The Art of Tying to Life. Memoirs of a Psychiatrist on the Border Between Madness and Normality

His patients cannot differentiate between reality and the game of their troubled minds, hear voices, wear the same clothes for months without changing, and do not leave their homes for years… His workdays are filled with screams and struggles, often physical, for the lives of those standing on the edge of the abyss. Paolo Milone is a psychiatrist who worked for 40 years in the psychiatric ward of a hospital in Genoa. Here, the mystery of mental illness coexists with the everyday lives of those who, at the end of their shift, will take off their white coat and hurry home, trying not to forget to buy milk. Written with an extraordinary love for his challenging profession and great empathy for his patients – euphoric, anxious, hysterical, depressed, and schizophrenic – Paolo Milone's book reminds us that madness is always nearby. Even if we do not notice it.