Fragile Connections by Donald Capps

Donald Capps, a theology professor, writes this book as a discussion on mental illness from a pastoral viewpoint. He begins with the story of Anton Boisin, who suffered from mental illness as an adult, yet became a chaplain at a psychiatric hospital. What makes this a great chapter is that it goes into detail about Boisin’s traumas as a child and how they would create a nervous strain on him. First it was his father’s death when he was a child, then he lost an eye during a confrontation with some local boys, then there were the disappointments that his grandfather and uncle had in their careers. The early 1900’s were an era when psychotherapy was not widely available, and if it was, who could afford it. For a child who’d been through difficulties, there was nobody to talk to except your pastor. Even then, how much help could you get.

Later chapters probe famous cases of mental illness, including the author William Styron, whose memoir Darkness Visible chronicles his battle with depression. It included bouts of incredible fear, irritability, and hopelessness. In all of these accounts, the author doesn’t go into great length about psychiatric treatment, but dwells on the person’s history. It is often the patient’s history that leads to psychiatric problems, not that trauma is the cause of schizophrenia, but it can certainly aggravate it. Take the famous movie about mental illness, The Snake Pit, where the patient’s history is detailed; her guilt over her father’s early death creates a strain on her.

It’s great to read a book like this, and I recommend it for anyone who intends to become a psychologist, social worker, or pastor. The patient’s life history always needs to be taken into account as part of their treatment, as it usually contains the root of whatever habits they’ve developed.