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May 9, 2022
2021 National Fellow Daniel Bergner's book The Mind and the Moon was reviewed by the New York Times.
In a workshop run by the Hearing Voices Network, the journalist Daniel Bergner — a contributing writer at The New York Times Magazine — participated in a mock job interview. He sat across from a pretend employer who asked all the usual questions: What was Bergner’s work experience? What were his hobbies? All the while, another participant whispered down a long tube made of wrapping paper into Bergner’s ear: Careful what you say. Careful what you say about your background. Bergner couldn’t think straight. The interviewer continued: Was Bergner a team player? The whispery voice kept on: Careful what you say about your background. The exercise didn’t last long. For Bergner, the dark warnings went from incredibly distracting to totally irresistible, and he gave up, rather than yell “Shut up” at the voice that only he could hear.
It’s a small but significant moment in “The Mind and the Moon.” Hearing voices — for those of us who don’t — seems like an alien, almost otherworldly experience. But Bergner normalizes it, demonstrating the way that people who experience intrusive voices face practical challenges as well as emotional ones. The scene elicits a deep empathy for voice hearers, and for everyone who experiences mental health issues. It is characteristic of many of the examples in the book, which is a profound and powerful work of essential reporting.
Inspired in part by his brother’s lifelong struggle with mental health, Bergner follows three individuals, who variously experience overwhelming depression, anxiety and other kinds of distress, including symptoms of psychosis. He explores the history of drug development, modes of treatment and the marketing of psycho-pharmaceuticals. He poses questions about the ethical challenges, complex social issues and other problems of modern biological psychiatry, and he makes a strong case that radical examination and change are urgently required.