Bedlam's Door: True Tales of Madness and Hope

by Mark Rubinstein MD

Thunder Lake Press     2016

  275 pages     Nonfiction

Dr. Mark Rubinstein is a physician and psychiatrist, but in his heart, he is a storyteller. He has published several novels and medical nonfiction works over the years in addition to practicing psychiatry. Bedlam's Door, his newest book, is a series of reminiscences about patients he encountered through his years as a psychiatric resident and then in his private practice. 

Each chapter of Bedlam's Door is a case study, from a Hungarian man who thinks that he is the King of the Puerto Ricans, to a suicidal woman suffering from post traumatic shock following the death of her husband.  Each story is unique, heartbreaking, and eloquently told. Rubinstein says: "It's really quite ironic. I fell in love with psychiatry because each patient—through sharing human commonalities—has a uniquely personal story."  Following each case study, Rubinstein outlines the diagnosis and the pathology, or the reason for the treatment. Often he offers a postscript to the story about how the patient fared following treatment. The after words are extremely valuable to help the reader understand the case.

My favorite story concerns a  man named "Mr. Smith" who was brought to the hospital by the police. He had been hanging around a famous New York hotel, saying that he had plenty of money and that he wanted to rent a suite at the hotel. He was dressed in expensive, although worn out, clothing and was carrying a large briefcase and said that he had a lot of money inside. He looked around the hospital and decided that instead of the fancy hotel, he wanted to rent a room in the hospital. Dr. Rubinstein played along with the charade all the while trying to assess Mr. Smith's mental stability. But it was not until Mr. Smith opened the briefcase to show the money—thousands of dollars of Monopoly money—that Dr. Rubinstein concluded that Mr. Smith really did need a room in the hospital.

Patricia, the suicidal woman suffering from post traumatic stress following her husband's death, had been under treatment for several weeks when  Dr. Rubinstein visited her and found her much calmer and more in control of her life. He mentioned that what she had needed was a chance to begin healing. Her response spoke volumes. "Thank you for not letting me make a permanent decision in a temporary frame of mind."

The tag line of Bedlam's Door is True Tales of Madness and Hope. Rubinstein illustrates graphically how there is almost always hope—hope that comes with intense counseling and balanced medicine. This is the great value of the book; while the stories are fascinating, the upbeat tone and implicit sense of hope pervades everything.

I have been trying to think about who benefits most from reading Bedlam's Door. Certainly it would be valuable for medical students deciding whether to pursue careers in psychiatry, but it would also be valuable for families facing psychiatric treatment for loved ones. Dr. Rubinstein's message of hope will resonate in many settings.

Linda Fairstein, a well known novelist, recommends Bedlam's Door. “Bedlam’s Door is a riveting read about madness and mental illness. Mark Rubinstein—award-winning novelist, physician, and psychiatrist—is the perfect guide for this journey through the mysteries of the mind, from despair to hope, and he does it in brilliant form. If you enjoy psychology, crime fiction, a good story, and forensics, this is a must-read book.”

Here is Mark Rubinstein's website.

Some Kind of Peace

By Camilla Grebe and Asa Traff

Translated by Paul Norlen

New York, Free Press, 2012

315 pages     Fiction

Some Kind of Peace explores the concept of peace and death. Life is so full of torment that it is only through death that peace can be found. 

Siri Bergman is a psychologist in private practice in Stockholm Sweden. As the details of Siri’s life emerge, it becomes clear that she is vulnerable in many ways. Her husband had died in a diving accident, and Siri hasn’t moved on from her overwhelming grief.  A young patient is murdered and left on the beach near Siri’s home. It is obvious that the young woman was killed as a warning to Siri, who has been having ominous things happen that have made her realize that someone is stalking her. Could it be a patient? A co-worker? With the help of a young policeman, her best friend Aina, and an older colleague, she begins to piece the clues together. The conclusion is abrupt, devastating, and surprising. 

Some Kind of Peace has a lot of the darkness of the Scandinavian mystery genre that has become so very popular in the past few years. The poem at the beginning of the book by poet Erik Blomberg is a foreshadowing of both the plot and the outcome. “Do not be afraid of darkness, for in darkness rests the light.” Although Siri’s patients have their own darkness, her grief and her inability to move beyond it makes her feel that she is not helping them appropriately. She doubts her own ability to treat their personality disorders. The therapy sessions have a ring of authenticity to them that comes from the author’s own psychotherapy training. We read the therapy sessions carefully wondering if indeed one of these patients may be the murderer. Additionally, we learn enough about Siri’s coworkers that we also wonder about them as well. Each has their own darkness.

Siri is not the usual mystery crime-solver, nor is she a usual victim. Her overwhelming grief overrides all her concerns and actions. The reader comes to appreciate her vulnerability and her need to heal in her own way. It becomes fairly obvious that her healing would have taken a lot longer if not for the murder, the stalking, and the help of a young policeman. It is not until the end that we come to an understanding of the reason for the prolonged grief and isolation. The title of the book, Some Kind of Peace, is appropriate because out of the chaos, Siri is able to begin to find the beginnings of her own peace. “Don’t be afraid of darkness; it holds the heart of light.”

Some Kind of Peace is very elegantly written by Grebe and Traff, sisters and co-authors. The plot alternates between Siri’s solitary and isolated life, her therapy sessions with a series of patients, the thoughts of the murderer, and the events leading up to Siri’s husband’s death. Labeling at the beginning of the chapters helps keep the plot pieces together. The translation is very well done by Paul Norlen; it is difficult to remember that this is a translated work. Some Kind of Peace is the first in a series and the first to be translated and published in the United States.

The Swedish mystery genre has become a favorite of mine. I read, of course, the entire Girl with the Dragon Tattoo series, and I have also read Camille Lackberg’s novels about the fishing village of Fjallbacka. You can links to those reviews following this blog posting. 

The team of Grebe and Traff is formidable. I was fascinated about how they work together. They claim that they have created a “third voice” that writes the novel. They discuss the plot together, each writes a bit and then they speak through email and phone calls. They rarely work together. My sister and I would love to write together, and I think that working remotely and linking up by email would be a good way to proceed.

We are at a summer cottage on Lake Michigan with a large portion of our extended family. It is a testament to the strength of this novel that I was able to read it in the midst of grandchildren running around, Euchre games being played, lots of beach time, and meals being planned and executed. I received the book from the publisher and can highly recommend it.

Some Kind of Peace has just been released in the United States and there are few reviews in English for it, nor could I find the authors’ English website.

Blog postings about Swedish mysteries:

Books by Steig Larsen:

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo; The Girl Who Played with Fire; The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest

Books by Camilla Lackberg:

The Ice Princess; The Preacher