February
1, 2002
Front-Page
News
PHOTO:
ELLEN AUGARTEN
Gail
Hornstein
|
Madness in the
First Person
Patient narratives of mental illness are a unique form of literature
that both historians and psychiatrists have generally ignored,
Gail Hornstein, MHC professor of psychology and education, writes
in the Chronicle of Higher Education's January 25
"Chronicle Review" section. In "Narratives of Madness,
as Told From Within," Hornstein notes that such narratives
are "a kind of protest literature, like slave narratives
or witness testimonies." Although these accounts offer extraordinary
insights into mental illness and its treatment, psychiatrists
have generally reacted by trying to silence their patients or,
if that fails, to discredit them—a task made easier by their
patients' mental state. Fascinated since childhood with patient
memoirs, Hornstein discovered that Lee Edwards, a member of the
English department at the University of Massachusetts, shared
her interest. The two offered a seminar together twice, using
only patient narratives such as Girl, Interrupted, I Never
Promised You a Rose Garden, and The Diary of Vaslav Nijinsky.
"Our students were fascinated. Nothing in their prior course
work had even hinted at the idea that mental patients could be
authorities on human psychology," writes Hornstein, who also
taught the seminar solo. She suggests that patients' writings
should be given greater weight and says that theories of patients
about mental illness are sometimes as interesting as those of
doctors. "Many doctors' ideas about madness have themselves
been so crazy that it's hard to argue that those of patients are
much worse. Even today, we understand so little about serious
mental illness that ignoring accounts by patients seems perverse."
If you are a Chronicle subscriber, you can read Hornstein's piece
online at http://chronicle.com/chronicle/v48/4820guide.htm.
An American in Paris A daughter's trip to Paris to retrace
the steps her mother, Sarah Johnston Maycock '40, took during
her junior year abroad in 1938–39 was featured in the January
25 edition of the New York Times. Ellen Maycock's journey
was prompted by the rediscovery of letters that her mother, then
nineteen, had written while in the French capital. On the eve
of war, Sarah Maycock, known as Sally, and the fifty-one other
students who took part in her trip, ignored a recommendation that
they return home. "Over here, l'amour de la patrie (love
of country) is very strong, especially in the smaller countries
menaced by Hitler," she wrote to her family. "And the
youth especially are willing to risk anything for their patrie.
It kinda makes your blood crawl. But so does Hitler." Ellen
Maycock told Times writer John Tagliabue that after rereading
her mother's letters, she found herself "standing in the
shadow of a very strong and interesting woman." Sarah Maycock
last returned to France in 1977, three years before her death.
Support for Spiritual
Seekers The January 20 issue of the Springfield Union News
featured Andrea Ayvazian, MHC dean of religious life; Shamshad
Sheikh, Muslim student adviser and chaplain to the College; and
Jordana B. Harper-Ewert '03, cochair of the Multifaith Council,
in "Mission Has Changed for College Chaplains," an article
examining the changing role of chaplains on college campuses.
College chaplains are primarily facilitators of students' spiritual
journeys and secondarily directors of religious formation, writes
Bill Zajac, citing MHC as a leader in supporting religious diversity
and spiritual "seekers." He writes, "Mount Holyoke
College demonstrated it was on the leading edge of campus changes
that support religious diversity when it replaced the position
of dean of its chapel, which attended mostly to the campus's Christian
and Jewish communities, with a dean of religious life in 1998."
Ayvazian's office
supports nine faith groups, as well as nondenominational students
who make up the second largest group of students on campus, after
Christians. "These are students who may have been raised
in one faith or no faith and who say, 'I'm exploring. I'm questioning.
I'm looking,'" Ayvazian explained. "It's very natural
for people at this age to be adventuresome." Harper-Ewert
agreed. "It's not unusual for a student raised Christian
or Jewish to attend a Hindu or Buddhist prayer service,"
she said. "What's important is that they know they are on
a journey of spiritual and religious progress." Harper-Ewert
attends an interdenominational Christian church on most Sundays,
but she also occasionally attends a Hindu temple in Connecticut,
has a Buddha on her personal altar, and has received instruction
in India from spiritual leader Sathya Sai Baba. "I am happy
being a member of the world faith community without delineating
which part of it," she said. Shamshad Sheikh increasingly
sees non-Muslim students like Harper-Ewert. While the number of
Muslim students she sees on a regular basis has grown from about
twenty-five to almost one hundred, interest in Islam among non-Muslim
students has increased also, she says.
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