Unearthing the Ghosts

The author of Unearthing the Ghosts seeks to solve the mystery of how she wound up on anti-psychotic drugs in a psychiatric ward before seeing the doctor who put her there. A healthy "hippie" at age 17, Linda Mary Wagner is assumed mentally ill by her Depression-era parents who are puzzled by the massive social changes in American society in the 1960s. Through this memoir, she discovers the forces that coalesced into her doctor's misdiagnosis and mistreatment and shares how she recovered from coming-of-age trauma. Within this highly personal story, Wagner weaves social history based on research that uncovers other mysteries, both solved and unsolved. Unearthing the Ghosts argues for an end to well-meaning abuses in the name of "treating" mental illness and a quest to nurture and protect mental health. If you love a good story, well-told and with a social purpose, you'll enjoy Unearthing the Ghosts. Linda Mary Wagner spent more than a dozen years as an independent journalist, primarily for National Public Radio and its member stations in Buffalo and Chicago. She later worked as a communications specialist for The Brooklyn Historical Society, Consumers Union, and Associated Press. While earning her Masters in Public Administration from Columbia University, she forged a third career in nonprofit leadership and management. Currently employed as a nonprofit executive in the public health field in Albany, New York, Ms. Wagner is married and the mother of two adult children. Unearthing the Ghosts: A Mystery Memoir is her first book.