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From a childhood shaped by neglect and violence to three brutal years spent in a cold, indifferent convent, Breda O'Toole's early life was marked by abandonment. When she sought help, she entered a mental health system that continued the pattern - misdiagnosing her, medicating her into silence, binding her in a straitjacket for 11 days and subjecting her to 29 rounds of electroconvulsive therapy. Across decades, Breda was treated not as a person, but as a problem to be managed - her pain unseen, her voice unheard. Yet Unseen is also a story of fierce resilience. Refusing to be defined by the failures of the system, Breda fought to reclaim her health, her voice and her life. Through courage, determination and a relentless search for dignity, she uncovered a sense of self that had long been buried. Blending deeply personal narrative with a forensic study of 23 years of psychiatric records, Breda exposes the devastating consequences of a system that too often loses sight of the human being at its heart.
Breda O'Toole is a music teacher, a mother of eight, three of whom died as babies, and a grandmother to twelve. She lives in Conamara, County Galway.
