The Dark Threads [Paperback]

This is an absorbing and compelling read from Jean Davison, who paints a vivid, brutally revealing picture of being brought up in a deeply dysfunctional family in the poverty of the backstreets of Bradford and how it affects the choices she makes when as an intelligent but painfully shy adolescent she begins to question the path that her upbringing seems to have mapped out for her. One of those choices led her to a psychiatrist and onto a nightmarish path through the mental health services of the late 60s and early 70s. There are others still trapped on that same path, which in some areas has changed very little in what should be an enlightened age, who found no way off. Written with a wicked sense of humour this insightful book should be a wake up call to those working in mental health, and those who have loved ones using its services, to listen, adapt and improve.

"Whenever I'm sitting with a patient, and I begin to get the feeling one of us is mad, my first assumption is that it is the patient" ~ Thus began a psychiatrist giving a talk to myself and fellow Relate counsellors back in the late 1970s. Sadly, that assumption won't always prove accurate. This book, a personal memoir, sheds light on the awful and disturbing chain of events that unfolded back in the late 1960s when a teenage girl made the simple mistake of asking the right question in the wrong place; a mistake that led to five almost unimaginably painful years which threatened to ruin her life.

One of the most fundamental human rights is the right to be unhappy, and one of the most valuable human qualities is the capacity to bear, and voice, doubt. Sadly, this young woman made the mistake of voicing her doubts and unhappiness in a context that lacked the imagination to see these human qualities as anything other than dysfunctions to be treated with copious doses of mind-altering and dependence inducing drugs, and sending electric currents zinging through her brain. Thankfully, she survived the dark tunnel of psychiatry at its most myopic and arrogant, to emerge to recount her tale with a quiet, determined strength and, what must have been a painful honesty. Hers has been quite a journey.

This book is not for the faint-hearted, no easy bedtime treat to send you contentedly off to sleep; but it is well worth reading and the themes stayed with me long after the last page. It is a patient's personal story with much to teach the psychiatric profession, and all who append labels to that which they do not understand, and most probably, regard with fear. There is much arrogant mis-diagnosis and subsequent `bad medicine' described in The Dark Threads, and it would be all too easy (and dangerous) to take comfort behind the conviction, `of course it wouldn't happen nowadays!' Mercifully, despite the book's vivid details of much damaging, inappropriate, and inhumane medical treatment; and an undeniably difficult home life and upbringing, there are also bright shards of humanity that shine through the chapters. Thank goodness for the brave independence of Dr Copeland, for young Danny's faith in his own judgement, for a teenage girl's best friends, for a loving Pastor with his head screwed on, and for a young woman's instinct to never quite lose faith in those rare shafts of light... and for having the courage in middle-age to remember back to those dark days and enlighten us with her brave story.

Kevin Chandler
Author, and therapist.

Simply wonderfully written. The author whisks the reader through her journey into the world of psychiatric services, it's pitfalls, strengths, weaknesses, frustrations and oddly enough, some humorous times too. This is an engaging book and a must for anyone who works in the mental health field. It offers valuable insight into the dark threads of life (from many years ago and sadly which is still very relevant today). It is an excellent autobiographical account from Jean Davison which stimulates the reader's mind to differentiate the fine line between 'normal' teenage development, searching for the answers to the meaning of life, spirituality and (mis)diagnosis of a schizophrenic illness. It's one of those books you just can't put down! Five stars +++++