the drugs and diagnoses were the cure - or had they become the problem?

Weaving together Laura's medical records and doctors' notes with illuminating research on the drugs she was prescribed, Unshrunk is the powerful memoir of one woman's battle against the commercial psychiatric industry and the role it plays in shaping what it means to be human.

Unshrunk is the story of a young woman who dared to be herself, and a potent reminder of why human suffering can never be reduced to a diagnostic manual. A must read for anyone probing the dark side of mental health treatment. Anna Lembke, MD, New York Times bestselling author of Dopamine Nation
A powerful, inspiring, rigorously research-backed memoir about escaping the nightmarish trap of psychiatric drug treatment. As Delano writes, 'The more I suffered, the more medical treatments I was convinced I needed, but the more treatments I received, the more I suffered.' I highly recommend this brave and important book. Tao Lin, author of Leave Society

In this gripping, essential memoir, Laura Delano takes readers through the labyrinth of the American mental health system, where 'the best available care' left her sicker, more desperate, and more lost than ever before. As she deftly weaves the history of psychiatry with her own harrowing odyssey out of its grip, Delano's clarity and compassion are awe-inspiring. This beautiful, rageful, joyful book is a beacon for all seeking a life beyond labels, beyond medication, beyond disorder.

Jessica Nordell, author of The End of Bias: A Beginning
Laura Delano's 15-year odyssey through the most exclusive corridors of American psychiatry lays bare the self-deception and hubris of a profession which has alienated so many seeking its help. That she came out the other side and reclaimed her purpose, humanity, humor - her full self - would be impossible to believe, except that it is all here in this book, a juicy blend of biography, authoritative science, and cultural criticism. Anyone seeking help for mental despair would do well to read Unshrunk before taking the leap. This is reading-as-therapy, of the most bracing kind. Benedict Carey, author of How We Learn
Turning children into psychiatric patients is tricky business and can have grave consequences, creating a life sentence unless the child grows into an adult with the courage to course correct. Laura Delano beautifully captures this plight in her harrowing memoir. In an age of fast drugs and cure-alls, sometimes letting things alone, be as they are is the healthiest course of all. I will not soon forget Unshrunk and the wisdom at the heart of Delano's story. Martha McPhee, author of Omega Farm

Laura Delano is a writer, speaker, and consultant, and the Executive Director of Inner Compass Initiative, a charitable organization that she founded to help people make more informed choices about psychiatric diagnoses and drugs. She is a leading ex-patient voice in the international movement of people who've left behind the medicalized, professionalized offerings of the mental health system to build something different. Laura works with individuals and families around the world seeking guidance and support for the withdrawal journey and life post-psychiatry. She lives in Connecticut with her husband and children.

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