7 h 16 minAudiobook14 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at cost
Audiobook edition · 7 h 16 minPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What happens when the people meant to care for you become part of your deepest fear?
In A Mind That Found Itself, Clifford Whittingham Beers tells what mental illness feels like from within. A young Yale graduate, he believes detectives pursue him and his family joins a plot against him. Inside hospitals, fear shapes his world, while attendants hold his daily life in their hands.
Drawing on memory and notes, Beers also examines his treatment with the clarity of recovery. He describes kindness alongside cruelty, private hospitals alongside crowded state wards. His autobiography becomes both a personal account and a demand for better care, asking readers to see the person behind the illness.
What you’ll discover
- Fear from the inside Enter a mind where familiar faces seem threatening and ordinary events become signs of danger.
- Life behind hospital doors See how crowded wards and poorly trained staff shape a patient's experience of care.
- The weight of restraint Confront Beers's account of strait-jackets and solitary rooms, told from the patient's side.
- Kindness amid the cruelty Notice the small acts of care that stand beside the book's most disturbing experiences.
- A purpose beyond recovery Follow Beers as he turns personal suffering into a call for better hospitals and trained staff.
Who will love it
This book suits readers who love candid memoir, true stories of recovery, and the history of medicine. It will also reward anyone who cares about mental health and how one person can start a movement.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A shy, worried boy meets his brother's illness
- Fear of epilepsy drives a clerk to the edge
- A fall ends one delusion and starts another
- Delusions turn the whole world into a trial
- Cheap sanatoriums fail the patients they hold
- A letter to his brother brings back his reason
- Elation brings grand plans and cruel restraint
- The state hospital's violent ward exposes brutality
- A letter to the governor opens the way out
- One book becomes a movement for kindness
Formats and delivery
- eBook
- On your phone, tablet or computer, once the book texts are online.
- Large-print eBook
- The same book in bigger, clearer type, once the book texts are online.
- Audiobook
- Read by Lucas Linden, complete. It opens once the recording is online.
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas in about 14 minutes, to read today.
- Paperback
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Hardcover
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print paperback
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print hardcover
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
Every printed copy is made when you order it and shipped worldwide; shipping is shown at checkout. The eBook and the audiobook open when the book texts go online.
How it works
- Start free. Nothing to pay today; the eBook of this book is yours to keep.
- Read, listen and print. 200,000+ classics as eBook, large-print eBook, audiobook and 15-minute summary, and any book printed at cost as a paperback, hardcover or large print, 5 accounts for the price of one.
- We remind you first. Free for 3 months, and we email you 7 days before your first payment. Then 0,14 USD a day in your first year on the yearly plan and 0,27 USD a day after, or 0,66 USD a day on the monthly plan. Cancel online in two clicks.
Bought on its own? Every eBook, audiobook and printed book you buy without the plan carries our 30-day money-back guarantee.
Una mente que se encontró a sí misma: una autobiografía
by Clifford Whittingham Beers · 1908
A young Yale graduate jumps from a window, spends 798 days in delusion, then sets out to reform asylums.
Challenging2–5 hours to readEspañol
Learn a language with challenging classicsEspañolFrancésAlemánItalianoJaponésPortuguésInglésHow we measure levels
Excellent
Free for 3 months · starts right away, on any device
Read free3 months free · cancel anytimeFree for 3 months, then 0,14 USD a dayCancel anytimeHow it works
- Read or listen
- Print and large print at cost
- 5 accounts for the price of one
In short
What happens when a man who believes detectives are hunting him sees his supposed impostor brother produce a letter that proves who he is? For Clifford Beers, that moment came on August 30, 1902, after 798 days of delusion.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A shy, worried boy meets his brother's illness
Beers grows up in New Haven, Connecticut, in a large family of modest means. He is painfully shy. He also takes on the worries of others.
He hides this sensitive side behind sarcasm and quick jokes. He enters the Sheffield Scientific School at Yale in 1894. That same June his older brother is struck by what doctors take for epilepsy. The brother dies on July 4, 1900.
Free for 3 months · Cancel anytime
You looked at
Which edition is right for me
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas of the whole book in about 14 minutes. A good first look, or a refresher.
Details
- First published
- 1908
- Language
- Español
- Level
- Challenging
Cite this edition
Beers, Clifford Whittingham. A Mind That Found Itself: An Autobiography. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/a-mind-that-found-itself-an-autobiography.
Beers, C. W. (2026). A mind that found itself: An autobiography. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/a-mind-that-found-itself-an-autobiography (Original work published 1908)
Beers, Clifford Whittingham. A Mind That Found Itself: An Autobiography. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/a-mind-that-found-itself-an-autobiography.
@book{beers2026mind,
author = {Beers, Clifford Whittingham},
title = {A Mind That Found Itself: An Autobiography},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/a-mind-that-found-itself-an-autobiography},
note = {First published 1908}
}
Free gifts
580 USD in free gifts when you start
Every book in every format and in 25 languages, 5 accounts for the price of one. Nothing to pay today.
- 200,000+ classic eBooksIn 25 languages, side by side
170 USDFREE - Every audiobookIn 25 languages, any device
120 USDFREE - 15-minute summariesRead or listen, in 25 languages
60 USDFREE - Print at cost, no markupPaperback, hardcover, large print
60 USDFREE - 5 accounts for the price of oneA shelf for everyone at home
170 USDFREE - A part in rebuilding the libraryNew languages and books for all
FREE
Questions about Una mente que se encontró a sí misma: una autobiografía
Can I read it free?
Yes. The first key idea of the 15-minute summary is free with no sign-up. Start free and the whole book is yours for 3 months, with the eBook to keep, plus 200,000+ more classics and any book printed at cost as a paperback, hardcover or large print. Nothing to pay today: we email you 7 days before your first payment, and you can cancel online in two clicks.
Can I buy the printed book?
Soon. The paperback, hardcover and large print editions are being prepared. Choose Paperback or Hardcover above, leave your email, and we tell you the day you can order it, printed at cost.
How many accounts do I get?
Five, for the price of one: you and 4 more people, each with their own login, shelf and their own place in every book.
Can I cancel anytime?
Yes. Cancel online in two clicks at any time and nothing more is charged. Nothing is charged in your first 3 months, and we email you 7 days before your first payment.
What is A Mind That Found Itself about?
It is Clifford Beers's autobiography. He describes a breakdown, a suicide attempt, years of delusion and elation in private and state hospitals, his recovery, and his campaign to improve the treatment of the mentally ill.
Is A Mind That Found Itself a true story?
Yes, it is a true account by its author, first published in 1908. Beers drew on his notes and memory, and William James praised the book for its honesty and its psychology.
What happens on August 30, 1902 in the book?
This is the day Beers calls his second birthday. His brother visits with a letter that Beers had written, and the sight of it ends his long delusion that his relatives were detectives in disguise.
The author
Clifford Whittingham Beers
1876–1943 · American mental health reformer
Clifford Whittingham Beers (1876–1943) was an American writer and mental health reformer. He was born in New Haven, Connecticut. He published his autobiography, A Mind That Found Itself, in 1908. In 1909, he helped establish the National Committee for Mental Hygiene. He died in Providence, Rhode Island.
More like this
Our mission
The library burned once. We are building it back.
Every great book, in every language and every format, for every family. Every plan helps pay for new languages, new audiobooks and books for readers who have never had them. Join the movement.
Read our story- Every language25 languages today, side by side, and more every year
- No wastePrinted on demand: no warehouses, no unsold stock, no pulped copies
- For everyonePaperback, hardcover and large print at the cost of printing
Popular in biography & letters
See all
