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  • Because I Come from a Crazy Family

  • The Making of a Psychiatrist
  • By: Edward M. Hallowell
  • Narrated by: Paul Boehmer
  • Length: 13 hrs and 41 mins
  • 3.7 out of 5 stars (3 ratings)

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Because I Come from a Crazy Family

By: Edward M. Hallowell
Narrated by: Paul Boehmer
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Publisher's Summary

From the best-selling author of the classic book on ADD Driven to Distraction, a memoir of the strange upbringing that shaped Dr. Edward M. Hallowell's celebrated career.

When Edward M. Hallowell was 11, a voice out of nowhere told him he should become a psychiatrist. A mental health professional of the time would have called this psychosis. But young Edward (Ned) took it in stride, despite not quite knowing what "psychiatrist" meant. With a psychotic father, an alcoholic mother, an abusive stepfather, and two so-called learning disabilities of his own, Ned was accustomed to unpredictable behaviour from those around him and to a mind he felt he couldn't always control.

The voice turned out to be right. Now, decades later, Hallowell is a leading expert on attention disorders and the author of 20 books, including Driven to Distraction, the work that introduced ADD to the world. In Because I Come from a Crazy Family, he tells the often strange story of a childhood marked by what he calls the "WASP triad" of alcoholism, mental illness, and politeness and explores the wild wish, surging beneath his incredible ambition, that he could have saved his own family of drunk, crazy, and well-intentioned eccentrics - and himself.

Because I Come from a Crazy Family is an affecting, at times harrowing, ultimately moving memoir about crazy families and where they can lead, about being called to the mental health profession and about the unending joys and challenges that come with helping people celebrate who they are.

©2018 Edward M. Hallowell, M.D. (P)2018 Audible, Ltd

What listeners say about Because I Come from a Crazy Family

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Kept me entertained for days!

I really enjoyed this story and think it deserves more stars. Edward has a very good memory for life events (probably assisted by many years on the psychotherapists couch). As someone who also comes from a non conventional family I thoroughly enjoyed hearing about someone else’s family story. Seems to be told very honestly too.

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    1 out of 5 stars
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Rambling and dull

Boring. I really hoped this would be an interesting story but it just wasn't. The narrator sounds like an old money toff, which suits the story perfectly. The author's family and life story doesn't sound crazy to me at all, despite their best efforts to portray it as such.

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    5 out of 5 stars
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Great book! Great performance!

Coming from a crazy family myself, I could really relate to this book. Thanks Ned Hallowell for inspiring me to beat the odds in my own life and help others in my career. Hallowell writes this with his heart, and I loved every minute. Very interesting read! Highly recommend.

I also loved the narration by Paul Boehmer.

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