Book Focus: Mental Illness

Here we are...mid-semester. Students are getting grades from their first exams and major papers. The seasons are changing. I overhear student conversations almost daily about how money is getting tight. Academic pressures are on the increase. And when stress increases, for some people with a certain genetic inheritance, the risk of being hit with a major depression, bipolar disorder or schizophrenia goes up a lot, too. Lots and lots of people are stricken with one of those three major mental illnesses, including many undergraduate students each and every school year. If you are in college and you don't know anyone with one of these illnesses, chances are good that you will before you graduate. The prevalence of depression, bipolar disorder and schizophrenia really is that high. A close relative of mine, for instance, was diagnosed almost exactly ten years ago with schizophrenia soon after the beginning of his senior year of college. When this happened, my first impulse was to learn more about the diagnosis and what it meant, what it would mean for him and the rest of his family, what the prospects for treatment were.

So in honor of Peter and his battle with schizophrenia, I have pulled together some books on mental illness that will help you understand it, if you or anyone you know are affected. If you want to check these books out of the library or buy a copy, please be sure to get the latest edition for the most accurate information.

Surviving Schizophrenia, by E. Fuller Torrey.
This is the first book I read when my relative became ill. It's good at explaining what schizophrenia is, what we know and do not know about it, a bit about communication with people with schizophrenia and where to go for more information and help.

I'm Not Sick I Don't Need Help by Xavier Amador.
Good at explaining why a refusal to acknowledge that one is ill or in need of help is often a part of mental illness: the illness actually affects the part of the brain that adds new information to one's self-concept. This also happens with certain brain injuries but not with things like, say, heart disease. Also lots of advice for both therapists and family members on really listening to people with mental illness and responding to their emotional needs without believing the things they believe about the world, other people, etc..

Brave New Brain by Nancy Andreasen.
This is an update and expansion of neuroscientist Dr. Andreasen's expert book The Broken Brain. It contains a bit more scientific detail than some of the other books on mental illness, but it is still readable. There are a lot of long anecdotes about real people with mental illnesses, too, with all the realistic information about HMO's, different kinds of doctors and treatment options, etc. Since Dr. Andreasen has both an M.D. and a Ph.D. she is able to approach mental illness from both the perspective of pharmacological treatments and from psychotherapeutic treatments, and succeeds well at making the case that both kinds of treatment are necessary for different aspects of the same illnesses.

I'll add more books to this list when I get a chance and have read, or reread, them enough to comment.