Two Days at the Asylum

Hollywood Book Festival Runner Up
San Francisco Book Festival Honorable Mention Best Fiction
New York Book Festival Honorable Mention
Beach Book Festival Honorable Mention
Readers’ Favorite Book Award Finalist

Inspired by true events, author and psychologist, Fred Walborn pens a humorous, sometimes painful and insightful novel about the inner workings of a now defunct insane asylum.

$19.95

Hollywood Book Festival Runner Up Best Genre Fiction
San Francisco Book Festival Honorable Mention Best Fiction
New York Book Festival Honorable Mention
Beach Book Festival Honorable Mention
Readers’ Favorite Book Award Finalist

Inspired by true events, author and psychologist, Fred Walborn pens a humorous, sometimes painful and insightful novel about the inner workings of a now defunct insane asylum. Day One—Community Day–is a dark comedy. The setting is 1969, four days before the landing of humankind on the moon. Community Day was the creation of the president of the asylum and the mental hospital was turned into a human zoo. For a token fee, the doors of the asylum were opened for the local townsfolk to witness the bizarre, sexual, manipulative, and religious-themed behaviors of the patients.
Day Two is a psychological thriller. The reader is exposed to the same behaviors exhibited by the patients, but this time they apply to the administrators, psychiatrists, psychologists, administrators, and social workers.

What People Say

“Dr. Walborn paints us an all-too accurate picture of the afflicted and their ‘care-givers’ in a satirical and humorous novel highly accessible to the average reader. He opens to us not only the snarky world of the disillusioned asylum service providers (some are thugs), he shows us empathetically the hearts and struggles of the service receivers who must navigate the world of horror, often alone. I highly recommend this read.”
James E. Davison, Ph.D., Licensed Psychologist

“This engaging novel is consistently about how mental health care has gone wrong. Surprisingly, the novel suggests how mental health care of the future may go right.”

—Brod Boswell, B.S., Therapeutic Recreational Specialist style(presently working at the hospital that replaced the Weston Asylum)

“I expected a novel from a published clinical psychologist to be just another insipid psychological thriller. What I read was a humorous, enticing, and amazingly educational period drama that allowed me to understand the state of mental health a half-century ago. I recommend it to anyone interested in psychological disorders, and those who appreciate the unbridled aspects of all interpersonal relationships.”
—Ed Wood, Ph.D., author of Mud: A Military History

Author

Fred Walborn

Year Published

2018

ISBN

9781946664235

Cover

Paperback

Size

6 x 9

Pages

288

1 review for Two Days at the Asylum

  1. Romuald Dzemo for Readers’ Favorite

    Two Days at the Asylum: Inspired by True Events is a powerful narrative by clinical psychologist Frederick S. Walborn that explores the perils of asylum politics, a narrative that reflects the author’s wide experience in dealing with severely and chronically mentally ill patients. The story begins with the psychologist, a character named Jesus, and a mosquito, and while they contemplate the sad fate of the mosquito, they discuss the purpose of life and knowledge, with Jesus leaving the psychologist with two powerful insights: books can get in the way of real knowledge and the purpose of life isn’t change but giving.

    In a humorous, engaging, and deeply reflective style, Frederick S. Walborn takes readers into the life of the asylum. It is 1969 and the doors of the asylum are opened to those who can afford a small token. While it is a typical asylum, the narrative explores the game of power and the conventional behaviors of administrators, psychiatrists, social workers, and others in the asylum. I worked for two years in an asylum in Cameroon, a home for the mentally handicapped and the homeless, and even though I had no skills in psychotherapy, I have grown to have an affinity for the mentally handicapped. This book touched me powerfully, apart from it being insightful and entertaining.

    Two Days at the Asylum: Inspired by True Events is laced with witticism, insightful narrative, and engaging dialogues, a story with characters that are real, a story that castigates the abuse witnessed every day in asylums across the world. In the introduction the author makes a powerful observation: “One-third of the homeless population is suffering from schizophrenia. One in five of prisoners in our expensive prisons are seriously mentally ill.” You’ll be pulled in by the pathos, you’ll love the humor and the realism infused into the narrative. But after reading this compelling work, do click the link to help this author serve severely mentally ill patients on the streets and in prisons

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