I Never Promised You a Rose Garden (1964) (edit title/settings)

• Rated 5 stars

“Ever wonder at how tough the world of mental illness is? Hannah knows.”

• Rated 2 stars

“This book is rather horribly dated. Mental hospitals and the treatment of schizophrenia in the 1960s have very little in common with those things today. Deborah spent years in the hospital, treated with such things as cold packs (wrapping her mummy-like in cold wet sheets) and psychotherapy, rather than the anti-psychotic drugs they used today. The author based the book on her own experiences, but I have read that her schizophrenia diagnosis was probably inaccurate and she most likely suffered from depression with psychotic features.

This book might be good for people who want to know what the mental health system was like in the sixties, but I don't think it would do a schizophrenic person any good as far as getting insight into their illness and treatment.”

• Rated 4 stars

“Another tough read emotionally. Very well written. Shows how tough life can be and how fragile we are.”

• Rated 5 stars

“Mental disorders have fascinated me since I was 8. The idea that the mind can control aspects of your life (or even you!) is amazing.
This book, although rather old fashioned, addressed the disease schizophrenia rather well. It gives the reader a clear view in the world of this amazing and sometimes brutal disease.
”

• Rated 5 stars

“A beginning for me. I'm so interested in schizophrenia and eager to learn stuff about it, so this book answered a lot of my questions.”

• Rated 5 stars

“I loved this one. Classic story of a girl's psychoanalysis. The protagonist lives in a eautifully drawn, twisted fantasy world. Technically this is fiction but it really shows how a therapeutic alliance draws a lost soul all the way out of those dark woods.”

• Rated 4 stars

“Excellent story of hope, and battling insanity.”

• Rated 4 stars

“I read this book decades ago when I was in junior high school. It is one of the few titles I remember from those days. I don't know why, but I enjoy reading books that get deep into the twisted brain. I would love to read it again.”

• Rated 5 stars

“At school, a teacher told a friend that she was too young to read this book. We were 13. Not long after I saw the movie and loved it, so I checked out the book from the library and it became one of my favorite books. Haven't seen the movie in a while and my copy of the book is so old, it's falling apart, but it's one of the only books I've read a couple of times and there is always something new. Since I first read it as a teenager and now I'm a mom of one, I see so much more there. To enjoy this book you have to love psychology and mental illness and the struggle to a healthy understanding and acceptance of oneself. ”

• Rated 5 stars

“I have no idea when I first read this, but it is one of the best YA novels about mental illness I've ever read. It took on a whole new meaning for me after when I began my struggle with chronic depression in earnest, and after I started teaching and I had several students diagnosed with severe mental illnesses so once again I was seeing the themes from a different angle. MC is a 16-year-old psychotic in a mental hospital. Her parents are in denial about her illness. She's created a world in her mind that she retreats into. It has its own language, rules, even its own gods. Her journey back from madness and the fear of reality, fear of having to be sane, being afraid to take medication, etc. is made easier by a dedicated and caring psychiatrist. This is a fascinating book and I found myself really rooting for the main character. ”