That is, if you were to go by a definition of 'no obvious indicators of peculiarity', and you didn't know her very well. She has good friends, a good job, a nice enough home. This normality, however, is precariously plastered on top of a different life. A life that is Amy's real life. The only one her brain will let her lead.What is it really like to live with mental illness?An insight into the reality of life with obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), anxiety and depression.

    This is Not for You is a memoir which vividly describes the memories of growing up in a dysfunctional environment and how these circumstances developed a spirit within the narrator. This is a story of resiliency and drive to overcome the extreme adversities that addiction and poverty can create in the life of a young child.

    As a child, Pelzer was beaten, starved, and abused both emotionally and physically by his alcoholic and mentally unstable mother. As a man, Pelzer went on to have love, happiness, a fulfilling career, and his own family.To many, Pelzer seemed to have found his happy ending. But for a child abuse survivor, living a normal adult life carries challenges and complications above and beyond those faced by most people. This book, the fifth in Pelzer's nonfiction series, provides an honest and courageous look at the difficulties inherent in marriage, parenthood, work, and life from the perspective of someone who survived horrific physical and emotional terrors as a child--and who seeks to meet the responsibilities and complications of adult life with love, strength, and an open heart.

    Collection of 5 short stories – The Little Princess, No Place for Nathan, Daddy’s Boy, The Wild Child and Scarlett’s Secret – previously available as individual e-shorts.A collection of inspiring and moving real life short stories from foster carer and New York Times bestselling author Casey Watson.Darby, whose parents keep her locked in her bedroom, and who arrives pale and terrified one Christmas Eve.Nathan, who lives with his cruel, violent father, and no longer knows who he is.Paulie, just five, who’s been rejected by his mother, and accused of a sickening crime.Connor, who, at only eight years of age, is delivered to the Watsons in a secure prison van.Scarlett, who, along with her twin sister, Jade, carries the weight of a devastating secret.

    (And I thought I had problems.) As I sat among a circle of strangers waiting for my turn to share, I glanced at the Absolutely No Swearing sign hanging from the ceiling and thought, This will be a challenge. Im Linda, I began, I have no husband, no job, and you people are my only friends. Everyone laughed at my pathetic truth." -- Linda Lou Bastard Husband: A Love Story is an autobiographical account of the author's first year alone in Las Vegas following a midlife divorce. Balancing poignancy and edgy humor, Linda Lou reflects on the troubled relationship that prompted this story and leads readers through a hodgepodge of emotions as vast as a Vegas buffet--from the sadness of a failed union and the questioning of her spiritual convictions to the thrill of exploring the Vegas neon nightlife and the triumph of performing stand-up comedy for the first time at age 46.

    There are some memories labelled 'Look at', and others 'Leave well alone'...Emily Smith was held in a prison of fear for ten years. When she was four, her father left and a new man was brought into her life. He loved her, he kept telling her so, but the emotional and physical abuse she suffered at his hands were a daily nightmare. Until one day, after he crept into her bedroom, her life became unbearable.Emily found she was different in another way as her autism became more noticeable and punishments for her 'abnormal' behaviour more severe. Astonishingly, she managed to escape her home of hell, where she was abused right in front of her mother. Emily determinedly gained a university place and emerged triumphant with a new life and family in Ireland, desperate to treat her daughter, so similar to her, to a different life.Heartbreakingly true, Silent Child is a testament to Emily's strength as she sheds light on rampant abuse still happening today. Powerful and shocking, sharing her story means she finally has a voice to say: enough.

    Less than two years later, Mallory had broken eight world records, and by the 2012 Paralympic Games, she held fifteen world records and thirty-four American records. Two years after that, a devastating fall severely damaged her left arm. But despite all of the hardships that Mallory faced, she was sure about one thing: she refused to give up.After two reconstructive surgeries and extended rehab, she won two gold medals and a silver medal at the 2019 World Para Swimming Championships. And even better, she found confidence, independence, and persevering love. She even walked down the aisle on her wedding day against all odds.Mallory's extraordinary resilience and uncompromising commitment to excellence are rooted in her resolve, her faith, and her sheer grit. In Limitless, Mallory shares the lessons she learned by pushing past every obstacle and expectation that stood in her way, teaching you how to: redefine your limitsremember that healing is not chronologicalbe willing to faillean on your communityembrace your comebackwrite your own endingMallory's story reminds us that we can handle whatever challenges, labels, or difficulties we face in life, and we can do it on our own terms. Because when we refuse to accept every boundary that hems us in--physical, emotional, or societal--we become limitless.

    Cameron West... First of all, for those of you who have read First Person Plural, thank you. Rikki, Kyle, and I have been very moved by the kind words many of you have sent, and for the stories some of you have shared about overcoming your own challenges.I'd like to share something with you that Leonardo da Vinci wrote, which I think of as "Leonardo's Rule." He said, "Every object yields to effort." I remind myself of that every day, and when I'm having a difficult time, Rikki reminds me that this rule applies not only to the obstacles "out there," but to the more important ones-the ones we face in our own minds. Rikki lives by Leonardo's Rule; it comes to her naturally. Even though they are Leonardo's words, it is Rikki's actions that guide me and inspire me to work toward becoming a healthier and better person.

    J.J. Keeler proves that. From her fears of the bomb in her teddy bear, to her fear of having run over innocent pedestrians, to her fear that she has killed her waiter, she tells her story in a way that allows us to see inside her disease and to see that she has not lost her sense of humor. This light-hearted yet serious and comforting look at OCD lets some light into the closet of sufferers. This book is for those with OCD, those who love someone with OCD, and for those who would like to know what it's like to live with the daily challenges of OCD.

    Now thirty-four years old and a successful writer, she’d changed her life for the better; now she wanted to help someone else–someone like the girl she’d once been.Then she met Sam. A brilliant nineteen-year-old junkie savant, the product of a horrifically abusive home, Sam had been surviving alone on the streets since she was twelve and was now struggling for sobriety against the adverse health effects of long-term drug abuse. Soon Janice found herself caring deeply for Sam, following her through detoxes and psych wards, halfway houses and hospitals, becoming ever more manically driven to save her from the sickness and sadness leftover from Sam’s terrible past. But just as Janice was on the verge of becoming the girl’s legal guardian, she made a shocking discovery: Sam was sicker than anyone knew, in ways nobody could have imagined.Written with startling candor and immediacy, Have You Found Her is the story of one woman’s quest to save a girl’s life–and the hard truths she learns about herself along the way.“A rich and compelling account . . . Ultimately this is a book about the narrator’s journey and the dangers that attend the urge within us all to believe we can save another soul. A terrific read.”–Cammie McGovern, author of Eye Contact

    She soon discovers she has a talent for long-distance running and trains for her first marathon. . She loves it – and soon sets her sights on the 2005 Melbourne Marathon. When she finishes in under three hours and in third place, Vanessa is offered commercial sponsorships and attracts the attentions of elite coaches. Instead of enjoying her win however, she is driven to improve her performance. She pushes her body harder and further, determined to become the best runner she can be. Despite her increasing success and her own training as a physiotherapist she soon finds herself trapped in a spiral of extreme dieting and exercise in order to improve her performances and maintain her ‘fit and healthy’ look.Ignoring the growing concern of her family and friends, Vanessa denies there is anything unhealthy about her fitness training, until the day she finds her body has started rebelling against her …A compelling story about the dangers of overexercising and chasing perfection in a society that rewards and applauds the fastest and the fittest.

    While dining out with her husband and their friends, Kirshenbaum's protagonist—an acerbic, mordantly witty, and clinically depressed writer—fully unravels. Her breakdown lands her in the psych ward of a prestigious New York hospital where she refuses all modes of recommended treatment. Instead, she passes the time chronicling the lives of her fellow “lunatics” and writing a novel about how she got to this place. Her story is a hilarious and harrowing deep dive into the disordered mind of a woman who sees the world all too clearly. Propelled by stand-up comic timing and rife with pinpoint insights, her examination of what it means to be unloved, and loved; to succeed, and fail; to be, at once, both impervious and raw ultimately reveals how art can lead us out of—or into—the depths of disconsolate loneliness and piercing grief. Rabbits for Food, Kirshenbaum’s first novel in a decade, is a bravura literary performance. A heartbreaking, irreverent, laugh-out-loud funny meditation on what it’s like to lose your mind.

    The specter of success in the music business had become a monster about to ruin his marriage and turn him into the sort of father who never saw his children. Something had to change, or something was going to break beyond repair. A chance conversation with a neighbor led him to apply, somewhat halfheartedly, for a job at the county prison. Although he hated the thought of a "real job," a regular salary of $40,000 with benefits and paid time off seemed like a small fortune. "Amazingly, I somehow got hired. So, in an effort to do the right thing and put my family first, I left the madness of the music industry and entered the insanity of the U. S. prison system." In this gripping nonfiction account, Robert Reilly provides a look inside America's prison system unlike any other, and the way it affects not only the prisoners themselves, but also the corrections officers and their families.

    Depression & Other Magic Tricks explores themes of mental health, love, and family. It is a documentation of struggle and triumph, a celebration of daily life and of living. Benaim's wit, empathy, and gift for language produce a work of endless wonder.

    Through difficult life changes -- Cyprus's bloody coup and war in 1974, a rescue from a sinking ship in the Indian Ocean, learning of her husband s secret life, and surviving his deadly assault in Belgium -- she discovers her ticking clock is not the child she has failed to produce, but rather the creative potential with which she can create a new life.