schizophrenia
NON-FICTION
surviving schizophrenia by e. fuller torrey md
Surviving Schizophrenia: A Family Manual is written by American schizophrenia and bipolar research psychiatrist Dr. E. Fuller Torrey. Now in its seventh edition, it was first published in 1983. The book describes the patient experience of schizophrenia; criteria for diagnosis; onset, course and prognosis; etiology; treatment and rehabilitation; advice for families; schizophrenia in literature and the movies; and issues for advocates. It is information dense and includes dozens of further reading recommendations at the end of each chapter. Dr. Torrey includes an Annotated List of the Best and Worst Books on Schizophrenia in Appendix A, with delightfully scathing critiques of the books he considers the worst.
RECOMMENDED BY
Klein, D. F. (1984). Surviving schizophrenia: A family manual-by E. Fuller Torrey, M.D.; harper & row, New York, 1983, 302 pages, $20. Psychiatric Services (Washington, D.C.), 35(5), 500-500. https://doi.org/10.1176/ps.35.5.500
Seeman, M. V. (1985). Surviving schizophrenia: A family manual. The American Journal of Psychiatry, 142(1), 132-a-133. https://doi.org/10.1176/ajp.142.1.132-a
the complete family guide to schizophrenia by kim T. Mueser & susan gingerich
The Complete Family Guide to Schizophrenia is written by Kim T. Mueser, PhD, a clinical psychologist and and professor in the Departments of Psychiatry and Community and Family Medicine at Dartmouth Medical School in New Hampshire, and Susan Gingerich, MSW, a clinician and consultant with over twenty years of research and clinical experience working with people with mental illness and their families. The book offers an overview of schizophrenia, special issues for family members, relapse prevention, coping with specific problems such as anxiety and lack of insight, and improving quality of life through social relationships, work and school, and leisure. The chapters are referenced and there is an extensive index at the end of the book. The book is practical, thorough and well-organized.
RECOMMENDED BY
Johnson, D. L. (2007). Review of: The complete family guide to schizophrenia. Psychiatric Rehabilitation Journal, 30(4), 321-322. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0094617
Serper, M. (2008). Mueser Kim and Gingerich Susan, The complete family guide to schizophrenia. Cognitive and Behavioral Practice, 15(1), 107-108. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cbpra.2007.03.001
OVERCOMING DISTRESSING VOICES BY MARK HAYWARD, CLARA STRAUSS & DAVID KINGDON
Overcoming Distressing Voices is a cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) based self help book. It is written by David Kingdon, a community psychiatrist; Clara Strauss, a clinical psychologist and clinical research fellow; and Mark Hayward, researcher; all based in England. Now in its second edition, it was first published in 2018. The book addresses how to understand distressing voices, and offers practical techniques to respond to them and to change one’s beliefs about and relationships with them. The book includes exercises, and concludes with a section for friends and family members.
RECOMMENDED BY
Cooper, D. (2016). Overcoming distressing voices: A self-help guide using cognitive behavioral techniques. BJPsych Bulletin, 40(1), 53-53. https://doi.org/10.1192/pb.bp.114.049502
Hayward, M. (2018). Evidence-based psychological approaches for auditory hallucinations: COMMENTARY ON… AUDITORY HALLUCINATIONS IN SCHIZOPHRENIA<xref rid="fns01" ref-type="fn">. BJPsych Advances, 24(3), 174-177. https://doi.org/10.1192/bja.2017.11
CREATIVE
the center cannot hold by elyn r saks
The Center Cannot Hold: My Journey Through Madness is a memoir by American lawyer, psychoanalyst, and professor of psychiatry at the University of Southern California, Elyn R. Saks. The book, published in 2008, describes her experience living with schizophrenia, from adolescence, through college, and into her adult life where she successfully pursues her career and manages her illness. Saks received the 2009 John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Fellowship, and used the funds to create an institute for the study of mental health law, policy and ethics at the University of Southern California.
RECOMMENDED BY
Simon, J. (2008). The Center Cannot Hold: My journey through madness. The American Journal of Psychiatry, 165(3), 402-403. https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.ajp.2007.07111814
Baker, C. (2008). The Center Cannot Hold: A memoir of my schizophrenia. Mental Health Practice, 11(5), 20. https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A174639076/HRCA?u=ubcolumbia&sid=bookmark-HRCA&xid=9d0f8211
EVERYTHING HERE IS BEAUTIFUL BY MIRA T. LEE
Everything Here is Beautiful is a debut novel by Mira T. Lee, published in 2018, about two Chinese-American sisters. Lucia starts to hear voices, and Miranda works to support and protect her. The book explores the challenges of caring for a loved one with mental illness.
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a beautiful mind by sylvia nasar
A Beautiful Mind: The Life of Mathematical Genius and Nobel Laureate John Nash is a biography by Sylvia Nasar, professor of journalism at Columbia University. Published in 1998, it documents the life story of John Nash, a mathematical genius who developed schizophrenia but emerged decades later to win the Nobel prize in Economics in 1994. As Nasar says in her forward, his story was “a fairy tale, Greek myth, and Shakespearean tragedy rolled into one.” A Beautiful Mind won the National Book Critics Circle Award in 1998 and was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize in biography in 1999.
RECOMMENDED BY
Hoey, J. (1999). The peculiar genius of John Nash (review of A beautiful Mind). Canadian Medical Association Journal (CMAJ), 160(6), 870-870.