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Unshrunk: A Story of Psychiatric Treatment Resistance
The powerful memoir of one woman’s experience with psychiatric diagnoses and medications, and her journey to discover herself outside the mental health industry
At age fourteen, Laura Delano saw her first psychiatrist who immediately diagnosed her with bipolar disorder and started her on a mood stabilizer and antidepressant. At school, Delano was elected the class president and earned straight-As and a national squash ranking; at home, she unleashed all the rage and despair she felt, lashing out at her family and locking herself in her bedroom, obsessing over death.
Delano’s initial diagnosis marked the beginning of a life-altering saga. For the next thirteen years, she sought help from the best psychiatrists and hospitals in the country, accumulating a long list of diagnoses and a prescription cascade of nineteen drugs. After some resistance, Delano accepted her diagnosis and embraced the pharmaceutical regimen that she’d been told was necessary to manage her incurable, lifelong disease. But her symptoms only worsened. Eventually doctors declared her condition so severe as to be "treatment resistant." A disturbing series of events left her demoralized, but sparked a last glimmer of possibility . . . what if her life was falling apart not in spite of her treatment, but because of it? After years of faithful psychiatric patienthood, Delano realized there was one thing she hadn’t tried—leaving behind the drugs and diagnoses. This decision would mean unlearning everything the experts had told her about herself and forging into the terrifying unknown of an unmedicated life.
Weaving Delano's medical records and doctors' notes from her time in treatment with illuminating research on the drugs she was prescribed, Unshrunk questionsÌýthe dominant, rarely critiqued role that the American mental health industry, and the pharmaceutical industry in particular, plays in shaping what it means to be human.
At age fourteen, Laura Delano saw her first psychiatrist who immediately diagnosed her with bipolar disorder and started her on a mood stabilizer and antidepressant. At school, Delano was elected the class president and earned straight-As and a national squash ranking; at home, she unleashed all the rage and despair she felt, lashing out at her family and locking herself in her bedroom, obsessing over death.
Delano’s initial diagnosis marked the beginning of a life-altering saga. For the next thirteen years, she sought help from the best psychiatrists and hospitals in the country, accumulating a long list of diagnoses and a prescription cascade of nineteen drugs. After some resistance, Delano accepted her diagnosis and embraced the pharmaceutical regimen that she’d been told was necessary to manage her incurable, lifelong disease. But her symptoms only worsened. Eventually doctors declared her condition so severe as to be "treatment resistant." A disturbing series of events left her demoralized, but sparked a last glimmer of possibility . . . what if her life was falling apart not in spite of her treatment, but because of it? After years of faithful psychiatric patienthood, Delano realized there was one thing she hadn’t tried—leaving behind the drugs and diagnoses. This decision would mean unlearning everything the experts had told her about herself and forging into the terrifying unknown of an unmedicated life.
Weaving Delano's medical records and doctors' notes from her time in treatment with illuminating research on the drugs she was prescribed, Unshrunk questionsÌýthe dominant, rarely critiqued role that the American mental health industry, and the pharmaceutical industry in particular, plays in shaping what it means to be human.
352 pages, Hardcover
First published March 18, 2025
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4,402 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews
March 15, 2025
It is a disgrace that Vintage is publishing this utterly hateful and dangerous piece of work. Delano has legitimate grievances with the medical establishment (as do almost all long-term patients, myself included; it's an awful system) but instead of mounting a thoughtful critique, she uses those experiences to argue for extremist and dangerous beliefs about psychopharmaceuticals and medicine in general. She doesn't believe that mental illness really exists, arguing that it's all just the after-effects of coming off of anti-depressants or other psychiatric drugs (or caused while on them), and also goes so far as to argue against hormonal birth control. It's one thing to talk about how little doctors understood or told their patients about how severe withdrawal from these drugs could be; it's another to say that mental illness does not exist.
Basically, Delano thinks everybody should deal with their problems using their own inner resources; she's also skeptical of therapy in general and even though she gets a lot out of AA she eventually leaves because she doesn't want them to dictate her life and doesn't consider herself an alcoholic. So much of this book and Delano's project is motivated by a pathological desire not to be labeled anything, whereas the mental health advocates I admire don't feel any stigma from those labels. And the idea that we should all rely on inner resources is so appalling to me. Human life is about community and our connections with others. Many people cannot simply handle things on their own. (Ironically Delano also runs a consultancy to advise people about how to get off of meds.)
In the era of RFK Jr. this is exactly the kind of book that should not be getting published but that will instead get tons of press. Do not read it.
Basically, Delano thinks everybody should deal with their problems using their own inner resources; she's also skeptical of therapy in general and even though she gets a lot out of AA she eventually leaves because she doesn't want them to dictate her life and doesn't consider herself an alcoholic. So much of this book and Delano's project is motivated by a pathological desire not to be labeled anything, whereas the mental health advocates I admire don't feel any stigma from those labels. And the idea that we should all rely on inner resources is so appalling to me. Human life is about community and our connections with others. Many people cannot simply handle things on their own. (Ironically Delano also runs a consultancy to advise people about how to get off of meds.)
In the era of RFK Jr. this is exactly the kind of book that should not be getting published but that will instead get tons of press. Do not read it.
September 19, 2024
2nd review 9/19/24: Rated with caveats. I’m settling on 4 for now because I distrust the absolutism of Delano’s stances on psychiatric medication, therapy and hospitalization, but she has also made me consider and properly grapple with my own experiences in a way I never have before. This book is an odd balancing act between rigorously cited research and insistent rejection of all treatment, and it’s both hard to argue with psychiatry’s unscientific nature and shortcomings and hard to agree with the idea that mental illness is a cooked-up illusion whereby people who would be better off untreated are by default ruined for life by the mental health complex. Delano makes many real points, many of which I even agree with and have experienced, but on the flip side there’s the unease I get when she glides over her hatred of fat, rejection of all medication, etc—these elements feel like an unexplored trap door. The place where she goes completely wild attributing everything that’s ever happened to her to the poison of psychiatric treatment is so untempered that I lose some faith in her stats. Additionally I think the entire book willfully ignores the entire notion that sometimes people who don’t get mental health treatment die or are massively disabled by their symptoms, because she doesn’t believe that mental illness should be medicalized at all. Therefore it would be inconvenient to postulate that talking to a friend doesn’t necessarily cure psychosis. She doesn’t leave room except in one insincere paragraph at the start of the book for people who have only survived or thrived because sometimes treatment is indeed better than what has happened without it. The problem is that it’s a book of good arguments spoiled by fanaticism. How do you rate that?
1st review 9/18/24: Star rating is gonna have to be on hold while I figure out what the heck I thought of this book.
1st review 9/18/24: Star rating is gonna have to be on hold while I figure out what the heck I thought of this book.
March 19, 2025
Laura’s writing is brilliant and the way she tells her story is humble, insightful, and honest. Some parts of the story certainly pained me to read, or I came in with my own assumptions about what it would be rather; but I found Unshrunk to be a meticulously researched and thoughtfully told story about the harms the mental health system can inflict on an individual. Though current US political theatre makes the ethics of kids and psych drugs off-putting to too many, I found it to be a good account of how the system can harm children more than help. I suspect much negative press about her and her associates serves the purpose of shutting down activism and needed conversations to have.
I must say I’m confused and saddened by the sneering and dehumanizing in other reviews. She states many times she’s not against psychiatry or anti-medication. It is not a screed or an angry book. Nor is it a traumalogue or list of grievances. Just sharing her own story and what she learned. Might it be possible there’s some merit to this? Many mental patients have been saying this; the legacy of psychiatry is disturbing and I have a hard time tolerating those who must shut down this conversation.
I’m happy to see more work like this published, especially by women.
I must say I’m confused and saddened by the sneering and dehumanizing in other reviews. She states many times she’s not against psychiatry or anti-medication. It is not a screed or an angry book. Nor is it a traumalogue or list of grievances. Just sharing her own story and what she learned. Might it be possible there’s some merit to this? Many mental patients have been saying this; the legacy of psychiatry is disturbing and I have a hard time tolerating those who must shut down this conversation.
I’m happy to see more work like this published, especially by women.
March 31, 2025
Idk why people are freaking tf out about this book� we know that psychiatry was built on hating and pathologizing women, minorities? We know big pharma lobbying controls politicians, research, regulation, etc.? We know capitalism prioritizes not only the obsession of individual but also constant individual consumption? We know non-stop media—especially social media—is soooooo bad for humans and our brains (emotionally, physically, deteriorates intelligence and attention span, the list goes on)? And we know there’s a weird self-care obsessed therapy and wellness space that focuses solely on quick fixes for the individual—never acknowledging the very real and present socioeconomic, gender, racial, etc. issues plaguing the US today?
Not everybody is suddenly mentally ill (self diagnosing is only getting worse w/ TikTok, etc.); not everybody was born with “chemical imbalances and will be forever; not everybody needs to be on several life-long medications; not everybody needs an all-explaining label to better understand their “identity� and feel more appropriately coddled; not everybody needs to be stripped of agency and responsibility for their actions!!!!!
Do I agree with everything in this book? No. Do I think this book is what’s wrong with America’s health space today? Definitely not. Mental illness is real and so is the necessity of medical psychiatric intervention in CERTAIN situation. But do you wanna know what else is real? Teenagers testing out risky and “bad� behavior (omfg brains aren’t even fully developed)� the awful physical & emotional & mental consequences of capitalism, growing wealth disparity, lack of housing�. shrinking access to human community & decreased socializing (�.. weird helicopter parents, social media, “I don’t owe anybody anything/protecting my peace� culture, etc. etc. )� and generally just making really stupid decisions because we are all literally just a human beings!!!!!!
People face hardship, and loss, and rejection, and grief, and oppression, and shame, and mistreatment, and breakups, and failure, and challenges, and abuse � the list goes on. Certain reactions to these realities and moments and phases and events doesn’t mean you have a medical disease that will afflict you indefinitely� might you need diagnoses and pills? Maybe. Might you not? Also, maybe!!!
Maybe I’m the stupidest girl in the world and am seriously, seriously missing something—but I just don’t think I am.
Not everybody is suddenly mentally ill (self diagnosing is only getting worse w/ TikTok, etc.); not everybody was born with “chemical imbalances and will be forever; not everybody needs to be on several life-long medications; not everybody needs an all-explaining label to better understand their “identity� and feel more appropriately coddled; not everybody needs to be stripped of agency and responsibility for their actions!!!!!
Do I agree with everything in this book? No. Do I think this book is what’s wrong with America’s health space today? Definitely not. Mental illness is real and so is the necessity of medical psychiatric intervention in CERTAIN situation. But do you wanna know what else is real? Teenagers testing out risky and “bad� behavior (omfg brains aren’t even fully developed)� the awful physical & emotional & mental consequences of capitalism, growing wealth disparity, lack of housing�. shrinking access to human community & decreased socializing (�.. weird helicopter parents, social media, “I don’t owe anybody anything/protecting my peace� culture, etc. etc. )� and generally just making really stupid decisions because we are all literally just a human beings!!!!!!
People face hardship, and loss, and rejection, and grief, and oppression, and shame, and mistreatment, and breakups, and failure, and challenges, and abuse � the list goes on. Certain reactions to these realities and moments and phases and events doesn’t mean you have a medical disease that will afflict you indefinitely� might you need diagnoses and pills? Maybe. Might you not? Also, maybe!!!
Maybe I’m the stupidest girl in the world and am seriously, seriously missing something—but I just don’t think I am.
March 22, 2025
“I can’t help but wonder if he saw me pulling away from his program—no longer feeling dependent on my team, newly challenging their pharmaceutical recommendations, and questioning the proclamations they were making of me, my character, my person. Is it possible that in order to avoid facing my legitimate critiques of treatment, he decided to use my burgeoning noncompliance to reinforce just how borderline I was?�
March 14, 2025
Provokes a lot of thoughts on how we depend on pharmaceuticals, the eagerness we have for them to work and the resistance we are to change of thinking. Very interesting read. Highly recommend to open your thought process on how we think about and treat mental disorders. Although, the rejection of both meds and therapy to treat mental illness alongside rejecting mental illness in general is a little alarming. I hope those who read this take this for what it is, a person’s subjective experience and not an empirical argument. At times gets too high level and research paper-esque. However Laura’s own experience is the driving force to turning pages.
March 31, 2025
I have a lot to say about this book. First of all as someone who’s diagnosed with bipolar two disorder, it was incredibly validating to hear about her journey however, I feel that this book can be borderline dangerous with her advocacy of the de-psychiatrising oneself. While the book reminds people diagnosed with bipolar disorders that we are people not our diagnoses, she advocates to come off of psychiatric medication to live a fuller life outside of psychiatric paradigms. Advocating for someone with a serious diagnosis like bipolar, schizophrenia, or borderline personality disorder to come off of their medication is dangerous. This does not take away from the fact that her book- it’s very interesting. She cited meta analyses and studies poking holes in the evidence used to prescribe medication‘s for psychiatric conditions. As someone who takes Lamictal and has found it life-saving I found it really surprising that there is no evidence to support its long-term use as most of the studies done only show its efficacy over 6 to 8 week periods. I was reminded, however, that I am not my diagnosis and my suffering as someone with a serious mental illness has meaning and my suffering does not exist in a vacuum. I was also struck by how privileged the author is and how it makes her advice for the de-psychiatrising one’s life really not realistic for most of the population who takes psychiatric medication. I like this book, but I have very mixed feelings about it. She’s an Ivy League educated trust fund upper class socialite who had a debutant ball. She has endless support from her family and received care from some of the best psychiatrists in the country. As a social worker, it’s easy to see that her social circumstances dictated what she was and wasn’t able to do in coming off of psychiatric medications. It’s not possible for most people who are on medications to just come off of them in a way to protest big Pharma. As much as I would like to do this it’s not possible. She dedicates one to two lines in her book to show her privilege and why she was able to do the things she was able to do however, this is not enough. Most people in the US do not exist in this level of privilege. I would love to live a natural life where I am not on psychiatric medication’s and can just take supplements and use peer support groups to make my way through life. This is not within reach nor is it realistic and frankly, I enjoy being on my psychiatric medications. Taking Lamictal and Latuda has made me more grounded and I am able to move through life with ease. She talks about how existing at one’s baseline is really important, but frankly, I didn’t like who I was at my baseline I like who I am on my medications. Read this book with caution. This is the type of book where it is a do as I say not as I do type message.
April 7, 2025
I considered leaving this book unrated because even 1 star seems too generous.
I completely understand and am interested in reading about criticisms of mental health care and the pharmaceutical industry; however this book is extremely harmful.
Medications are overprescribed and shouldn’t always be the first step in terms of mental health diagnoses or treatment. However, I find an issue with people criticizing medications as treatment when they never fully gave it a fair chance. She continually went on and off medications, often quitting cold turkey or not telling the truth about halting this treatment. Advocating for people to get off medication when she was never able to fully commit to it is incredibly irresponsible. This is the same attitude she brought to therapy and psychiatric sessions. Many people need to “shop around� to find a therapist or psychiatrist that works for them. However, she made and halted appointments on whim, and similarly to medication, could not commit to a working relationship with a therapist.
The entire book felt like her begging for people to see that she’s a victim in her own life. Mental health issues are a struggle to work through but she’s making it even harder by working against her own best interest. To have parents that are willing to foot the bill for your entire life while you flail around in your mediocre life is a privilege not many have. To then squander that privilege is embarrassing. There are so many people in this world that have lives that they cannot pause and have someone else pay for. I never want to compare peoples problems to each other, but it’s hard to not get frustrated with her, when so many people are working through their problems and still going about their lives.
I hated this book more than anything and I hate that people could be taking advice from such an entitled and stupid woman. You can’t always trust the pharmaceutical and medical industry, but that doesn’t mean you need to waste your time with this worthless book.
I completely understand and am interested in reading about criticisms of mental health care and the pharmaceutical industry; however this book is extremely harmful.
Medications are overprescribed and shouldn’t always be the first step in terms of mental health diagnoses or treatment. However, I find an issue with people criticizing medications as treatment when they never fully gave it a fair chance. She continually went on and off medications, often quitting cold turkey or not telling the truth about halting this treatment. Advocating for people to get off medication when she was never able to fully commit to it is incredibly irresponsible. This is the same attitude she brought to therapy and psychiatric sessions. Many people need to “shop around� to find a therapist or psychiatrist that works for them. However, she made and halted appointments on whim, and similarly to medication, could not commit to a working relationship with a therapist.
The entire book felt like her begging for people to see that she’s a victim in her own life. Mental health issues are a struggle to work through but she’s making it even harder by working against her own best interest. To have parents that are willing to foot the bill for your entire life while you flail around in your mediocre life is a privilege not many have. To then squander that privilege is embarrassing. There are so many people in this world that have lives that they cannot pause and have someone else pay for. I never want to compare peoples problems to each other, but it’s hard to not get frustrated with her, when so many people are working through their problems and still going about their lives.
I hated this book more than anything and I hate that people could be taking advice from such an entitled and stupid woman. You can’t always trust the pharmaceutical and medical industry, but that doesn’t mean you need to waste your time with this worthless book.
March 23, 2025
Laura’s book is outstanding as a compass of what many people go through in the psychiatric industry. I feel she spoke with a fair hand pertaining to what happened to her as a child and all the way through to adulthood. She does not speak in a “put down� matter to mental health but rather shows compassion towards Dr’s and professionals being victims of the system in which they are working. We all should question the authorities and be educated about our treatment. Laura is not anti medication but rather wholeheartedly supports informed consent. The entire industry does not inform its patients of the extreme difficulty of withdrawing from these psychotropics. She makes a compelling argument about the term “treatment resistant mental illness� and what it can do to your psyche. The efficacy of these drugs is very poor and the onus should not be placed on the patient.
Laura’s story is raw and heartbreaking. She is so truthful that it makes one realize that no one is hopeless and relegated to a lifetime of chronic mental illness. As a child of privilege (in all ways) it allows one to understand that we are all vulnerable to adversity, pain and struggle. Laura has the ability to look beyond her privilege and relate to all people from all walks of life. This book is extremely well researched and packed with facts that can’t be refuted. I imagine Laura will be up against criticism as we have been immersed in a biological model of mental illness for decades. And that model comes with no scientific evidence, reliability, or validity. However, Laura Delano has the veracity, intellect, background, and personal experience to clap back loud. Well done Laura!
Laura’s story is raw and heartbreaking. She is so truthful that it makes one realize that no one is hopeless and relegated to a lifetime of chronic mental illness. As a child of privilege (in all ways) it allows one to understand that we are all vulnerable to adversity, pain and struggle. Laura has the ability to look beyond her privilege and relate to all people from all walks of life. This book is extremely well researched and packed with facts that can’t be refuted. I imagine Laura will be up against criticism as we have been immersed in a biological model of mental illness for decades. And that model comes with no scientific evidence, reliability, or validity. However, Laura Delano has the veracity, intellect, background, and personal experience to clap back loud. Well done Laura!
March 31, 2025
Just purchased on audio. I am so thankful that this book was not burned in fulfillment of the desires of the intemperate alleging intemperance. Nevertheless, in consideration of all, I pledge to listen only on my headphones and delete this from my library ASAP.
FYI: Consistent with the principles of the US First Amendment, I did not restrict comments to this "review" - but please don't tell anyone you read it here.
Stifle.
Second shot:
"The data consistently shows that the United States has substantially higher rates of psychotropic medication use compared to other developed nations, particularly European countries, despite having comparable or higher rates of mental health conditions. These disparities suggest that differences in healthcare systems, prescribing practices, pharmaceutical marketing regulations, and cultural approaches to mental health treatment play significant roles in the higher US consumption rates." via Claude 3.7., referencing independent studies from the Nih, Scientific American, and the Commonweath Fund.
Only two nations - the United States and New Zealand - allow direct-to-consumer advertising of drugs, including psychotropic drugs. Listen to Laura. But, first and last, follow the money.
FYI: Consistent with the principles of the US First Amendment, I did not restrict comments to this "review" - but please don't tell anyone you read it here.
Stifle.
Second shot:
"The data consistently shows that the United States has substantially higher rates of psychotropic medication use compared to other developed nations, particularly European countries, despite having comparable or higher rates of mental health conditions. These disparities suggest that differences in healthcare systems, prescribing practices, pharmaceutical marketing regulations, and cultural approaches to mental health treatment play significant roles in the higher US consumption rates." via Claude 3.7., referencing independent studies from the Nih, Scientific American, and the Commonweath Fund.
Only two nations - the United States and New Zealand - allow direct-to-consumer advertising of drugs, including psychotropic drugs. Listen to Laura. But, first and last, follow the money.
March 24, 2025
An Alternative Paradigm
I began reading Unshrunk with tremendous skepticism, feeling that Laura Delano’s model of peer counseling to wean patients off psychoactive medications was at best uninformed and very likely dangerous.
Delano’s memoir, however, has caused me to open my mind to an alternative paradigm: that some patients do not improve on psychoactive meds and are better off tapering consumption.
I began reading Unshrunk with tremendous skepticism, feeling that Laura Delano’s model of peer counseling to wean patients off psychoactive medications was at best uninformed and very likely dangerous.
Delano’s memoir, however, has caused me to open my mind to an alternative paradigm: that some patients do not improve on psychoactive meds and are better off tapering consumption.
March 31, 2025
“For years, I’d been devouring mental illness memoirs in the hope that, in at least one of them, I’d see my story. But I hadn’t yet, which was baffling, because I knew there were thousands of others who’d rejected their diagnoses and come off their meds as I had. The stories I’d found in bookstores were most often about accepting a diagnosis, finding the right treatment, fighting the stigma of being sick, figuring out how to manage life with a mental illness. Where did the experiences of those of us who’d decided to head in the opposite direction fit?� (303)
This is a book that desperately needed to be written, and now it has been. Laura’s story is her own, but it is also now the story of thousands of Americans. Encountering a rough patch in life, you are prescribed a drug (perhaps even as a child, like Laura, at 14). You are told you have a “chemical imbalance� in your brain, and the drug can fix it. Trusting doctors, medicine, science, you take the drug as prescribed. When your condition gets worse, you are told your illness has progressed. Perhaps more drugs are prescribed to you. Until one day (after burgeoning side effects, curiously contradictory information from health care providers, more careful research, an attempt to come off of medication when you are feeling fine, critical thinking, insert final cause here) you realize: the drug you have been taking has only been making you worse.
There are people who will read this book and call it “anti-science,� and talk about how much their own SSRIs have helped them. Laura says herself before she realized her medication was making her worse instead of better, she would have reacted with hostility and contempt towards anyone who would have questioned her diagnosis or need for medication. If you feel your SSRI has helped you, no one is trying to take it away from you. The only thing the sufferers from psychiatric drug induced brain injuries are asking for is informed consent when drugs are prescribed, acknowledgment of the iatrogenic harms from psychiatric drugs and assistance in deprescribing. Every few chapters in Laura’s book contains facts with cited scientific references showing how her story fits into the bigger picture; a larger story that affects millions. Read these chapters. Keep an open mind. Perhaps some of this hostility comes out of fear, fear that you too may be riding a train that you can’t get off.
Laura’s story begins with the intense anxiety and rebelliousness she felt while entering puberty, faced with growing expectations, and unsure of her place in the world. Diagnosed with bipolar based on what could probably also be interpreted as a ordinary teenage existential crisis, she does not embrace the diagnosis until facing high amounts of stress in college. In college (Harvard), she spending days and nights partying, and trying to keep up with her classes. In these early chapters Laura comes across as a spoiled rich kid, but not necessarily someone with severe “mental illness.� Post-psychiatry Laura, our narrator, does not hold back at revealing embarrassing and sensitive details. Younger Laura skips appointments with her psychiatrist, has regretful sexual encounters, lives off of her parents� money, and does a lot of cocaine. She is shielded from any real consequences from her actions. All the while, Laura wonders about her place in the world, and she starts to struggle with thoughts of suicide. Laura sees several psychiatrists throughout her teens and early twenties, none of whom question her bipolar diagnosis, and some of whom add additional psychiatric diagnoses.
As Laura embraces her identity as a sufferer of bipolar disorder, her behavior and substance abuse worsens. During one hospitalization, narrator Laura admits to romanticizing her “mentally ill� identity: “I was focused, instead, on the hospital’s historical legacy, its clinical prestige � and on Sylvia Plath, Anne Sexton, Susanna Kaysen. I felt proud to be joining these women as a patient on this hallowed psychiatric ground.� (64) At the same time, Laura truly believes she is suffering from bipolar, an illness which will limit her potential in life and require her to be medicated for the rest of her life. This belief intensifies her suicidality � because of her bipolar disease, she believes she will never be able to conquer her most painful feelings and destructive behaviors.
Throughout her 20s, Laura’s condition worsens and her bipolar disorder is labeled “treatment-resistant�. She attempts suicide but survives. The number of psychiatric prescriptions she is taking balloons. Antipsychotics, SSRIs, lithium, benzos, and more. The medications give her side effects like weight gain, insomnia, drowsiness, cognitive fog.
At one point, pondering her privilege of being from a super wealthy family in retrospect, narrator Laura wonders about the ways being from wealth and privilege helped protect her and the ways it might have possibly hurt her. On the one hand, she was never in danger of living on the streets or needing to go on disability to support herself, since her family gave her money; on the other hand, in a way her family was enabling her, and maybe if their support hadn’t been there, she would have been forced to become at least semi-functional sooner in order to hold down a job.
Laura’s first major step towards wellness happens when she stops partying and drinking alcohol. Buoyed by the benefits to her life she sees after getting sober, she begins to wonder what her life would feel like off of all medications and drugs.
Laura’s real healing begins when she changes her view of herself from “incurable bipolar patient� to “human being with potential.� This is sparked by reading the book Anatomy of an Epidemic, a book that suggests increase in rates of psychiatric disability in the US is primarily caused by the very drugs taken for treatment. For the first time, Laura builds a life outside of life as a “patient� � she volunteers, starts boxing, taking writing classes. She begins to view herself as a person who is capable of independent thought, responsibility, self-determination � the very things psychiatry encourages patients not to develop. In fact, it’s common for psychiatrists to tell patients not to look up the side effects of medication, or that resistance to wanting to take medication is part of their disorder.
Eventually Laura takes the leap and comes off of all of her psychiatric medications. Because she had been taking psych meds for years at this point, she has severe withdrawal symptoms (or perhaps more accurately, iatrogenic brain injury symptoms). Again, this is where a psychiatrist would probably say she is experiencing “relapse�, when when in fact most of the symptoms she describes are completely alien to anything she’s ever felt before. She suffers numerous physical symptoms: sweating, boils, gastrointestinal issues, joint aches, headaches, muscles spasms � and mental: paranoia, difficulty focusing, memory issues and hellish intrusive thoughts. “At night, my mind forced me on its tortuous theme-park horror ride, past all the memories and flashbacks of my failed life, through all the insults, criticisms, paranoias, and diatribes that ranted and raced their way through my head, looping on repeat, no off switch.� (218) She suffers through it all, and with time, the horrific withdrawal symptoms begin to fade. What she gains from coming off of the drugs makes all of the suffering worthwhile: a “return to self� (“…these drugs altered not just the entire biochemical landscape of my brain and body but also my consciousness, my seat of self.� (240))
Reading this memoir, what I was most blown away by was how well written it is. I literally could not put this book down. Laura is an extremely gifted writer and so articulate in relating her experiences. I hope she writes more books (about anything) because it was really just a joy to read her writing.
Laura asks, why has my story not been told yet, when there are so many others who have been through what I have? Technically, her story has been told in countless internet forums and support groups, and even in other memoirs (Brooke Siem’s May Cause Side Effects comes to mind). But given the scale of this problem, she’s right that there’s not a lot of mainstream memoirs discussing the issue of psychiatric drug withdrawal. One reason for this is what Laura went through � prescription cascade, attempted suicide, multiple psychiatric hospitalizations � is not an easy thing to return from. She’s lucky to be alive, let alone to now be functional and enjoying life, let alone to be cognitively capable enough to produce some of the best writing I’ve seen in years. Where are all of the memoirs from people who were lobotomized, one could also ask? There are many more lost to psychiatry than there are those who manage to claw their way out. As Laura says herself: “Coming off psychiatric drugs had been the hardest thing I’d ever done� and this was the case even with all the moral and material support I’d been given.� (295)
Laura’s memoir has given a voice to the voiceless. The world is so much better for this book existing, and for Laura’s continued activism in this area.
Misc parts:
Neuroleptics mimic the symptoms of lethargic encephalitis - the sleeping sickness of the early 1900s. (Neuroleptics reduce dopamine activity in the brain, the same thing that happens with lethargic encephalitis and with Parkinson’s).
- “…my therapists and I operated under the assumption that my emotional and mental difficulties were symptoms of an incurable brain disease for which medication was my first-line treatment, which led me to logically conclude that therapy was at best an enjoyable exercise in connection and conversation, and at worst entirely futile. Because I’d been told, and come to believe, the primary cause of my problems was medical, the solution needed to be medical as well: taking this malfunctioning organ in my skull to be tinkered with and maintained by a trained physician.� (118)
“Despite taking my meds religiously, I began to feel occupied by my thoughts, as though they were external forces that had taken me hostage, obsessively looping in endless circles about the meaninglessness of existence, the absurdity of the human condition, and how it didn’t really matter whether or not I stayed alive. In retrospect, I think my fixation on postmodernism played a large role in this.� (119) LOL postmodernism never leads to anything good.
- “Psychologist Paula Caplan puts it succinctly: ‘After a woman has conscientiously learned the role her culture prescribes for her, the psychiatric establishment calls her mentally disordered.’� (193)
- “Years of cognitive impairment had made it nearly impossible for me to fully absorb words, to piece together meaning, often to remember what I’d read at all. I’d get through a paragraph, realize that I’d taken nothing in, and start over. And then I’d give up and turn on the TV instead. I blamed these issues on the progression of my bipolar disorder.� (207)
Well you sure as heck recovered cognitively to write this because this is a dang good book!
This is a book that desperately needed to be written, and now it has been. Laura’s story is her own, but it is also now the story of thousands of Americans. Encountering a rough patch in life, you are prescribed a drug (perhaps even as a child, like Laura, at 14). You are told you have a “chemical imbalance� in your brain, and the drug can fix it. Trusting doctors, medicine, science, you take the drug as prescribed. When your condition gets worse, you are told your illness has progressed. Perhaps more drugs are prescribed to you. Until one day (after burgeoning side effects, curiously contradictory information from health care providers, more careful research, an attempt to come off of medication when you are feeling fine, critical thinking, insert final cause here) you realize: the drug you have been taking has only been making you worse.
There are people who will read this book and call it “anti-science,� and talk about how much their own SSRIs have helped them. Laura says herself before she realized her medication was making her worse instead of better, she would have reacted with hostility and contempt towards anyone who would have questioned her diagnosis or need for medication. If you feel your SSRI has helped you, no one is trying to take it away from you. The only thing the sufferers from psychiatric drug induced brain injuries are asking for is informed consent when drugs are prescribed, acknowledgment of the iatrogenic harms from psychiatric drugs and assistance in deprescribing. Every few chapters in Laura’s book contains facts with cited scientific references showing how her story fits into the bigger picture; a larger story that affects millions. Read these chapters. Keep an open mind. Perhaps some of this hostility comes out of fear, fear that you too may be riding a train that you can’t get off.
Laura’s story begins with the intense anxiety and rebelliousness she felt while entering puberty, faced with growing expectations, and unsure of her place in the world. Diagnosed with bipolar based on what could probably also be interpreted as a ordinary teenage existential crisis, she does not embrace the diagnosis until facing high amounts of stress in college. In college (Harvard), she spending days and nights partying, and trying to keep up with her classes. In these early chapters Laura comes across as a spoiled rich kid, but not necessarily someone with severe “mental illness.� Post-psychiatry Laura, our narrator, does not hold back at revealing embarrassing and sensitive details. Younger Laura skips appointments with her psychiatrist, has regretful sexual encounters, lives off of her parents� money, and does a lot of cocaine. She is shielded from any real consequences from her actions. All the while, Laura wonders about her place in the world, and she starts to struggle with thoughts of suicide. Laura sees several psychiatrists throughout her teens and early twenties, none of whom question her bipolar diagnosis, and some of whom add additional psychiatric diagnoses.
As Laura embraces her identity as a sufferer of bipolar disorder, her behavior and substance abuse worsens. During one hospitalization, narrator Laura admits to romanticizing her “mentally ill� identity: “I was focused, instead, on the hospital’s historical legacy, its clinical prestige � and on Sylvia Plath, Anne Sexton, Susanna Kaysen. I felt proud to be joining these women as a patient on this hallowed psychiatric ground.� (64) At the same time, Laura truly believes she is suffering from bipolar, an illness which will limit her potential in life and require her to be medicated for the rest of her life. This belief intensifies her suicidality � because of her bipolar disease, she believes she will never be able to conquer her most painful feelings and destructive behaviors.
Throughout her 20s, Laura’s condition worsens and her bipolar disorder is labeled “treatment-resistant�. She attempts suicide but survives. The number of psychiatric prescriptions she is taking balloons. Antipsychotics, SSRIs, lithium, benzos, and more. The medications give her side effects like weight gain, insomnia, drowsiness, cognitive fog.
At one point, pondering her privilege of being from a super wealthy family in retrospect, narrator Laura wonders about the ways being from wealth and privilege helped protect her and the ways it might have possibly hurt her. On the one hand, she was never in danger of living on the streets or needing to go on disability to support herself, since her family gave her money; on the other hand, in a way her family was enabling her, and maybe if their support hadn’t been there, she would have been forced to become at least semi-functional sooner in order to hold down a job.
Laura’s first major step towards wellness happens when she stops partying and drinking alcohol. Buoyed by the benefits to her life she sees after getting sober, she begins to wonder what her life would feel like off of all medications and drugs.
Laura’s real healing begins when she changes her view of herself from “incurable bipolar patient� to “human being with potential.� This is sparked by reading the book Anatomy of an Epidemic, a book that suggests increase in rates of psychiatric disability in the US is primarily caused by the very drugs taken for treatment. For the first time, Laura builds a life outside of life as a “patient� � she volunteers, starts boxing, taking writing classes. She begins to view herself as a person who is capable of independent thought, responsibility, self-determination � the very things psychiatry encourages patients not to develop. In fact, it’s common for psychiatrists to tell patients not to look up the side effects of medication, or that resistance to wanting to take medication is part of their disorder.
Eventually Laura takes the leap and comes off of all of her psychiatric medications. Because she had been taking psych meds for years at this point, she has severe withdrawal symptoms (or perhaps more accurately, iatrogenic brain injury symptoms). Again, this is where a psychiatrist would probably say she is experiencing “relapse�, when when in fact most of the symptoms she describes are completely alien to anything she’s ever felt before. She suffers numerous physical symptoms: sweating, boils, gastrointestinal issues, joint aches, headaches, muscles spasms � and mental: paranoia, difficulty focusing, memory issues and hellish intrusive thoughts. “At night, my mind forced me on its tortuous theme-park horror ride, past all the memories and flashbacks of my failed life, through all the insults, criticisms, paranoias, and diatribes that ranted and raced their way through my head, looping on repeat, no off switch.� (218) She suffers through it all, and with time, the horrific withdrawal symptoms begin to fade. What she gains from coming off of the drugs makes all of the suffering worthwhile: a “return to self� (“…these drugs altered not just the entire biochemical landscape of my brain and body but also my consciousness, my seat of self.� (240))
Reading this memoir, what I was most blown away by was how well written it is. I literally could not put this book down. Laura is an extremely gifted writer and so articulate in relating her experiences. I hope she writes more books (about anything) because it was really just a joy to read her writing.
Laura asks, why has my story not been told yet, when there are so many others who have been through what I have? Technically, her story has been told in countless internet forums and support groups, and even in other memoirs (Brooke Siem’s May Cause Side Effects comes to mind). But given the scale of this problem, she’s right that there’s not a lot of mainstream memoirs discussing the issue of psychiatric drug withdrawal. One reason for this is what Laura went through � prescription cascade, attempted suicide, multiple psychiatric hospitalizations � is not an easy thing to return from. She’s lucky to be alive, let alone to now be functional and enjoying life, let alone to be cognitively capable enough to produce some of the best writing I’ve seen in years. Where are all of the memoirs from people who were lobotomized, one could also ask? There are many more lost to psychiatry than there are those who manage to claw their way out. As Laura says herself: “Coming off psychiatric drugs had been the hardest thing I’d ever done� and this was the case even with all the moral and material support I’d been given.� (295)
Laura’s memoir has given a voice to the voiceless. The world is so much better for this book existing, and for Laura’s continued activism in this area.
Misc parts:
Neuroleptics mimic the symptoms of lethargic encephalitis - the sleeping sickness of the early 1900s. (Neuroleptics reduce dopamine activity in the brain, the same thing that happens with lethargic encephalitis and with Parkinson’s).
- “…my therapists and I operated under the assumption that my emotional and mental difficulties were symptoms of an incurable brain disease for which medication was my first-line treatment, which led me to logically conclude that therapy was at best an enjoyable exercise in connection and conversation, and at worst entirely futile. Because I’d been told, and come to believe, the primary cause of my problems was medical, the solution needed to be medical as well: taking this malfunctioning organ in my skull to be tinkered with and maintained by a trained physician.� (118)
“Despite taking my meds religiously, I began to feel occupied by my thoughts, as though they were external forces that had taken me hostage, obsessively looping in endless circles about the meaninglessness of existence, the absurdity of the human condition, and how it didn’t really matter whether or not I stayed alive. In retrospect, I think my fixation on postmodernism played a large role in this.� (119) LOL postmodernism never leads to anything good.
- “Psychologist Paula Caplan puts it succinctly: ‘After a woman has conscientiously learned the role her culture prescribes for her, the psychiatric establishment calls her mentally disordered.’� (193)
- “Years of cognitive impairment had made it nearly impossible for me to fully absorb words, to piece together meaning, often to remember what I’d read at all. I’d get through a paragraph, realize that I’d taken nothing in, and start over. And then I’d give up and turn on the TV instead. I blamed these issues on the progression of my bipolar disorder.� (207)
Well you sure as heck recovered cognitively to write this because this is a dang good book!
April 6, 2025
DNF’ed this trash. This is beyond triggering and a horrible book of misinformation and delusion. You can be your advocate for your health but suggesting that psychiatric struggles are so cut and dry is dangerous beyond belief!!
March 25, 2025
Laura Delano’s book, Unshrunk, is a must read for anyone who has been touched by “mental illness.� I dare say that she has a wide audience. Ms. Delano is a gifted storyteller who paints a bleak portrait of her 14 years as a psychiatric patient. Her subsequent path to recovery from “psychiatrization� is insightful. She is knowledgeable, articulate and self aware. Her message is compelling.
April 3, 2025
Very thought-provoking cautionary tale about modern psychiatry. Author’s place of privilege, though, makes her experience limited in its generalizability.
April 9, 2025
Unshrunk: A Story of Psychiatric Treatment Resistance isn’t a book—it’s a marketing tool for a scam so brazen it would almost be funny if it weren’t responsible for actual deaths.
Delano, born into immense generational wealth with documented ties to U.S. presidents (as outlined in both The New Yorker and The New York Times), has turned her psychiatric grievances into a business model that preys on the most vulnerable. She charges nearly $600 a month to people in psychiatric crisis—offering not medical care, but ideology. Medication is evil. Therapy is suspect. Mental illness? Just a story you’ve been told. And if you die because of that belief system? Well, that’s inconvenient for the brand.
Multiple people have died by suicide under her influence. This is not speculation. It has been reported. And still, Unshrunk was published by a major press.
Her husband—who co-runs the so-called consultancy—offers similarly priced “coaching� without any medical credentials. He holds a diploma in art from Hampshire College and an online business degree. His Twitter bio reads: “The face of mental illness in a $250 sweater.� That isn’t a joke. It’s branding. He knows the reputation he has and leans into it. This is not care. It’s performance.
And the glowing reviews? Please. They read like they were written by Delano herself, her husband, or someone they pay. There’s no mystery here. Just money laundering as self-help.
This isn’t resistance. It’s opportunism at its most cynical. Unshrunk is a cultish, deeply irresponsible book whose ideology has already done irreversible harm. That it was published at all is a moral failure.
Stay away. Protect your friends. Call this what it is: a con!
Delano, born into immense generational wealth with documented ties to U.S. presidents (as outlined in both The New Yorker and The New York Times), has turned her psychiatric grievances into a business model that preys on the most vulnerable. She charges nearly $600 a month to people in psychiatric crisis—offering not medical care, but ideology. Medication is evil. Therapy is suspect. Mental illness? Just a story you’ve been told. And if you die because of that belief system? Well, that’s inconvenient for the brand.
Multiple people have died by suicide under her influence. This is not speculation. It has been reported. And still, Unshrunk was published by a major press.
Her husband—who co-runs the so-called consultancy—offers similarly priced “coaching� without any medical credentials. He holds a diploma in art from Hampshire College and an online business degree. His Twitter bio reads: “The face of mental illness in a $250 sweater.� That isn’t a joke. It’s branding. He knows the reputation he has and leans into it. This is not care. It’s performance.
And the glowing reviews? Please. They read like they were written by Delano herself, her husband, or someone they pay. There’s no mystery here. Just money laundering as self-help.
This isn’t resistance. It’s opportunism at its most cynical. Unshrunk is a cultish, deeply irresponsible book whose ideology has already done irreversible harm. That it was published at all is a moral failure.
Stay away. Protect your friends. Call this what it is: a con!
April 1, 2025
Great points were made on how predatory the healthcare system is in the United States but this book is just a rich white woman's understanding of the fact that most people are truly miserable because of systemic issues (capitalism, racism, ableism, sexism, heteronormativity, etc.), and that SSRIs should not be the first treatment offered. I genuinely felt like I gained nothing from reading this book. I am truly sorry that she faced and fell victim to this predatory system. To me, she did not say anything new. Marginalized/persecuted/oppressed/occupied people have been saying this very exact thing for ages.
I also felt weird that she ended the book off promoting her resources/website and started speaking about the (paraphrased) various toxins that are disrupting our endocrine system. It felt like I was reading a the same language of "self-care" promotions that have been pushed on consumers to buy "organic" products, treatments and more that typically aren't that different from regular commercial items. She acknowledges the immense financial privilege she has that allowed her to resist psychiatric treatment and "heal" for several years but I don't think she speaks about it quite enough.
I know this book didn't promise a solution to our healthcare problems or a guide to how to fix our relationship with it, but it sure as hell wasn't contributing anything new to the conversation.
Edit: Just found out she charges up to $595/month for her and her husbands group support meetings lol her husband unironically agrees with RFK jr. about SSRIs. lol wrap it up
I also felt weird that she ended the book off promoting her resources/website and started speaking about the (paraphrased) various toxins that are disrupting our endocrine system. It felt like I was reading a the same language of "self-care" promotions that have been pushed on consumers to buy "organic" products, treatments and more that typically aren't that different from regular commercial items. She acknowledges the immense financial privilege she has that allowed her to resist psychiatric treatment and "heal" for several years but I don't think she speaks about it quite enough.
I know this book didn't promise a solution to our healthcare problems or a guide to how to fix our relationship with it, but it sure as hell wasn't contributing anything new to the conversation.
Edit: Just found out she charges up to $595/month for her and her husbands group support meetings lol her husband unironically agrees with RFK jr. about SSRIs. lol wrap it up
March 19, 2025
Delano’s book is a breathtaking exercise in hubris, dressed up as revolutionary insight. There are grains of truth here—yes, psychiatry is flawed, and yes, the overprescription of medication has caused harm—but what Delano presents is less a critique and more a paranoid fever dream masquerading as rigorous argument.
Her core belief—that mental illness is an invention of the psychiatric-industrial complex—would be laughable if it weren’t so insidiously dangerous. She ignores the millions who have been helped by therapy, medication, or hospitalization, and instead pushes a narrative where all suffering can be conquered through sheer force of will. It’s the worst kind of bootstraps thinking, laced with the arrogance of someone who has never had to truly suffer without resources.
That this book is being published at all speaks to our current moment, where conspiratorial thinking is mistaken for radical insight. In reality, Delano is not leading a movement—she is leading people into suffering, and in some cases, perhaps even death.
Her core belief—that mental illness is an invention of the psychiatric-industrial complex—would be laughable if it weren’t so insidiously dangerous. She ignores the millions who have been helped by therapy, medication, or hospitalization, and instead pushes a narrative where all suffering can be conquered through sheer force of will. It’s the worst kind of bootstraps thinking, laced with the arrogance of someone who has never had to truly suffer without resources.
That this book is being published at all speaks to our current moment, where conspiratorial thinking is mistaken for radical insight. In reality, Delano is not leading a movement—she is leading people into suffering, and in some cases, perhaps even death.
March 19, 2025
A reckless book from someone who seems to make their living preying on people at their most vulnerable. Can personally say that there are many legitimate criticisms to be made regarding the psychiatric industry and medical establishment but this book (and the associated services she peddles) is absolutely not the answer. That someone who (based on the book and several profiles about her background) could not have come from a more privileged background to enable her recovery following prescription withdrawal now makes her living telling people with far fewer resources to do the same (in some cases exacerbating their symptoms to the point of suicide per the recent NYT profile on her) is truly sickening. Many people leave their establishment medical interactions desperate for answers; this is not the book or the leader that they deserve.
March 31, 2025
This is such an important book. Whether we're talking about psychological meds, birth control, weight loss meds or statins- do you know the side effects? Do you know how long you'll need to take them? Do you know we are (in the US) one of two countries who allow direct marketing of pharmaceutical meds to the public? I was so moved my Laura's story, a little upset with her parents/ mother as I read it and somewhat outraged at the final chapters. In these chapters she explains the dearth of research compared to how widely meds are prescribed.
April 8, 2025
Minuteman. Skimmed. Buy when price comes down? (2025 book) For her, going off meds was much better. Family had plenty of resources. Runs Inner Compass Initiative with her husband--fee based consultation, groups, advice on tapering, support for non-medical model.
April 11, 2025
Couldn’t finish it. My mom thought like this. I had to fight for years to be allowed to see a therapist, let alone medication. Shit like this is so dangerous. This book is biased, unfair, and at a staggeringly large amount of times, factually incorrect.
Want to read
March 22, 2025Twitter
April 9, 2025
Unshrunk: A Story of Psychiatric Treatment Resistance is not a memoir. It’s not a manifesto. It’s a dangerous work of self-mythology written by a wealthy, deluded woman playing guru with other people’s lives.
Delano claims to have escaped the harms of psychiatric treatment—and in response, has built an empire on convincing others to do the same, no matter the cost. She frames herself as a visionary resisting the tyranny of diagnosis, but in reality, she presides over a growing number of preventable deaths. Multiple people have died by suicide under her care and influence. This is not speculation—it’s documented in a New York Times investigation. And yet somehow, Unshrunk has been published.
Delano’s gospel of “radical self-sufficiency� is not liberatory. It is punitive. Her core message: reject medication, reject therapy, reject every form of external support, and if you suffer—it’s your fault. If you die, it’s just an unfortunate footnote in someone else’s branding arc.
There is no room in this book for complexity. No room for the reality that many people need care, need community, need medication to survive. Delano reduces all human pain to a story of false belief and failed willpower. The result is a book that feels less like critique and more like cult literature.
It is beyond irresponsible that Vintage published this. Unshrunk is not just a book with bad ideas—it’s a book whose ideology has already killed people. If we take that seriously, it becomes clear: this isn’t dissent. It’s harm.
Delano claims to have escaped the harms of psychiatric treatment—and in response, has built an empire on convincing others to do the same, no matter the cost. She frames herself as a visionary resisting the tyranny of diagnosis, but in reality, she presides over a growing number of preventable deaths. Multiple people have died by suicide under her care and influence. This is not speculation—it’s documented in a New York Times investigation. And yet somehow, Unshrunk has been published.
Delano’s gospel of “radical self-sufficiency� is not liberatory. It is punitive. Her core message: reject medication, reject therapy, reject every form of external support, and if you suffer—it’s your fault. If you die, it’s just an unfortunate footnote in someone else’s branding arc.
There is no room in this book for complexity. No room for the reality that many people need care, need community, need medication to survive. Delano reduces all human pain to a story of false belief and failed willpower. The result is a book that feels less like critique and more like cult literature.
It is beyond irresponsible that Vintage published this. Unshrunk is not just a book with bad ideas—it’s a book whose ideology has already killed people. If we take that seriously, it becomes clear: this isn’t dissent. It’s harm.
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