Dante's Cure: A Journey Out of Madness [Hardcover]

Daniel Dorman (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 17, 2004

Catherine, nineteen years old and suffering from severe schizophrenia, sat in a mental hospital—mute, catatonic, and hearing voices. Her psychiatrist, Dr. Daniel Dorman, was convinced that his patient's psychotic behavior was not merely rooted in chemical imbalances but rather in the dramatic circumstances of her family history. He was therefore determined to avoid the mind-numbing medications that had been so detrimental to Catherine's well being. Dorman fought adamant opposition and criticism from his peers and superiors for a chance to guide Catherine out of madness. Dante's Cure is the riveting true story of a woman's triumph over her schizophrenia without medication, written by the psychiatrist who helped her.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Dorman, a professor of clinical psychiatry, traces his patient Catherine's inspirational life journey from severe schizophrenia to health. When Catherine first came under Dorman's care in the 1970s at a UCLA hospital, she was an adolescent anorexic hearing suicidal and murderous voices. After fully investigating her family dynamic and diagnosing schizophrenia, Dorman began therapy sessions, but rejected the use of standard medications. Dorman describes his patient's various states during her years of crisis as a hospital inmate: her infantilism, physical deterioration, self-loathing and anger. He also describes her key dreams and the moments of interpretive breakthrough he and she made together, emphasizing the substance of their discussions and Catherine's humanity. Having successfully resisted pressure to medicate Catherine, Dorman set up private practice and continued sessions with her. This coincided with her gradual, albeit at first fragile, recovery. Living in an apartment, attending college and qualifying as a psychiatric nurse, Catherine grew in life experience, miraculously surviving professional and relationship pressures without further breakdown or recourse to medication. In her career, Catherine, like Dorman, opposed forcing drugs on her patients, becoming a mental health activist. Dorman and Catherine came to enjoy a relationship of mutual respect and shared philosophies. Dorman's epilogue sets out a readable and reasonable opposition to the now dominant view of schizophrenia as primarily a "brain disorder" that requires medication. His advocacy of a humanist approach that emphasizes patient-doctor collaboration and the growth of soul will be welcomed by all those who value the psychotherapeutic tradition.
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From Booklist

Psychiatry professor Dorman compassionately chronicles the remarkable life, from the onset of illness through recovery, of one of his patients without stinting graphic descriptions of her struggles with madness. Diagnosed with schizophrenia, 19-year-old Catherine Penney was dangerously thin, tormented by self-destructive voices, all but completely withdrawn. By the time she was admitted to the UCLA Hospital psychiatric ward, where Dorman was a young resident, she had already been taking antipsychotic drugs for several years to no apparent avail. Certain that her illness was treatable with psychotherapy and not a believer in pharmaceutical intervention, Dorman initiated his relationship with Catherine by interviewing her and her family. What he learned about her background reconfirmed his faith in therapy, and so the pair embarked upon a seven-year-long, six-day-a-week trek toward wellness. The upshot reads almost like fiction: 36 years later, Catherine has become a nurse and a patient advocate. Her story bodies forth a convincing affirmation that, with enough determination and the unflagging tenacity of a committed psychotherapist, anything is possible. Donna Chavez
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 280 pages
• Publisher: Other Press; 1 edition (February 17, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1590511018
• ISBN-13: 978-1590511015
• Product Dimensions: 6.3 x 1 x 9.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #928,051 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Daniel Dorman, M.D. is Assistant Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at the University of California at Los Angeles School of Medicine. He has a background in family medicine, psychoanalysis and research in neurophysiology. Dr. Dorman has practiced and taught psychotherapy for over forty years.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Valued contribution to psychiatric medicine, September 10, 2004

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Dante's Cure: A Journey Out of Madness (Hardcover)

Dante's Cure: A Journey Out Of Madness by Daniel Dorman (Assistant Clinical Professor of Psychiatry, School of Medicine University of California at Los Angeles) traces the history of Catherine, a woman suffering from severe schizophrenia in the 1970s and was admitting at a UCLA hospital as an adolescent anorexic who was suicidal and heard murderous voices in her head. Dr. Dorman describe's Catherine's condition, her background, and moments of interpretative breakthroughs, and his work with her in resistance to collegial pressures to medicate Catherine. Dr. Dorman set up in private practice and continued his sessions with Catherine. Gradually she was able to begin a recovery, live in an apartment, attend college, and eventually qualified as a psychiatric nurse. Of special interest is Dr. Dorman's epilogue setting out his rationale in opposition to the dominant psychiatric view of schizophrenia as a "brain disorder" requiring medication. He persuasively advocates a humanist, patient-doctor collaborationist approach as illustrated by his years of work with Catherine. Dante's Cure is a welcome and valued contribution to psychiatric medicine and a recommended addition to personal, professional, and Mental Health Studies library collections.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Brilliant Book for a wonderful writer, May 12, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Dante's Cure: A Journey Out of Madness (Hardcover)

THis is a brilliant book. Dr. Daniel Dorman has done something few doctors have the patience to do or care. He cured someone over 7 years with severe schizophinia without any drugs - just a belief in himself and her recovery.
The last chapter is worth the price of the book. He is a compassionate, caring man who believes minds are not broken.
He his a real healer.

7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Insightful though vague, March 22, 2006

By 

D. Odynsky - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Dante's Cure: A Journey Out of Madness (Hardcover)

Dorman's book illuminates the inner world of a young girl with schizophrenia. Although there are no cut and dry explanations given for how she ended up the way she did, the book illustrates how life experiences can detour someone from the norm when they have never been exposed to a different social dynamic.

The final chapter alone is worth the purchase. Dorman grapples with the knowledge that modern medicine defies its own conviction in scientific methodology by putting the scraps of information about neurobiology into effect through the use of psychiartic medication, while completely ignoring the recovery of all schizophrenics who haven't used medication.

Dante's cure is a good read over all. It doesn't contain all of the answers one may be looking for but what it does contain will hopefully be common knowledge in the near future.