The Collected Schizophrenias by Esmé Weijun Wang

She includes replies from her psychiatrist, “Dr. In her essay “John Doe, Psychosis” Wang discusses her experience of rape while in high school, further compounding her symptoms. With this collection, Wang creates a beautiful series of essays that moves from a diagnosis of schizoaffective disorder to one that explores her tenuous relationship with post-traumatic stress disorder.

No one ever says that a person is cancer, or that they have become cancer, but they do say that a person is manic-depressive or schizophrenic, once those illnesses have taken hold. In the language of cancer, people describe a thing that “invades” them so that they can “battle” the cancer. I’m still trying to figure out what “okay” is, particularly whether there exists a normal version of myself beneath the disorder, in the way a person with cancer is a healthy person first and foremost. In the essay “Yale Will Not Save You” she is admitted twice to the Yale Psychiatric Institute during her two years of study. All the while she was aware of her own very intimate experiences with the symptoms of her disease. She tells us that she worked as a lab manager in the Stanford Department of Psychology, where she conducted clinical interviews for a study. Wang is an educated woman, having earned degrees from some of the most prestigious universities in the country. Wang explains that so many doctors are reluctant to diagnose someone with schizoaffective disorder because of the impact the diagnosis will have on the patient. Schizoaffective disorder shares symptoms of schizophrenia and is most commonly known as one of the most troublesome mental illnesses, affecting 0.3 percent of the population. One should not underestimate the bravery it took to produce such a frank, in-depth look at schizoaffective disorder.

Each essay is a little gem in itself that should be read and cherished for the rare insight it offers. Her writings reveal a story that has not been told with such willingness, clarity and deftness. Wang takes us on a journey through her psychoses while she struggles to make sense of her life.

Craziness scares us because we are creatures who long for structure and sense we divide the interminable days into years, months and weeks.

In her opening essay, “Diagnosis,” Wang writes: The Collected Schizophrenias by Esme Weijun Wang (Graywolf Press 2019)Įsmé Weijun Wang’s illuminating essay collection, The Collected Schizophrenias, details her tumultuous relationship with schizoaffective disorder.

The Collected Schizophrenias by Esmé Weijun Wang