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