Hidden Valley Road: Inside the Mind of an American Family, Robert Kolker, author, Sean Pratt, narrator
This is the true story of the Galvin family, tragically affected by mental illness. Don and Mimi Galvin had 12 children, beginning in 1945 and continuing until 1965 when the doctor said he would refuse to treat her if she were to become pregnant again. Mimi gave birth to ten boys and two girls, all born seemingly healthy. Over the next several years, however, some of the children exhibited odd behavior. Still, for the most part they fit into the communities in which they lived, doing well in school and in sports. It was difficult for the boys to measure up to the father’s achievements or the mother’s standards of discipline, but in the end, Mimi seemed to be the most engaged in the handling of the disturbed children, neglecting the well ones to some degree, which had devastating consequences for those innocents. The family was dead set on hiding their issues from the world.
As time passed, and the children began to show more overt signs of disturbed behavior, the Galvins, on the whole, ignored it, as if they were perfectly normal children, and there was nothing truly wrong. They acted this way although one son was even arrested for attempted murder and a botched suicide and one dressed in a robe and wandered as a prophet of G-d, and one committed domestic and sexual abuse. When six of the boys began to show symptoms of mental disorders, and were diagnosed with Schizophrenia, however, they had to face the fact that something was going terribly wrong.
In the end, all of the children seemed to suffer, in some way, from the lack of hands on parenting or the acceptance of both the well children and the unwell children on equal footing. Living with so much mental illness, that they were unprepared to handle, created emotional problems for those that were healthy. The girls were sexually abused by a brother, and possibly even the boys suffered the same fate. Don Galvin was a workaholic, busy working for the military and Mimi was busy being a haus frau, or traveling with Don to dinners and receptions with people from high places. She was not very good at recognizing or dealing with the problems faced by her normal children as she was overwhelmed with her struggle to cope with their troubled sons.
The normal children were largely ignored and left to raise themselves and their siblings. Mimi and Don were in denial about the state of mind of their sons although when suicide and attempted murder became part of their lives, they were forced to be more aware of what was happening. Often, when one or another of the boys went berserk, the police were called to end the violence and hospitalize the offending child for treatment. Although the children were subject to rape, incest, domestic violence and more, the parents were largely removed from the seriousness of the problem and refused to acknowledge it until the abuse had already become a common practice.
The medical scientific community that investigated and treated the children who were ill, were largely inept and hampered by a total lack of understanding of the disease or a knowledge of medications that would help. They were treated with a community of drugs, one size fits all, that had disturbing side effects even if they helped. Sometimes, the cure was worse than the disease. For years, it was accepted that Schizophrenia was the result of the environment or the parenting of the mother. The people in medicine and science who believed that the genetic makeup of the afflicted had something to do with it, were ridiculed or disregarded.
This book highlights the history of the treatment of the mentally ill regarding scientific research, medications, institutions, psychiatrists, physicians, and the interactions of family. The alternative treatments that were tried, in order to help the victims of mental illness to live a normal life, were haphazard and often failed or did more harm than good. Treatments sometimes seemed barbaric, subjecting the victims to restraints, electric shock therapy, lobotomies and hot or cold baths at extremely uncomfortable temperatures in order to stabilize the emotional state of the patient. The medications and treatment that were developed often caused other medical issues for the patients, and some patients never returned to even their own normal state, after the treatment. Some patients gained a lot of weight from the medications or seemed to remain in a stupor, unable to feel normal again.
It wasn’t until the last quarter of the 20th century, that scientific research finally discovered the relationship of genes to schizophrenia and other mental disorders. By studying the families that had multiple births, and twins, with some afflicted, and some free of disease, they determined that certain factors were missing in those that developed a disease. They uncovered a spectrum of mental illness. At first, it was thought that nurture was the cause of the disease, or some believed it was nature, but instead, with the discovery of genomes, the prevailing view was that it was a combination of nature and nurture and a belief that a predilection to Schizophrenia was exacerbated by family life and upbringing. It was also discovered that there were many variations of the illness. It was also discovered that the mental illness was not necessarily passed down from generation to generation or from a victim who was suffering from the disease. A normal sibling might pass it to a child, if they carried the gene known to cause it. If proper treatment was started early enough, some on the spectrum were able to lead normal lives, although the medications like lithium and thorazine, used to treat psychotic disorders, did have negative side effects. Those that could afford private treatments often did better and required less medication.
The healthy siblings in the Galvin family suffered because of the way their brothers and sisters treated each other and from the neglect of their parents who refused to face what was occurring in their family. It was difficult to witness so many of their children descend into some degree of madness and they were terribly ashamed of what was happening. Mental illness was, and still is, looked down upon by many people. There is little proven science that can cure those afflicted. Some heard voices, saw things or imagined they were in danger. Some had a predilection for violence. Some lived in an alternate reality. Some of the sons were sexually deviant and abused their siblings. The Galvins did not deal well with the madness they obviously saw developing, although Mimi was the most hands on when it came to calming them down or calling the police. Often, the children were left to deal with the siblings that were mentally ill on their own, and they were ill equipped to do that, or to take care of themselves. When frightened, they locked themselves in a bedroom and also called the police.
The devastating consequences of the disease and the treatments, sometimes hit or miss or experimental, had terrible side effects, often leading to the untimely deaths of the patients. Through the kindness of the Gary family, the girls escaped most of their former trauma, but the effect of the illness extended even into the next generation. One daughter was devoted to the care of her ill siblings and one was simply mentally unable to become involved.
It was through the eventual dtonation of the Galvin family’s DNA, coupled with their participation in several studies, that the scientific, medical and pharmaceutical community, with their dedicated researchers, was able to make great advances into the treatment and understanding of mental illness. Still there is a long way to go and oftentimes, the profit motive encourages or discourages the ongoing research into mental disease. It was with the help of the Gary family that the girls, Mary and Margaret, were able to escape some of the mayhem of their home. Their generosity and aid in the research was admirable.

The story of schizophrenia, a mental disease that has been ignored, misunderstood, and mistreated forever. This is the truly unbelievable story of the Galvin's - a family of 12 children, 6 of whom were diagnosed with schizophrenia. The book takes you through the lives of that family and shows how both the lack of research and the misguidance of the medical community hurt them as much as it helped them. It is, at times, a maddening book to read and at other times somewhat promising. While it ends with a somewhat hopeful message, the book makes it clear that there is still much work and research that needs to be done.

This was such a difficult read. Very dark and much too close to home. When they started with the ECT treatments I almost put the book down for good. Infuriating lack of consent sometimes and the revolving hospital doors made me want to scream. Mental health treatment is a joke. At least they may have found a way to prevent most instances of this disease. That was the only positive in this super depressing book.