Captive: A Poetry Collection on OCD, Psychosis, and Brain Inflammation

"I just want to get better and see the stars and believe in hope again."

Captive, Madeline Dyer's first poetry collection, is based on the therapy writings she produced when she was experiencing psychosis and OCD due to Autoimmune Basal Ganglia Encephalitis, a rare type of brain inflammation caused by the immune system attacking the brain. While her communication skills and cognitive abilities diminished due to the effects of the inflammation, she was able to share her thoughts and emotions via the written word, a process that gave her great comfort when she otherwise felt possessed.

Captive provides readers with a glimpse of her tormented mind during this dark time of loneliness, loss, and fear.

"Madeline Dyer's poetry collection, Captive, is an invitation to the reader to consider the cost of physical illness on the mind and spirit. The poems are a conversation between the speaker, the outer world, and her inner tormentor: sometimes beetle, sometimes monster, sometimes friend, of her mind. Dyer's speaker, who sees herself as one "among all the crying girls" speaks mantras in triplicate and escalating parallels, pausing over the heartbreak of good days, the desire to touch and be touched, and the agony of it all." -- Sherre Vernon, author of The Name is Perilous and Green Ink Wings.

"Brutally honest and brilliant, this collection takes the reader through the experience of living with a crumbling mind. From the first unexplainable visions to the fight within, and the constant struggle to be heard, Dyer's poetry is a cry out to the world suffused with raw emotion. A captivating and eye-opening experience." -- S.E. Anderson, author of the Starstruck Saga