As with most memoirs, this saga spans many sectors of life: religious faith (Mormon), an arduous journey (years of medical training), loneliness and solitude (missionary work in the Ukraine), deep, abiding love (a wife and kids), and obstacles (relentless anxiety). Jones relates his struggle with generalized anxiety disorder and in attaining a stable life. This difficulty is amplified by the fact that he undertakes psychologically stressful education to become a physician.
The hardships never really resolve, which may turn off some readers. Nonetheless, Jones perseveres with dignity. As much as we might hope for an amazing conclusion, his story relates a soberly realistic narrative of mental illness. The optimism stems from the humanity that flows forth and the determination of our human condition. This is not a success story – even though the protagonist practices medicine at a high level in an academic medical center. No, not achievement, but the steely strength to face each tomorrow deserves our admiration.
Overall, Jones’ telling of the tale uses quality words and technique. He returns over and again to the motif of a “gargoyle,” which symbolizes his chronic issues with anxiety. This “fallible” nature stands at odds with Jones’ (and society’s) traditional stoic view of a physician. Interestingly, a profession which must empathize with so much humanity cannot share that human frailty in itself. Jones basks in such irony.
Renditions of mental illness leave me with a question: What would the person be like without the disease? This question is ultimately unresolvable because the humanity and the mental illness are wedded. They dance together in life – even with the help of modern medicines, talk therapy, and never-ending efforts to reduce stigma. Like it or not, the Kyle Jones, MD, is, in no small measure, defined by his lifelong effort to isolate anxiety so as to limit its encroachment upon his life.
This book is recommended to those who know someone who struggles with a mental illness and to those who are that someone who struggles with a mental illness. That covers about every human! Although not all those who seriously struggle with mental health attain as much professional success as Jones, the innate dignity he brings to his condition bleeds through this book into readers’ hearts and souls. That force of humanity reminds us that our strength as humans, in no small part, lies in our fallibility.
Fallible: A Memoir of a Young Physician’s Struggle with Mental Illness
By Kyle Bradford Jones
Copyright (c) 2020
Black Rose Writing
ASIN B083N6NC7T
Page Count: 347
Genre: Autobiography/Memoir, Healthcare