Pultizer Prize-winning American columnist Jimmy Breslin wrote a front page feature story on Melanie Cane the author of Poisoned Love. Click on the icon to read Jimmy Breslin's cover story:
POISONED LOVE starts with the death of a fourth year medical student’s mentally ill father. This sets the stage for the love affair of two young psychiatrists going horribly wrong. The failed relationship is the precipitant, but not the focus, of the riveting and inspirational story of Melanie Cane’s painstaking journey from respected psychiatric resident to disgraced patient and convicted felon, after she poisoned the love of her life.
Melanie Cane gives a gut-wrenching account of redemption that offers a rare glimpse inside severe mental illness and the struggle that its victims face in their recovery. She gives the account from the unique dual perspective of both mentally ill person and mental health practitioner. The consequences of her actions result in the loss of seemingly everything – her freedom, her dignity, her friends and her medical license. But POISONED LOVE is not a story of devastation. It is a story of hope that proves the will to overcome adversity is more powerful than any of life’s biggest challenges.
Melanie’s journey starts with her confessing to her psychiatrist ex boyfriend that she did indeed poison him. The confession results in her being involuntarily committed to a psychiatric hospital for seven weeks, a courtroom hearing in which she is convicted of a felony and sentenced to 5 years probation with jail time, and the loss of her medical license. Throughout this five year period, she earns her masters in public health, does a thousand hours of community service and is subsequently hired as a paid employee by all of her supervisors, volunteers in an animal shelter and applies for reinstatement of her medical license.
At the end of the five year probation period, during which time she was not allowed to do anything medically related, she learns her license for reinstatement has been denied. But rather than spiral into another depression or do anything self-destructive, she accepts the verdict, and vows to create a meaningful and productive life for herself where she can remain a contributing member of society.
Melanie overcame the devastation and desolation of mental illness by employing the healing power of human compassion. Despite facing major roadblocks at every turn, she persevered. Through exhaustive self-reflection, psychotherapy, and personal relationships, she learned that her ultimate destination is learning to appreciate who she really is, and then using the serenity obtained from that self-acceptance to help other people. Midway through this process of self-reflection and discovery, she started believing in herself self enough to risk telling her story. To her great astonishment, her self-disclosure opened a channel to honest communication with others. People began reaching out to her for comfort and advice. In this way, her long journey from caretaker to mental patient brings her full circle, back to her original role of helper.
Now, 16 years later, she tells her story in POISONED LOVE. She hopes the book will inspire and provide hope to others who have suffered the devastating effects of mental illness.
