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Descent into hell

When Michael Laudor’s schizophrenia spiralled out of control in 1998, it made headline news in America. Jonathan Rosen remembers earlier, happier days with his friend

22 April 2023

9:00 AM

22 April 2023

9:00 AM

The Best Minds: A Story of Friendship, Madness and the Tragedy of Good Intentions Jonathan Rosen

Allen Lane, pp.546, 30

The Best Minds is a coruscating indictment of psychiatric services for psychotic patients in the US. It is also a moving and shocking account of the trajectory of Jonathan Rosen’s childhood best friend, Michael Laudor, struck in his youth by schizophrenia, and whose starry ascent through Yale law school to spokesman for stigmatised patients with psychosis plummeted dramatically when he relapsed, with catastrophic results.

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