A. Lauveng’s first book “Tomorrow I Always Was a Lion” is already well known in Russia. This heartfelt human document and the amazing story of the author’s victory over seemingly fatal circumstances and incurable mental illness deeply touched and made thousands of readers think: from people who have nothing to do with medicine to the head doctors of psychiatric clinics. “Useless as a Rose” continues both the theme and the story... This book, like the first, is “written in blood.” Arnhild Lauveng was born in 1972, a practicing clinical psychologist, educated at the University of Oslo. She gives lectures and has been awarded for her contribution to the fight for freedom of speech and human rights in the field of mental health. At the age of seventeen, she was first sent to a psychiatric hospital with a diagnosis of schizophrenia. The next ten years of her life turned into a series of voluntary and forced hospitalizations, lasting from several days to two years. In total, Arnhild spent 6–7 years of her life in the hospital. She was last hospitalized at the age of 26. She completely defeated the disease.