Just for the Summer

Laurel's disturbing and abusive childhood, followed by a poor marriage, resulted in a month-long visit to a mental hospital, where in the 1960s, the use of electroshock and insulin shock therapy was prevalent. With humor and pathos, Laurel poignantly describes her insulin and shock treatments, the insensitivity of the hospital staff, and the numerous psychiatric problems of various patients. The author, now a PhD. in psychology, relates her memoirs with insight and compassion. In addition to the mistreatment of mental patients in the 50s and 60s, the accounts of various psychiatric disturbances will be of particular interest to students of human nature. Similar to "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest," Laurel's story of her thirty days of treatment provides an expose of the pitifully inadequate treatment for mental health issues at that time.