The fact that this book covers such a wide array of mental ailments, the very thing it accomplishes could also be a criticism, in that once a topic gets going Appignanesi doesn’t delve much below the surface. Then it becomes a reader’s choice of who or what case one might like to read more of, and which are fine left as they are. Personally, I would have preferred to learn more about the “Sybil” case - the woman with the multiple personality disorders, which was brought on by the horrid physical abuse her mother performed on her. But this case is merely mentioned briefly, and then Appignanesi moves onto another topic. While I am only an observer in all this, in addition to hearing that “Sybil” was a real woman, I had also heard that the Sybil case had been a hoax, yet Appignanesi doesn’t clarify this point, or address any of the controversy.
Of course, one could claim that is not the point of her book, and while that is partly true, this wouldn’t be a critical review if I didn’t address a few “criticisms.” But don’t let these little criticisms fool you, for if you are at all interested in this topic, and even more so, to have it handled in an objective, well-researched manner, then this is the book for you. Not something I would call “light reading” necessarily, but not rote and excessively academic either. Instead, Mad, Bad, and Sad: Women and the Mind Doctors fits just perfectly in that balanced place between. If only the mind could find the same.
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