A review by 303littlebirds
Hidden Valley Road: Inside the Mind of an American Family by Robert Kolker

3.0

Worthy read, albeit slightly disorganized. As a clinical health psychologist, I can appreciate how difficult it is to organize all of this information, though. It does read like a psychological thriller at times, which I found quite engaging.

I'm torn about the star rating, going with 3 but considered 2 stars for the glaring absence of information about Dorothea Dix and her efforts in mental health institution reform. Would liked to have read a stronger stance on the misogynistic nature of psychology, psychiatry, and academic medicine in general. The opportunity was sitting there screaming to be addressed with every mention of DeLissi.

We need to do better with research, mental health treatment, and calling out the barriers to better care and prevention.