Charles Barber (author)

Charles Matthew Barber
Born	December 1962
Education	Harvard University, Columbia University
Subjects	Mental health and psychiatry
Notable work(s)	Comfortably Numb, Songs from the Black Chair
charlesbarberwriting.com

Charles Barber (born December 1962) is an author who writes frequently about mental health and psychiatry.

Education and Influences

Barber attended Harvard University, where he studied with and was greatly influenced by the psychiatrist and writer Robert Coles. After attending graduate school at Columbia University, Barber worked for ten years with the homeless mentally ill in New York City. He worked in shelters at Bellevue and NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital, and in supportive housing programs.

Writing

In 2005, Barber published Songs from the Black Chair: A Memoir of Mental Interiors, an account of his work with the homeless and also the story of his own experiences with obsessive-compulsive disorder. The New England Journal of Medicine compared the book to William Styron’s Darkness Visible and Sylvia Nasar’s A Beautiful Mind.^[1] The title essay of Songs from the Black Chair won a 2006 Pushcart Prize, and material adapted from the book appeared in The New York Times and on National Public Radio.^[2]

In 2008, Barber published Comfortably Numb: How Psychiatry is Medicating a Nation, a critique of the over-use of psychiatric medications, particularly antidepressants, to treat and medicate everyday life problems. Comfortably Numb was a Barnes and Noble Discover Great New Writers selection,^[3] and was called "a blockbuster" by Library Journal.^[4] Salon wrote: "Compelling. In Comfortably Numb, Barber brings a street-smart perspective... Offers something several of the other books don't: practical, therapeutic alternatives to antidepressants.”^[5]

Barber wrote pieces relating to Comfortably Numb in The Washington Post, Scientific American Mind, and The Nation. In promoting the book, he appeared on Fresh Air and national television.^[6] The paperback edition of Comfortably Numb was released by Vintage Books in February, 2009.^[7]

Lectures and Tours

Barber has lectured nationally and internationally at colleges, medical schools and mental health advocacy organizations. He is currently a Lecturer in Psychiatry at the Yale School of Medicine and the Director of The Connection Institute for Innovative Practice. He has taught nonfiction writing at Wesleyan University. He lives in Connecticut with his family.

Published works

• Comfortably Numb: How Psychiatry Is Medicating a Nation (Softcover) (Vintage, 2009) ISBN 978-0307274953
• Comfortably Numb: How Psychiatry Is Medicating a Nation (Hardcover) (Pantheon, 2008) ISBN 978-0375423994
• Songs from the Black Chair (Softcover) (Bison Books, 2007) ISBN 978-0803259751
• Songs from the Black Chair (Hardcover) (Nebraska Press, 2005) ISBN 978-0803212985

References

1. ^ "Review of Songs from the Black Chair". New England Journal of Medicine. http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/extract/353/8/856. Retrieved 2009-02-23. 
2. ^ "The Educated Consumer, on NPR’s The Infinite Mind". http://www.lcmedia.com/mind516.htm. Retrieved 2009-02-23. 
3. ^ "Barnes and Noble Discover Great New Writers selections". http://www.barnesandnoble.com/awards/index.asp?PID=17913&start=11. Retrieved 2009-02-23. 
4. ^ "Review of Comfortably Numb, Library Journal". http://www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA6524624.html?q=charles+barber. Retrieved 2009-02-23. 
5. ^ "Review of Comfortably Numb, Salon. "Don’t be Happy, Worry," by Jerome Weeks". http://www.salon.com/books/review/2008/01/29/antidepressants/. Retrieved 2009-02-23. 
6. ^ "Fresh Air interview, Antidepressant Overload in Comfortably Numb". http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=89882885. Retrieved 2009-02-23. 
7. ^ "Vintage Books, Random House website". http://www.randomhouse.com/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=9780307274953. Retrieved 2009-02-23. 

Persondata
Name	Barber, Charles
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Date of birth	1962
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