First published 2009
Dr. Julie Holland arrives at Bellevue Hospital thinking she understands mental illness. Then she takes charge of the psychiatric emergency room during weekend shifts. For nine years, she makes split-second decisions about who needs immediate psychiatric commitment and who can be stabilized and released. Each shift brings new patients whose conditions range from mildly disoriented to completely detached from reality. Holland discovers that mental breakdown has no limits, and every case affects her personally. She watches a close friend and mentor, a fellow physician, fight cancer while continuing to work. The hospital becomes her second home as she learns to navigate the complex world of emergency psychiatry. Holland writes openly about her experiences both treating patients and maintaining her own emotional balance. She reveals how doctors cope with the constant pressure of life-and-death decisions in a field where the line between sanity and madness shifts constantly.
Genres: psychology, mental-health, medical, non-fiction
Vibes: intimate, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: personal-journey, slice-of-life
Setting: Bellevue Hospital, New York
Period: 20th-century, 21st-century
312 pages · Hardcover · Bantam
Content warnings: mental-illness