The Patient Is an Unreliable Historian

Image of The Patient Is an Unreliable Historian
Release Date: 
November 5, 2024
Publisher/Imprint: 
OmniDawn
Pages: 
100
Reviewed by: 

“one of the most beautiful and captivating collections of poetry about mental illness by a contemporary author.”

In the darkly challenging poetry book, The Patient Is an Unreliable Historian, author Brody Parrish Craig pulls back the curtain on the lived experience of psychiatric patients, offering heartbreaking insight into mental health treatment models, demanding that we make change.

At its heart, The Patient Is an Unreliable Historian addresses the issue of voice. Who better understands the experience of the mentally ill than the people who live with these conditions? Current psychiatric treatment almost completely discounts the patient by labeling them, to use the colloquial term, “mad.” Through poetry, Craig makes the case that this is a mistake.

While most books about justice and discrimination take the form of prose, using storytelling that addresses events in a linear and easy to follow fashion, poetry is the perfect way to consider the injustices and degradation of those with severe mental health concerns.

Craig’s disjointed, sometimes frenetic and twisting use of language allows the reader a glimpse into the experience of the psychiatric patient. At the same time, the wordplay is so clever that it’s impossible to miss the tragedy of being both misunderstood and dismissed, particularly by those who are meant to provide care.

The experience of invisibility is perhaps the most upsetting aspect of the book. There is truth and a cry to be seen in “mad hatter histrionics.” Through each poem, the reader can feel the patient’s hopelessness and need to be acknowledged. As the level of acting out ratchets up, so too does the subject’s desire to be heard, and the concurrent disregard of their humanity.

Invisibility often intersects with criminality among the severely mentally ill. The graphic descriptions of being subject to arrest when care is denied will distress even the most callous reader. “I sing the criminal of trespassing outside the city’s urgent care.” The poems are the lament of human beings denied reasonable compassion or protection.

The book’s title comes from the author’s own medical records. What’s troubling is that it is common for physicians to subvert agency or competency with terms like “unreliable” or “noncompliant.” The abusive and demeaning experiences described in these poems goes beyond upsetting; they mandate a response.

This book needs to be read twice, and preferably the first read should be done all at once. The overwhelm that the reader will experience taking the poems in at one sitting is part of the book’s allure. Then, read it again, slowly, taking your time with the play on words, the descriptions, the metaphors, and let your anger rise to the surface.

The Patient Is an Unreliable Historian is a damning finger pointed at American medical practices that silence those most in need of care and support. It cries out for us to dismantle a system that dehumanizes those who struggle to express their needs in ways professionals can hear, people who are disregarded as incurable and left bereft and unhoused or institutionalized in situations rife with abuse and neglect.

Yes, the book is utterly disheartening. It’s tragic. It’s painful to read.

It’s also one of the most beautiful and captivating collections of poetry about mental illness by a contemporary author.

The Patient Is an Unreliable Historian will do two things. First, if you are not already an advocate for the rights of the mentally ill, this could light a fire to help you join those ranks. Second, the book may help you see the potential for freedom that psychiatric patients could have in a system that did not silence them.