Crazy All the Time: Life, Lessons, and Insanity on the Psych Ward of Bellevue Hospital

Covan, who is Chief Psychologist at Manhattan's Bellevue Hospital, chronicles the crises faced by nine doctoral candidates in clinical psychology during their internship year at Bellevue's Department of Psychiatry. With warmth and humor, and at a pace reflecting events at the hospital, Covan and science writer Kahn ( Beyond the Helix ) vividly portray the interns, among them prim Kitty; feminist Elizabeth; Gary, the assured son of an eminent psychoanalyst; and naive Wayne. Limned with equal regard are the patients: AIDS victim and widow Inez, who suffers a severe depression; paranoid schizophrenic Brenda, who maintains only a fragile hold on independence; Sid, a patient from a local prison who swallows razors and shards of glass. One intern falls in love with a patient; a patient obsesses about an intern and develops a hysterical pregnancy. Although some of the intertwined stories suggest a hint of contrivance, the book's lively prose and broad sympathies make for absorbing reading. (Mar.)