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Author Debbie Hartung Examines Inadequacies in the Mental Health System and Dangers of Cults in Memoir, The Factory of Maladies
By Andrea Marvin
Author Debbie Hartung explores the stigmas of mental illness, the danger of cults, and complicated family dynamics in her visceral memoir, The Factory of Maladies.
In her story, Hartung unravels how the culmination of various factors would lead her to a seven-day stay in a psychiatric ward in San Francisco and her healing crisis that would follow.
Hartung discusses how she suffered from depression and anxiety most of her life and became entangled in a cult to find relief.
Instead, she would find herself in a dangerous situation and contemplating suicide. She remembers the cult leader encouraging her to go off her medication and even to take her own life.
Hartung’s mental health crisis would eventually lead her to a psychiatric ward, which she describes to readers as a dehumanizing experience.
In her memoir, Hartung details how she slept on a dirty mattress and recounts how the ward smelled like sweat mixed with fear.
The Factory of Maladies is a call to action to better the mental health system and to spread awareness about the issues at hand – the memoir also provides a space of comfort for those who might be suffering their own mental health battle.
The Factory of Maladies has received numerous reviews, critiquing the story as an unforgettable memoir that lingers long after the final page.
The memoir is described as heartbreaking, maddening, humorous, and hopeful and is told with both compassion and dark humor.
Author Debbie Hartung hopes her story stirs a deeper understanding of the complexities of mental health stigmas and how the perception of the issue impacts the level of adequate care today.
She explores understaffing and how the institution is failing people who often cannot communicate their needs. She stresses the importance of compassion during patient stays and basic needs such as cleanliness and comfort.
Hartung hopes to shed light on these inadequacies while providing insight into how easy it is to fall prey to groups and cults. Particularly, when someone is in a vulnerable space and trying to overcome a personal battle like mental illness.
Tell me the story behind writing your memoir, The Factory of Maladies.
Factory of Maladies is a visceral memoir, and it chronicles my healing crisis and week-long stay in an underfunded psychiatric ward. It also explores the stigma of mental illness, complicated family dynamics, and cults.
Eight years ago, I was in a new-age cult. Additionally, I was very depressed and vulnerable. The cult ‘guru’ suggested that I go off my medication (for depression and anxiety) and stop seeing my licensed therapist.
Coincidentally, while this was happening, my partner was visiting his family in India. I spiraled into a major depression; the cult leader was acting as my therapist, and he knew that I was suicidal.
Unfortunately, he encouraged me to take my own life and to leave my small inheritance to him.
How did you get out of that situation?
It happened instantly: as soon the suicide attempt failed, the ‘guru’ vanished. Additionally, everyone associated with the New-Age cult disappeared as well.
The people who got me through that difficult situation were my old friends, family, and partner.
Do you hope to reach readers in a similar situation? Or what message would you like to come across to readers?
Cults are dangerous; part of the message is to warn people about them. My story is also about reducing the stigmas around mental health challenges, especially suicide.
Although the story seems a little bleak and scary in the beginning, the overall message of The Factory of Maladies is quite hopeful.
I genuinely believe that if I could write a memoir while healing from a brain injury that I sustained during my suicide attempt and overcome adversity, others can do the same.
What are your thoughts on where society is at with mental health reform? Do you feel we’ve come far, or there’s still a long way to go?
We have come a long way, and the improvements are vast and encouraging. However, I still encounter stigmas on a day-to-day basis. I would like to share an example of this.
About 5 years before my tenure on the psychiatric ward, I went to the same hospital for an issue with my ovaries. Obviously, I stayed in a different ward.
During those four days that I was in the hospital, I was given heated blankets and fluffy pillows, round-the-clock compassionate and kind care, and morphine for my intense physical pain.
Yet, when I woke up in the psychiatric ward, I had substantial blank spots in my memory, and I was in the most vulnerable place I've ever been in my entire life, I was forced to sleep on a dirty mattress with threadbare blankets on a ward that was so cold that it felt glacial.
I had to wear the same pair of dirty scrubs for days on end, and I wasn't treated, for the most part, with a level of care, knowledge, compassion and understanding that I would have hoped for.
Would you say it’s fundamental to have proper care to recover?
It's crucial and fundamental. Without this foundation, regardless of a patient’s medical diagnosis, it’s impossible to fully recover.
I learned from my fellow patients, some of them who have been in and out of psychiatric wards most of their adult life, that we were lucky, as some of the other publicly funded institutions treated their patients far worse.
A great place to start is appropriate training and staffing. I noticed that the psychiatric ward where I was committed was severely understaffed and that the employees were exhausted and overworked.
Furthermore, compassion and kindness are integral parts of treatment on a psychiatric ward: you’re dealing with people's emotional health and patients who can't always advocate for themselves.
For example, if you break your leg and it hurts, you can tell the nurse you're in pain. Sometimes, with a mental health challenge, you can't vocalize your emotional pain. That's why increased training is necessary to deal with patients in a traumatic state.
Also, it’s important to provide physical comfort and the same level of cleanliness for all patients, no matter what their diagnosis.
Who is your audience for this book?
Firstly, the public. The Factory of Maladies is an insider’s perspective of week-long commitment to an underfunded psych ward. It’s visceral and atmospheric: you feel as if you are inside the locked psychiatric ward.
Secondly, my book is for anyone who has suffered from a mental health challenge as it can help my fellows feel seen and heard.
It’s also for friends and family members of people who have suffered from mental illness, as it provides a unique window into how traumatic an institutionalization can be.
Ultimately, I hope that my book can help reduce the stigmas around mental illness.
Thirdly, my book is for the psychiatric community: doctors, nurses, Occupational Therapists, and anyone working with people suffering from mental illness.
I would like to educate them about the goings on inside some publicly funded institutions in the hope that improvements can be made.
Also, I hope that my book can engender increased compassion, kindness, and training for psychiatric staff.
On a different note, I am tempted to write a prequel to The Factory of Maladies, where I explore what led up to my institutionalization.
Go into that. Why do you think sharing that aspect of your journey is important?
I think it's essential because I kept the memoir very close to what I remembered at the time when I suffered from big blank spots and fragmented memory. That said, there are many things inferred for the reader.
But I think that I could have expanded a lot on how I got into the cult, what had led me to become entangled with this group considering I had a great life.
I had a very stable and loving relationship, lived in a great city, and had some money in the bank. Yet it was so easy to fall prey to this sort of group. So, I'd like to expand upon that aspect.
I feel these sorts of groups prey on people who have some vulnerability. For me, it was my depression and the fact that I'm an incredibly trusting person.
But the most critical factor was that, unfortunately, a relative of mine cherry-picked me for this group. She was somebody I trusted with my entire being.
When the line was crossed from being in a group into a cult, I was off my medication, and it was too late.
What has your path been like to becoming a writer? And what are you working on next?
I've always been a creative being. When I was a kid, I would draw and write short stories, and as an adult, I have worked in publishing on and off, and I've done a lot of copywriting.
I've always wanted to write a book, and I thought it would be a fictional project for a while, but when the opportunity to write a memoir presented itself, and I knew it was meant to be, as I am passionate about mental health advocacy.
I’ve also been working on a book of short fiction stories that I'd like to share soon. Also, I am an abstract painter, and I paint in my studio on a daily basis.
Anything else you want to share?
I would also like to say that my story is not just bleak. There's dark humor, and some moments of intense kindness and tenderness. I also encountered very kind staff during my stay.
There was a very kind nurse during my institutionalization, and she read in my chart that I was a writer and an artist.
One night, as I was trying to fall sleep, I opened my eyes, and she was standing next to me. She smuggled in a miniature notebook and a golf pencil for me, which were prohibited because you couldn’t have anything that was considered a sharp object.
She brought me a tremendous gift and said write. It was in that moment, through the haze, the terror and a myriad of emotions, that I realized that I needed to share my story.
That's really powerful.
It was a beautiful moment. It took me seven years to write my story because of the PTSD I experienced from my institutionalization; the flashbacks haunted me until I put my pain to paper.
When I began to write, with proper medication and treatment, that’s when I healed.
The Factory of Maladies has received several reviews, describing the memoir as a vital exploration of the complexities surrounding mental illness and emotional distress.
Debbie Hartung’s work is applauded for discussing the complex and sometimes uncomfortable topic of suicidal thoughts and how, collectively, as a country, we can do better at compassionately responding to needs around the topic.
The official publication of The Factory of Maladies is slated for April 22nd, 2025.
Readers can pre-order the book at TheFactoryOfMaladies.com and Bookshop.org.
The memoir can also be found on Barnes and Noble and Amazon.
Debbie Hartung lives in San Francisco as a writer and artist. She’s an avid traveler and enjoys live music.
She’s passionate about spreading awareness around mental health and felt called to tell her story to make a difference.
For more information: www.TheFactoryOfMaladies.com
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