The Heart Too Long Suppressed: A Chronicle of Mental Illness [Hardcover]

Carol Hebald (Author), Thomas Szasz (Foreword)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 4, 2001

A stirring memoir of one woman's mental illness and recovery.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

After a lifetime of mental illness, marked by repeated suicide attempts and hospitalizations, and a parade of ineffectual psychiatrists, Hebald, at the age of 44, threw her pharmacopoeia into the ocean and walked away from therapy. Since then, she has lived mostly free from madness, managing to earn her living as a writing teacher and to produce this cathartic memoir of her sexual and emotional abuse. Closer to her father than her mother, Hebald was devastated at age five when he died of cancer. Years later, in therapy, she remembered that he "made love" to her on his deathbed. Physically abused by her older sister, Hebald found no ally in their babysitter, who locked her in dark closets while Hebald's mother took over the family business. Hebald's only escape, at the age of six, was to go to the movies alone, inviting men in the theater to "play" with her, so she could experience the pleasure she had with her father. Her schooling was a disaster; by her early teens, Hebald was unable to recognize or express her feelings. One of her therapists noted Hebald's difficulty in distinguishing fantasy from reality; her readers may also find some of her story hard to believe. Her wholesale repudiation of psychiatry, though understandable given such experiences, may seem extreme to many readers. Yet Hebald's writing is smooth, her narrative is gripping and her eventual recovery provides an inspirational ending to her harrowing tale. (May 23) Forecast: Hebald's book combines solid prose with an Oprah-esque saga of overcoming adversity. Author publicity will help this book, especially given its inspirational ending.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

The rocky road from childhood victimization in the 1940s to self-acceptance and recovery in middle age is documented in this stirring memoir. Self-destructive impulses and a desire to expand her emotional range led Hebald to delve into psychoanalysis. Rather than help her become a well-adjusted person, the experience transformed her into a "professional patient" who was told that she was a likely candidate for suicide and would need psychiatric drugs for the rest of her life. Despite hospitalizations for her illness, the author managed careers in acting (on and off Broadway), teaching (former associate professor of English, Univ. of Kansas), and writing (Three Blind Mice: Two Short Novels), though her personal life was more clouded. Frank but somewhat ambivalent about her early abusers, Hebald boldly critiques traditional ideas about mental illness based on the treatment that she received. The range and rich details of her life experiences make this book very readable as well as significant for its insights into the stark limitations and subtly inhumane aspects of modern psychiatry. Recommended for large public libraries and all psychology collections. Antoinette Brinkman, formerly with the Southwest Indiana Mental Health Ctr. Lib., Evansville
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Northeastern (May 4, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1555534821
• ISBN-13: 978-1555534820
• Product Dimensions: 8.7 x 5.7 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #747,224 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

A graduate of New York's High School of Performing Arts, Carol Hebald played the following roles on the off Broadway stage: Edelgard in the award-winning Equity Library Theatre production of Christa Winsloe's MAEDCHEN IN UNIFORM; Hanako in the American premiere of Yukio Mishima's HANJO (Anta Matinee Series at Theatre De Lys); and Pegeen Mike in the Irish Players' production of PLAYBOY OF THE WESTERN WORLD. On Broadway she played Lucia in THE BEST HOUSE IN NAPLES, and Leah in JANE EYRE.

In 1965 she enrolled as a Freshman at the City College of CUNY, where she studied full time as an English Major. She received her B.A. in 1969: Phi Beta Kappa, magna cum laude, with High Honors in English. She was awarded also at CCNY the William Bradley Otis Fellowship for "Distinguished Contributions to American Literature" (1969), The Elias Lieberman Poetry Award (1969), The Ralph Weinberg Poetry Award (1968), and the Theodore Goodman Short Story Award (1968). Subsequently granted a Teaching and Writing Fellowship in Fiction Writing at the Iowa Writers' Workshop in 1970. She received her M.F.A. in 1971. Having taught Creative Writing at the university level for the next thirteen years, she resigned a tenured associate professorship in English at University of Kansas in 1984 to write full time.

In 2005 March Street Press published her full-length poetry collection, SPINSTER BY THE SEA. In 2004 March Street Press brought out her poetry chapbook, LITTLE MONOLOGS. In May, 2001 Northeastern University Press published her memoir, THE HEART TOO LONG SUPPRESSED. In 1989 Unicorn Press published her THREE BLIND MICE/TWO SHORT NOVELS for which she received the 1987-88 McGraw-Hill Pushcart Prize nomination; for development of the manuscript, a 1978 creative writing grant from the University of Kansas' Research Fund, and a 1976 77 grant from the Wisconsin Arts Board. For her unpublished novella, A WARSAW CHRONICLE, she received the 1993-94 HarperCollins nomination for the Editors' Book Award Pushcart Prize.

A complete list of reviews of, and excerpts from, her books are on her Website: http://www.CarolHebald.com.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An enthralling must-read memoir., June 1, 2001

By 

Carol Soucek King, M.F.A., Ph.D. (Pasadena, California) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Heart Too Long Suppressed: A Chronicle of Mental Illness (Hardcover)

Actress/author/professor Carol Hebald's THE HEART TOO LONG SUPPRESSED is an enthralling memoir of mental illness - her own - written with understanding, breathtaking revelations and, yes, tremendous wit. The reader is led behind the scrim that would seem to separate the rest of us from this disease and our only partially realized, rarely totally sane, selves.

By the time Hebald reaches middle age, she discovers that the parent-guide whom she always sought through much emotional turmoil in truth existed and exists within herself and in God. The reader cannot help but see a parallel life path in every person on earth.

Beautifully written with compelling can't-put-down force and much spit-fire repartee, this is a must read. I do hope someone is wise enough to transfer Hebald's masterful work into film.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A major accomplishment., June 1, 2001

By 

Hester Turner, Ed.D, J.D., LHD (New York, NY USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Heart Too Long Suppressed: A Chronicle of Mental Illness (Hardcover)

Intimate in its personal revelations, yet universal in scope, The Heart Too Long Suppressed is a powerful and gripping account of one woman's courageous struggle to come to terms with a difficult past. Toward the end of the book, Hebald speaks briefly about "pain as nourishment" for the artist. Herein lies her strength: She transforms tragedy into lyrical art. I was struck throughout by her dazzling shifts of tone. Her ability to balance between acute perception and precarious illness is nothing short of amazing. This book is a major accomplishment. I recommend it enthusiastically and without reservation.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A book worthy of a movie, August 15, 2006

By 

Dave Statter "film producer" (Los Angeles, CA.) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Heart Too Long Suppressed: A Chronicle of Mental Illness (Hardcover)

I found this book incredibly insightful and admire the courage it took for Carol Hebald to open up her life and let us in. Her story is probably one of thousands if not millions who have been misdiagnosed by the mental health profession. By the end of the book it seemed perfectly clear to me that if Carol had not taken control of her own life and had not thrown the toxic pharmaceutical cocktails overboard once and for all, she would have been a lifelong victim of psychiatry. Carol's book can help countless people realize the label they have been given by the psychiatrist is just that, a label, with no actual meaning or strength to it, except that which the individual or society grants to it. I applaud her for writing a book that can and will change people's life for the better!

Dave Statter
Executive Producer of the film Prescription:suicide?