Women, Psychology & Counseling 

In The Camera My Mother Gave Me, Susanna Kaysen describes her encounters with helping professionals of many types; gynecological, pharmacological, and ‘alternative health’ experts, when she was experiencing chronic pain and looking for answers and treatment.
Hoping to be healed physically and emotionally, Kaysen was often frustrated and mystified by the providers’ attempts at diagnosis and cure. With honesty and wit, she observes how the medical profession views female sexuality and complaints of pain where the cause is uncertain.
Through her struggle to understand the meaning of her illness in this frank, absorbing book, Kaysen has offers an important message for us all.
“Don’t separate the mind form the body...Disease is one of our languages. Doctors understand what disease has to say about itself. It’s up to the person with the disease to understand what the disease has to say to her.”