Best of
Mental-Illness

2001

Memories of Summer


Ruth White - 2001
     It’s 1955 when 13-year-old Lyric moves with her father and older sister, Summer, from a small Virginia town to the big industrial city of Flint, Michigan. Summer has always been a little odd, but shortly after the move, things take a turn for the worse when she starts talking to imaginary people and having frightening episodes of paranoia. When she slips out of reality and into the depths of schizophrenia, the devoted Lyric can no longer reach her.Lyric loves her sister but is torn between taking constant care of Summer and enjoying her own youth. Soon a decision will have to be made that will affect their lives forever.

The Myth of Sanity: Divided Consciousness and the Promise of Awareness


Martha Stout - 2001
    In its groundbreaking analysis of childhood trauma and dissociation and their far-reaching implications in adult life, it reveals that moderate dissociation is a normal mental reaction to pain and that even the most extreme dissociative reaction-multiple personality-is more common than we think. Through astonishing stories of people whose lives have been shattered by trauma and then remade, The Myth of Sanity shows us how to recognize these altered mental states in friends and family, even in ourselves."We only think we're sane, says this Harvard psychologist... The befuddled, normally sane masses can learn a lot from the victims of grave psychological abuse." -Dallas Morning Star

The Dissociative Identity Disorder Sourcebook


Deborah Bray Haddock - 2001
    The Dissociative Identity Disorder Sourcebook serves as a much-needed bridge for communication between the dissociative individual and therapists, family, and friends who also have to learn to deal with the effects of this truly astonishing disorder.

The Day the Voices Stopped


Ken Steele - 2001
    In this powerful and inspiring story, Steele tells the story of his hard-won recovery from schizophrenia and how activism and advocacy helped him regain his sanity and go on to give hope and support to so many others like him. His recovery began with a small but intensely dramatic moment. One evening in the spring of 1995, shortly after starting on Risperdal, a new antipsychotic medicine, he realized that the voices that had tormented him for three decades had suddenly stopped. Terrified but also empowered by this new freedom, Steele rose to the challenge of creating a new life. Steele went on to become one of the most vocal advocates of the mentally ill, earning the respect not only of patients and families but also of professionals and policymakers all over America through his tireless devotion to a cause that transformed his life and that of countless others. The Day the Voices Stopped will endure as Ken Steele's testament for all who struggle with this heartbreaking disease.

Sensing the Self: Women's Recovery from Bulimia (Revised)


Sheila M. Reindl - 2001
    Reindl argues compellingly that people with bulimia nervosa avoid turning their attention inward to consult their needs, desires, feelings, and aggressive strivings because to do so is to encounter an annihilating sense of shame. Disconnected from internal, sensed experience, bulimic women rely upon external gauges to guide their choices. To recover, bulimic women need to develop a sense of self--to attune to their physical, psychic, and social self-experience. They also need to learn that one's neediness, desire, pain, and aggression are not sources of shame to be kept hidden but essential aspects of humanity necessary for zestful life. The young women with whom Reindl speaks describe, with great feeling, their efforts to know and trust their own experience.Perceptive, lucid, and above all humane, this book will be welcomed not only by professionals but by people who struggle with an eating disorder and by those who love them.

Drowning Anna


Sue Mayfield - 2001
    Beautiful and an ace student, she is praised by her teachers, given a violin solo, and assigned to play center fielder in hockey, displacing Hayley Parkin, who is her first and seemingly devoted friend. What Anna doesn't know is that Hayley is an adept manipulator and all of her classmates live in fear of her. First she draws people in to learn their sensitivities and secrets, then launches whisper campaigns against them. Once she has totally isolated her victim via social ostracism, she launches physical attacks. When Melanie Blackwood, who really wants to be Anna's friend, gradually gives in to Hayley's pressure, Anna begins to cut herself. Upon discovering this activity, her well-intentioned but all-too-busy parents call on the teachers for help. A few superficial changes take place, and the adults work to set the "personality clash" to rights. But Hayley is just getting started. Although the vocabulary is simple, this book is complex in structure. The first chapter is told in present tense via an omniscient narrator as Anna sets in motion what will be the climax of the plot. The next chapter features Melanie reminiscing about how all of this started. Anna, who is comatose through most of the book, speaks mostly through her diary entries and letters. The shifting narratives contribute to a compelling story that will strike a chord with many young teens.

Do They Have Bad Days in Heaven? Surviving the Suicide Loss of a Sibling


Michelle Linn-Gust - 2001
    Michelle Linn-Gust takes the reader through the personal experience of losing her younger sister Denise Linn and weaves in the available research for sibling survivors. Michelle also journeys sibling loss through the life span. No matter how old you are, you'll find valuable help in Do They Have Bad Days in Heaven?Michelle explains suicide, the grief process, and how sibling death impacts the brothers and sisters left behind. She adds practical advice for how sibling suicide survivors can help themselves.This book is also wonderful for those who want to reach out to sibling survivors including parents, teacher, counselors, and friends. Reading Do They Have Bad Days in Heaven? assists them in understanding the grief process that the sibling survivor endures.Included are resource pages filled with helpful places for sibling survivors to search for specific information.Most significant, however, is that Do They Have Bad Days in Heaven? delivers a message of hope that one can survive a sibling suicide death. This book has inspired siblings around the world to find hope and purpose when a loved one has died by suicide.

Art Brut: The Origins of Outsider Art


Lucienne Peiry - 2001
    "Primitive" art, drawings by children, the art of the insane, and graffiti all opened up new avenues for experimentation and artistic creation. At the end of World War II, leading French artist Jean Dubuffet became interested in the works being produced by psychiatric patients and by other social outcasts. In 1948 he founded the Compagnie de l'Art Brut to document the collections he had begun, and in 1976 the collection moved to its permanent home in Lausanne. This critically acclaimed book traces the history of the concept of Art Brut, a movement which has had a profound effect on artistic and social history. The account is completed by biographical notes on the featured artists and an extensive bibliography. This revised edition contains up-to-date information about modern exponents of Art Brut and the collection itself, including two new images of artist Judith Scott's work. All the works reproduced, most from the collection created by Dubuffet, have retained their subversive freedom, which continues to fascinate and inspire artists and collectors today.

Schizophrenia Revealed: From Neurons to Social Interactions


Michael Foster Green - 2001
    Neuroscience, in particular, has enabled researchers to frame different questions when investigating this illness and we are now coming to a deeper understanding of it.In this much-needed book, Michael Green, an expert in the neurocognition of schizophrenia, presents an integrated overview of schizophrenia covering a wide range of topics in lively, understandable prose. He outlines a neurodevelopmental model of schizophrenia, discusses neurocognitive indicators of genetic vulnerability, the introduction of a new generation of medications, recent findings from brain imaging, cognitive remediation, and the determinants of functional outcome. He presents a modern view of schizophrenia based on neuroscience that goes far beyond the symptoms of the illness.Schizophrenia Revealed gives the reader an important overview of the most recent developments in our understanding of schizophrenia. It will be of interest to clinicians who are trying to understand the neurocognitive constraints acting on their patients, practitioners in psychology, psychiatry, social work, and nursing, as well as family members and students who want to know how our view of this disease has changed in recent years.

The Personality Disorders Treatment Planner


Arthur E. Jongsma Jr. - 2001
    Saves you hours of time-consuming paperwork, yet offers the freedom to develop customized treatment plans for clients with personality disorders Organized around 32 main presenting problems, from antisocial-malevolent and borderline-petulant to histrionic-appeasing, obsessive-compulsive, paranoid-fanatic, and others Over 1,000 well-crafted, clear statements describe the behavioral manifestations of each relational problem, long-term goals, short-term objectives, and clinically tested treatment options Easy-to-use reference format helps locate treatment plan components by behavioral problem or DSM-IV(TM) diagnosis Includes a sample treatment plan that conforms to the requirements of most third-party payers and accrediting agencies (including JCAHO and NCQA)