Crazy: My Seven Years At Bruno Bettelheim's Orthogenic School

by Roberta Carly Redford

Crazy: My Seven Years At Bruno Bettelheim's Orthogenic School tells the very personal story of a teenager sent to live in Chicago under the care of the eminent child psychologist. At that time, 1967, Bettelheim was at the top of his game and was highly respected. He told the public that he never hit or harmed the children in his care. Redford tells a very different story. In fact, she saw kids beaten daily and suffered terrible emotional and verbal abuse from Bettelheim. She was only beaten by him once, for asking for some privacy, but she learned her lesson well: she could never trust anyone at the School.
After Bettelheim's suicide in 1990, his ex-patients began to speak out about the abuses they suffered at his hands. At first there was disbelief, but two decades later, his reputation has taken some hard hits.
Crazy is the first book to show day-to-day life at the School and to expose Bettelheim's behavior towards his patients.
A must-read for anyone who has ever felt like an outsider, doubted his own sanity or been victimized by one in authority.

Nook

First published August 13, 2010