Book 151: The Lives They Left Behind: Suitcases from a State Hospital Attic by Darby Penney and Peter Stastny

This book is not just a book. It is documentation of a humanitarian effort carried out to preserve the stories of those who would otherwise be forgotten to history.

The Lives They Left Behind: Suitcases from a State Hospital Attic chronicles the discovery and examination of hundreds of pieces of luggage - suitcases, trunks, doctor's bags - found in the attic of Willard Asylum for the Chronic Insane in Seneca, New York, long after its closure. This luggage contained thousands of personal items from patients admitted for treatment at Willard. Some patients moved on; others died within the hospital's walls.

The authors opened each bag, photographing and cataloging each personal item and piecing together patients' stories long after their deaths. Some patients kept journals, others wrote letters to their families and friends and kept copies - these items were invaluable as the authors connected the dots. Other patients' stories were more mysterious, lacking details, but intriguing nonetheless. The authors scoured Willard's medical charts to learn about patients' pathology and fill in the blanks. Many patients profiled within this book were institutionalized in the prime of their lives due to traumatic experiences and lived out the rest of their lives in a veritable prison. One was hospitalized due to changes in behavior resulting from a traumatic brain injury that was never diagnosed. Some were immigrants who would never see their families again. Through patients' stories, the authors also chronicled the development of twentieth century mental health diagnosis and treatment; this in and of itself is terrifying.

Something about this book that will remain with me long after I've set it down: the authors did not care that their subjects were ostracized from society and demonized by their contemporaries. They unearthed patient stories and documented their lives with dignity, focusing on their experiences before hospitalization instead of the pathology that brought them to Willard. These were human beings who fought, loved, cried, struggled, and tried to overcome their own maladies, just like you and me. These were people with talents and desires and emotions. I loved how respectfully the authors wrote. I would have given anything to work on this project.

Don't expect a flowery narrative if you pick this up, but do expect to change the way you see people with mental health issues forever.