Home for the Bewildered - Book Review

Author Michelle Tobin, a practicing clinical social worker, has brilliantly utilized her professional skills in her novel "Home for the Bewildered."  Her experience writing psychological assessments and her many years in the mental health field contribute to her ability to develop unforgettable characters.  The plot setting is the St. Lawrence Asylum, Lansing, Michigan, in 1974, with the terminology and social issues of the times.

The novel introduces Dr. Dorothy Morrissey, who was the first female psychologist at St. Lawrence.  The opening introduces one of the doctor's patients and how she interacts in her patients' chaotic lives.  This intriguing novel is highly character-driven, with Dr. Dorothy presenting as a compassionate, well-trained counselor with personal issues.

Tobin's protagonist,  like her patients, has challenges with self-acceptance that are influenced by her past, including her family and religious upbringing. Tobin emphasizes in her novel how childhood experiences can have lasting effects on individuals.

Dorothy's sessions with her patients reveal each person's deep-seated personality, characteristics, and idiosyncrasies.  Readers will soon feel as if they know each individual personally and may associate some of the book's  characters with living individuals.

Dorothy treats her patients with warmth and acceptance. As they draw her into their psychosis and past traumas, she begins to deal with her own issues.  The patients' issues run from the impulsive and attention-demanding behavior of flamboyance. Thomas, who insists he’s from Japan. His gay manner, combined with his bipolar disorder and perchance to forget medication, make him unforgettable.  George, who has been charged with assault of a priest, and Ruth, a distraught mother suffering from postpartum depression, disclose compelling backstories.  Ruth's compulsive compensation of singing, which irritates other residents, leads to a new therapy technique.

The author skillfully tackles contemporary mental health issues, family dysfunction and dynamics, cultural subjects such as stereotyping, religious authority abuse, and sexual orientation.  Her prose is interspersed with song lyrics that reach the reader's heart and emotions.  Often humorous, the seriousness of mental illness is explored through the doctor's eye-opening discovery of her own trauma.

"Home for the Bewildered" should be required reading for medical students, mental health workers, and social services workers.  This book will make an excellent tome for book club discussions as the content, characters, and plot will touch the hearts of many.