Inside the O'Briens

     The book, Inside the O'Briens, is a captivating, informative, and insightful read! I would absolutely recommend this book, especially to individuals working in health care. It shines a light on Huntington's disease that you don't necessarily get from a textbook. I especially was interested in the decision making process for receiving genetic testing. Often times we assume everyone who is at risk for developing HD would want to be tested. However, this book reveals the struggle and emotional turmoil from finding out your test results as well as deciding not to know. It is important to remember that a positive or negative gene result not only impacts that individual who was tested, but everyone else involved in that person's life. I thought the book also did a great job of portraying the depression and sense of hopelessness that accompanies HD. As a (future) health care professional, I feel like it can be easy to focus on the physical manifestation of symptoms including chorea and behavior/emotional changes. It is, however, just as important-and maybe even more important-to also address the mental health aspect of this type of diagnosis. Overall, I am thankful for the opportunity to read this book for our class. It provided a completely different perspective than that which we learned in class!






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