The Day the Voices Stopped: A Schizophrenic's Journey from Madness to Hope

I read this book in college for my psych rotation. And, I’ve gone on to read it several times more over the years because it’s an amazing book that will give a heartbreaking insight in to mental illness, schizophrenia, from the sufferer’s prospective. It follows Ken’s story of how his mental illness robbed him of decades of his life and his time in asylums and on the streets. You won’t regret reading this book.

Ken Steele had his first psychotic break replete with auditory hallucinations in October of 1962 when he was 14. Considering the world's collective madness involving the threat of nuclear war and having children cower under desks in schools, madness abounded in those days. Ken Steele's was sadly adolescent onset pychosis as opposed to the mass hysteria that was the order of the day. He was first hospitalized following that... Read Full Review

As a person who was also diagnosed with schizophrenia, (though I never heard voices), I found this a fascinating account of another person's journey from breakdown to recovery. The greatest strength of this book is the way in which the authors interwove the tyranny of the voices Ken Steele heard with the events of his life. The book gave me a clear understanding of how nightmarish it must be to live with a constant chorus... Read Full Review

Steele's book is one of the best I've seen on the subject. He tells us an insider's view of schizophrenia that is rarely portrayed so accurately. He does not tout a particular drug or a particular doctor, therapy, or procedure, which I feel is important because so many times an author credits a "miracle cure" for their recovery. There are many treatments for this illness and the appropriate one may differ from one person... Read Full Review

The Day the Voices Stopped is a shockingly realistic autobiography of someone with severe mental illness. The voices or auditory hallucinations are so realistic and terrifying that the reader wonders how Ken Steele could have survived at all. In addition, many people with severe mental illness have problems with homelessness and incarceration and Ken's story is no exception. It is tragic that 32 years of his life were consumed... Read Full Review