BEDLAMS DOOR: True Tales of Madness and Hope
Nonfiction If you could lick my heart BEDLAMS DOOR: True Tales of Madness and Hope By Mark Rubinstein, M.D. 242 pp. Thunder Lake Press Reviewed by David E. Hoekenga, M.D. This collection of stories from Doctor Rubinstein’s practice of psychiatry is truly far stranger than fiction. For example, the one entitled “The Man of Means” tells of a man in a soiled and threadbare suit hanging out outside the Regency Hotel. He carries a gold-plated cigarette case and matching gold-plated lighter. His elegant briefcase is filled with a few million dollars in Monopoly money. Rubenstein diagnoses this man as “paranoid with delusions of grandeur.” One of the admirable parts of this book is that the author includes an afterword with a follow up on each client. Several psychiatrists in New York have seen the Man of Means, but none can track down his past. Rubinstein writes, “I fell in love with psychiatry because each patient – though sharing human commonalities – has a unique personal story.” Another ...