Songs from the Black Chair: A Memoir of Mental Interiors (American Lives) [Paperback]

Charles Barber (Author)

Book Description

Series: American Lives | Publication Date: March 1, 2007

Day after day, night after night, desperate men come to sit in the black chair next to Charles Barber’s desk in a basement office at Bellevue and tell of their travails, of prison and disease, of violence and the voices that plague them. Between the stories, amid the peeling paint, musty odor, and flickering fluorescent light of his office, Barber observes that this isn’t really where he is supposed to be and reveals his privileged youth in contrast to his own nightmare of mental illness. By relating these troubled lives to his own, Barber illuminates some of the most disturbing and enduring truths of human nature.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Barber's intimate knowledge of mental disorder comes from inside and out, and both perspectives are haunted by the suicide of his friend, Henry, at age 21. Inside is the story of Barber's childhood phobias and incipient obsessive compulsive disorder. Outside is the knowledge gleaned from his work with the homeless mentally ill in New York City, by day in the largest mental health shelter in the world, by night in his office at Bellevue Hospital. Barber, currently an associate of the Yale Program for Recovery and Community Health, isn't afraid of words like "crazy" or "madness"; he'd rather render his "clients" as human characters than as case studies. Because he loves "the stories, the improbable and voluminous and twisted narratives that pour out of the men within minutes of their taking a seat in the black chair," he relates them with detailed vitality and with respect for the tellers. As his obsessive compulsiveness becomes a pathology, Barber evokes in this compelling and artfully crafted book a sort of cinematic tension; that he survived to tell the tale (with therapy and Prozac) doesn't lessen its punch. As in first-person mysteries, Barber is alive and, though not unscathed, balanced at book's end. (Mar.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

Barber presents a haunting account of the suicide of a boyhood friend, his own youthful struggles with mental fragility, and his journey to becoming a psychiatrist and treating the mentally ill at Bellevue. He recounts his friendship with Henry, who, like Barber, was a rootless young man resisting the success and heritage of his family. They both drifted for a while, in and out of college and dead-end jobs. When Henry killed himself, Barber was left to wonder about the power of his own disjointed thoughts and how people who are similarly depressed and profoundly disengaged can come to different ends. Years later, in his basement office at Bellevue, he witnesses men who have lost their moorings in life and suffer from myriad mental illnesses, as well as AIDS, drug addiction, and sexual abuse. From his own mental anguish and the suffering of his patients, Barber draws a compelling and compassionate portrait of the struggle for peace and clarity of mind. Vanessa Bush
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 206 pages
• Publisher: Bison Books (March 1, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0803259751
• ISBN-13: 978-0803259751
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 6.3 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #562,362 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Insight, March 1, 2005

By 

J. Nork (CT) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Songs from the Black Chair: A Memoir of Mental Interiors (American Lives) (Hardcover)

I purchased this book after reading Charles Barber's essay published in the Spring 2004 issue of the Bellevue Literary Review http://www.blreview.org/issue_spring2004/.

I was expecting a book to be a collection of stories told by homeless residents in New York City. To my surprise however, the real focus of the book was Charles' personal journey and his own struggle with mental illness for both himself and his childhood friend Henry.

Mr. Barber does a wonderful job of giving us a glimpse into the world of OCD and depression. It truly was a real eye opener for me. I highly recommend this book.

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Too far and few between..., April 10, 2005

By 

Kathryn J. Mas (West Hartford, CT USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Songs from the Black Chair: A Memoir of Mental Interiors (American Lives) (Hardcover)

This memoir was moving, almost beyond words. I was poignantly and thankfully reconnected to the reasons I most wanted to be a therapist many years ago. Mr. Barber's efforts have produced a work of distinction for its openness, sincerity. and fearsome humanity. Kathryn J. Mas, Ph.D.

18 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A worthwhile read that leaves you still groping for answers, May 17, 2005

By 

Reuben Zimmerman (New York) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Songs from the Black Chair: A Memoir of Mental Interiors (American Lives) (Hardcover)

Songs from the Black Chair was awesome. Admittedly, it was more about the author's own struggles than about any of the people he has helped, but that's not a criticism... it is noted simply because the title, which suggests that the book will be about his patients, is misleading.

All the same, it was a story that touched and moved me deeply. As do many primary care providers, I have cared for and treated the mentally ill almost 15 years, and what Barber writes about the need to simply LISTEN - and how the more highly-trained the professional, the less this ability - hits home very hard.

Sadly, psychiatry today is no longer about listening to people; it's about categorizing their symptoms and then trying to abolish these with medication. In fact, the content of a sick person's hallucinations, fears, and dreams is no longer important; what the patient has to say to us, to society, is left uncovered, ignored, or derided. What would Freud and Adler and Frankl say?

Buy it, read it -- be unsettled by it -- and pass it to a friend.