The Madness Inside My Head Book Review

The Madness Inside My Head

By: Magdalena

I had the pleasure of crossing the work of Magdalena when she submitted her pieces to

the She Will Speak Series: Gender Based Violence anthology. Magdalena’s book The Madness

Inside My Head is a book for all those finding themselves while battling depression, anxiety, or

PTSD. Her poems center around love and family allowing you as the reader to find that space of

familiarity between love and struggle. As a woman of color I find it imperative to read pieces

and work that reflects my struggles. Magdalena does not hold back her truth in one poem

‘Survived’ she speaks on surviving a system that could never be color-blind. The honesty boils

over with every flip of the page in this collection. One piece in particular that I would like to

highlight was ‘That Was Love:’

Love was yelling

Love was materialistic

Love was condescending

Love was addiction

Love was mean

Love was hurtful

Love was exhausting

Love was selfish

Love was all negative, so how am I supposed to know what good love is?

I can personally attest to shutting the door on love many times because I feared the possibility of

falling back into another toxic relationship. This piece although simplistic speaks volumes to

those who have never truly peeled back their trauma related to love. The Madness Inside My

Head will leave you feeling understood and hopeful. The title itself normalizes the idea of

having depression and PTSD and still choosing to live life and to fight those the societal stigmas

of mental health. Battling societies view on Mental Health is not easy so I thank Magdalena for

your transparency, vulnerability, and honesty with this collection of work. Her collection can be

found on Amazon and you can keep up with her poetry on her Instagram at

@poetryismytherapymg