Hidden Valley Road summary

None of Donald’s visits to the health center were easily explained. After the bonfire incident, Donald received his first psychiatric evaluation. While the clinical psychologist found evidence of “emotional conflicts,” Donald was allowed to resume his classes.

But things didn’t improve. Donald dove headfirst into a relationship with Marilee, a fellow classmate. When the relationship fell apart, Donald began to spiral. He spent hours on the phone, missed his rent payments, and moved into a vacant cellar near campus.

At the time Donald became ill, one of the primary theories about schizophrenia was that it was caused by the schizophrenogenic mother. But the definition of a schizophrenogenic mother was never fully made clear. These maternal figures could have been overly affectionate or completely lacking affection – either way, they were seen to cause “severe warp and rejection” in someone’s childhood, which was thought to at least partly cause schizophrenia to manifest later in life. 

Mimi and Don knew that this theory was so popular that it had the potential to bring scandal and shame to the family if they committed Donald to a psychiatric facility. But they had other reasons to conceal Donald’s illness, too.

In 1970, both Donald and Jim’s relationships were in trouble. Donald tried to make things better with his wife by agreeing to couples therapy, but the fights didn’t stop. Then, one night, Donald followed Jean when she stormed out of the house. He talked about wanting to kill her. That was the last straw.

Jean told Donald she was going to leave and move to Oregon. The next night, Donald attempted to dose both himself and Jean with two lethal cyanide tablets. Luckily, Jean was able to get away and call the police. Donald was booked for an alleged suicide and homicide attempt. The authorities determined he should be committed to the hospital in Pueblo.

All of the Galvins were crushed by the loss of Brian. But Michael, the fifth son, was especially torn up about it. He had recently traveled to California to visit Brian, a talented musician who’d started a new band called Bagshot Row. When Brian died, Michael was on his way to see him but had stopped in Los Angeles. Maybe if he’d been there, Michael thought, Brian would be OK.

Unbeknownst to anyone but Mimi and Don, Brian had been prescribed an antipsychotic called Navene not long before his death. But after his death, it became apparent to everyone that the difficulties Donald and Jim were experiencing had affected Brian as well. 

Mary was ten years old, watching her 13-year-old sister being driven off to live with the Gary’s in Denver. She felt alone and helpless. All she could do was cry her heart out. Why couldn’t she leave too? Was something wrong with her? Was she not good enough?

Every once in a while, Mary would get to visit Margaret in Denver. One day, her brother Matt visited the Gary house as well. He’d turned out to be a very talented potter and brought along a vase as a gift to the Garys. But after he arrived, he stripped naked and smashed the vase on the floor. This was the first sign anyone had seen to suggest that Matt would be the fifth Galvin, and the second hockey brother, to fall ill.

By the end of the 1970s, researchers were starting to get a clearer picture of the biological nature of schizophrenia. So much so, that the idea of the illness stemming from bad parenting became a lot harder to scientifically justify.

For instance, in 1979, Richard Wyatt, a neurophysicist with the National Institute of Mental Health, published a study that showed how people with schizophrenia had a larger amount of cerebrospinal fluid in the brain ventricles located in the amygdala and hippocampus regions. Not only are these regions related to how aware we are of our surroundings, but the study showed that the larger the ventricles are, the less effective neuroleptic drugs were.

Mimi had been waiting a long time for someone like Lynn DeLisi to show up. Since Donald’s illness, Mimi had been involved in the caretaking of each of her sick sons, so getting the necessary blood samples for DeLisi was relatively easy. The only one who didn’t cooperate was Richard, who, like John, had distanced himself from the family.

Right away, in February of 1986, just months after visiting the Galvins, DeLisi’s data gathered from one thousand families confirmed Richard Wyatt’s research about enlarged ventricles. She also shared the samples taken from the Galvins with the Coriell Institute for Medical Research so that others could have access to the DNA for research purposes.

For Lindsay, Dr. Freedman’s theories around sensory gating made a lot of sense. She’d noticed how even white background noise, like the whirring of a fan, could irritate her brothers. In the 1990s, many of the Galvins agreed to sit with Dr. Freedman as he ran tests. These tests, and the tissue samples he collected, helped Freedman track down the biological home of sensory gating: it’s called the ɑ7 (or alpha-7) receptor.

The ɑ7 receptor is responsible for communication in the brain, sending messages from one neuron to another. This communication also requires a compound called acetylcholine. As Freedman discovered, people with schizophrenia have around half the amount of ɑ7 receptors that an average person has. Remarkably, he tracked the problem down to a gene called CHRNA7, which is used to make the ɑ7 receptor, and an overall lack of acetylcholine, which also triggers the creation of the receptors.

For years, it seemed like Lynn DeLisi had also hit a wall in her research. In 2000, her work was cut short when Pfizer bought the company funding her project and abruptly canceled it. But it was just a matter of time before someone else saw the value in her efforts.

The key message in this blink is: In 2009, diligent research into genetic links finally began to pay off.

In 2016, DeLisi paid a return visit to the Galvin family. Since her last visit, Lindsay has stepped up to become the central organizer and unlikely caretaker of the family, especially once Mimi became sick. Don, who was never the same after his stroke, died in 2003. Mimi lasted until 2017 and remained positive until the very end.

The key message here is: While some Galvins remain bitter about the past, others are more hopeful.