In 1896 at "Seven Steeples" Central State Hospital for the Insane in Indianapolis, Dr. George Edenharter planned and built a landmark facility to research the causes, and perhaps find the cure for, mental illness among his patients. It was a totally innovative approach in America. This book tells the story of the historic search in Indiana, down to this day for biological and eventually genetic causes of mental illness in our state. From the earliest days, when Edenharter walked the halls of Central to give comfort and treatment and then spent the last part of his day examining specimens of autopsy brain tissue to find cures for his patients, through other experiments in the 1920s like giving patients malaria to cure their syphilis to 1930s electric shock through the recent experiments in neurobiology and drug treatments—this humane and interesting book follows mental illness in Indiana, but most of all points us towards hope for cure in the future for sufferers of this puzzling problem.

"Congratulations! You have captured a number of complex scientific projects in a limited amount of space in Dr. Edenharter's Dream in the chapters on IPR research." —Dr. John Nurnburger, Jr., Joyce & Iver Small Professor of Psychiatry and Director of the Institute of Pyschiatric Research, Indiana University School of Medicine