AUTHOR: Gabi Martínez 
PUBLISHER: Seix Barral, Grupo Editorial Planeta 
GENRE: Fiction novel
READER’S NAME: Tony Beckwith 
 

What happens when a neurologist goes mad? And how does the mental health profession respond? Gabi Martínez answers those questions in Las defensas [The Defenses], which is based on a true story. His protagonist in this roman à clef, Dr. Camilo Escobedo, is a successful doctor working in a hospital in Barcelona when he begins to behave very strangely, sometimes violently. He is committed to a special clinic that ministers discreetly to members of the medical profession who are stricken with neurological disorders of one kind or another. 

Dr. Escobedo is a victim of modern existential stress. He works an exhausting schedule because he feels pressure from his wife who thinks he should move to a more lucrative, less demanding branch of medicine. But he loves his chosen field and has no intention of abandoning it. He’s under a lot of pressure at work too and is treated appallingly by his boss, the director of the hospital, who creates an oppressively hostile workplace environment.

Camilo starts drinking heavily and ruins his marriage to Sol, who always loved him more than he loved her. He has numerous affairs, and eventually finds the relationship he craves. He loves his three daughters, but they too add to his stress, each in their own way. One day he cracks. 

Dr. Escobedo has specialized in the field of autoimmune diseases and disagrees with his fellow doctors who diagnose him as suffering from a bipolar disorder. Camilo is convinced they’re wrong; he believes he suffers from a hitherto unknown neurological condition caused by his own autoimmune system. One of his daughters is a modern radical who rails against the deficiencies and corruption in the Spanish healthcare system.

She complains that modern society is structured to keep the population in a state of fear and anxiety, for which the pharmaceutical industry supplies the appropriate medications. She is also critical of the custom of prescribing amphetamines for hyperactive children. Camilo does not necessarily disagree with her, but his belief in his calling allows him to see beyond her dark view of the medical world 

This is, on the whole, a depressing book, which is not surprising since it’s the chronicle of a man’s descent into madness. It holds the reader’s attention, and ultimately provides reason for hope, but occasionally feels too long. Gabi Martínez is a smooth writer; he is easy to read. And generous: one appreciates his eagerness to provide background and context for characters and events, but this sometimes leads to what feel like gratuitous side trips for no appreciable gain. There are fleeting references to landmark events in the evolution of the social and political situation in Spain since the end of the Franco regime that will be meaningful to Spaniards but are unlikely to resonate with the average American reader. Should the book be translated for the English-speaking market, these aspects will have to be evaluated for relevance and dealt with accordingly.  

The story unfolds as a narrative spoken by Dr. Escobedo, who is surrounded by mental health professionals and lives in a solidly medical milieu. At times he discusses his disease and the medications and treatments prescribed by his colleagues in technical terms that will be unfamiliar to readers with no medical or pharmaceutical knowledge. 

The author, Gabi Martínez, believes that human beings—and our planet (as addressed in one of his other books, En la barrera, about the Australian Great Barrier Reef)—are vulnerable to dangerous levels of stress and degrading treatment. In Las defensas he questions the society in which his characters live, showing how they are all pressured in different ways to conform or rebel with potentially devastating results to their mental and physical health. This is a cautionary tale in which some readers will recognize their own symptoms and be prompted to think deeply about them. As the Mexican writer Juan Rulfo once said: “Literature is a lie that tells the truth.”