Breaking the Stigma: Dr. Mark Russ’s The Family Guide to Psychiatric Hospitalization Brings Hope and Understanding
By writing The Family Guide to Psychiatric Hospitalization, Mark J. Russ, MD, Silver Hill Hospital’s Chief Medical Officer, sought to demystify the admissions process and alleviate fears families experience when a loved one is admitted to a psychiatric hospital.
Dr. Russ explains what families and patients can expect during every treatment phase, from initial assessment to active treatment to planning for discharge to aftercare strategies. He discusses the legal aspects of hospitalization, including patient rights and advocacy.
The book also includes Dr. Russ’s personal reflections as a psychiatrist of more than 40 years and as a former patient in his youth. His dual perspective as both physician and patient brings an unprecedented depth of compassion and understanding. Designed to educate and empower families, the guide delivers hope and is a testament to the healing power of informed and compassionate care.
Dr. Russ said he wrote the book for two main reasons: to put families at ease about admitting a loved one into a psychiatric hospital and to tell his own story again, which he hadn’t recounted in many decades.
“I wanted the opportunity to share my 40 years of hospital-based work with patients and families in a way that I can leave behind and would be of help to others,” Dr. Russ says. “I thought that I had a unique perspective from a professional point of view, in addition to a little history about my own hospitalization. I had two short hospital stays in my 20s and they were important events in my life. I want to convey that I know what it’s like to be in a psychiatric hospital and try to destigmatize the whole notion of mental illness in general but also the experience of going to a hospital.”
The Family Guide to Psychiatric Hospitalization, published in February 2025 by Johns Hopkins University Press, is available at Hopkins Press, Amazon, and Barnes & Noble.
Dr. Russ received his medical degree from Drexel University College of Medicine. He did his residency at Montefiore Medical Center/Albert Einstein College of Medicine. He is board certified in psychiatry and neurology. He achieved the academic rank of Professor of Clinical Psychiatry at Weill Cornell Medicine.
Dr. Russ recently captivated a large audience with his personal story of mental illness during an event at the New Canaan Library where he discussed the book. A Q&A session followed Dr. Russ’s comments with panelists that included an ER psychiatrist, the parents of a teenager who has received mental health care at Silver Hill, and an admissions representative from Silver Hill who was faced with needing to psychiatrically hospitalize a parent. Dr. Russ signed copies of his book following the program.
“Throughout my life and career there’s no question I was afraid of the stigma attached to a story such as mine,” Dr. Russ says. “But it was time for me to come out and throw my pebble at the wall of mental illness stigma that sadly still surrounds us today.”
Please click the following link to hear Dr. Russ and Deputy Chief Medical Officer Amy Swift, MD, interviewed by Silver Hill Radio’s Molly Norton about The Family Guide to Psychiatric Hospitalization.
The Silver Hill Hospital team showed their support for Dr. Russ and his new book at a recent event hosted by the New Canaan Library.