A Mingled Yarn

“The web of our life is of a mingled yarn, good and ill together.” –All’s Well That Ends Well

Here is a vivid account of the climate of emotions that can—and in this case did—cause severe mental illness.  The reader can sense the emotional atmosphere, feel the unspoken communications, and understand the family myths that created—in a talented, wealthy, and well-born family—two highly neurotic children, and one who later became schizophrenic.  This unique document emerged from a series of long conversations between the youngest child and Dr. Beulah Parker, a noted psychoanalyst. 

A Mingled Yarn blends scientific observations with novelistic detail as it unfolds an intimate view of daily life in a disturbed family.  Occasionally, Dr. Parker interrupts the narrative for some psychoanalytic interpretation of events and personality development, but the book is written in nontechnical language.  It illustrates graphically the ways in which environmental and interpersonal factors are crucial in bringing about the development of emotional illness. 

Special emphasis is placed on the difficulty that members of this family had in expressing to each other what they really felt, and the havoc wrought by parental “communication deviation” and skewed attitudes.  A Mingled Yarn is a remarkable document that will fascinate all people interested in emotional health and wellness.