José Campion McCarthy was born into a large family in France. She observed its members and listened to their stories, her parents the main focus of her attention. She witnessed historical events—from the German occupation of her family farm during World War II to the Paris uprising of May 1968—and learned how history shaped the lives of her family and friends. Working in Germany as an adult introduced her to people who presented her with different experiences of the war.

Happenstance and Choices explores how McCarthy’s personal development was determined by the religion in which she was raised, a familial form of depression,, and meeting a few key people along the way. Her responses to events far beyond her control made her the person she became. Education guided her to medicine, statistical research, and psychiatry. By happenstance, a trip to America in 1969 led to marriage and family life in the Unites States and a career as a psychiatrist.

Titles by José Campion McCarthy

This work is based on my belief that it is useful, if not necessary, to know under what influences we grew up.

I cannot imagine my life without the troubles and the tragedies. Not to say that I would not wish to have been spared some of the lessons life taught me, but these made me who I am now, and being alive has, altogether, been the most exciting thing yet.

I often feel that I am lucky: J’ai de la chance. I have taken chances as well, wandering so far that I now live on the other side of the world from the village of my birth. Yet I don’t feel a stranger in a strange land—just richer, filled to the brim, and still true to the girl child I was.

  • Ce mémoire, d’une psychiatre spécialiste du traitement de personnes souffrant de dépression et d’addiction, décrit les années pendant lesquelles sa fille a lutté contre les mêmes maladies. En tant que mère et psychiatre, elle doit découvrir en elle-même la force et le courage de faire tout ce qu’elle peut pour aider sa fille. Tout en sachant qu’il est possible qu’elle ne puisse pas atteindre sa fille, ni l’aider.

    Le fait de savoir qu’il n’y a peut-être aucun moyen d’aider est dévastateur. Cependant elle n’a pas le droit d’abandonner et doit utiliser toute son expertise, son amour maternel et empathie.

  • by José Campion McCarthy

    Ce livre est basé sur ma conviction qu’il est utile, sinon indispensable, de connaitre les influences sous lesquelles nous avons grandi.
    Je ne peux pas imaginer ma vie sans ses problèmes et ses tragédies. J’aurais sans doute préféré que la vie m’épargne certaines des leçons qu’elle m’a apprises, mais celles-ci ont fait de moi qui je suis maintenant, et j’ai aimé ma vie.
    Je pense souvent que j’ai de la chance. J’ai aussi pris des risques, allant si loin que je vis maintenant de l’autre côté du monde du village où je suis née. Cependant je ne me sens pas étrangère dans ce nouveau monde, seulement plus riche, comblée, et toujours fidèle à la petite fille que j’étais.

  • by Jose Campion McCarthy