Looking back, the strangest part was not the omnipresent government agents, the agonizing radiation weapons, or even my own super hero-like capabilities. What frightens me most is that my manic depression gave me an immovable certainty that it was the world around me that was convulsing but that my perception and judgment of it were unaltered. Thinking of this time leaves me frustrated and embarrassed as well as apprehensive that it might come again.

I read Dr. Amador's book and felt better. First, he concretely and understandably establishes that most denials of treatment are but manifestations of the illness and that it is the illness that is the enemy. Dr. Amador then presents a powerful game plan for penetrating, or at least circumventing, sickness induced lack of insight that will maximize the cooperation with treatment of those affected. When I first became ill, I wish this book had been in the hands of someone who cared about me.

JONATHAN STANLEY, JD Assistant Director, Treatment Advocacy Center and, a Consumer diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder

There are several publications that address best practices for clinicians treating persons with schizophrenia. These are written from the perspective of the practitioner. There are a few books written from the perspective of the consumer or of the family member, but these do not incorporate the values of clinical insights, particularly those reflecting recent research findings. The great value of "I am Not Sick, I Don't Need Help" is that it incorporates both the consumer's perspective and that of the clinician. It finds common ground, pointing out where the consumer and his/her clinician can work together in partnership. It is practical, easy to read, and hopeful. I highly recommend it to anyone interested in helping those who, like myself, live with the condition we call schizophrenia.

FREDERIC J. FRESE III, Ph.D. Summit County Recovery Project and, a Consumer diagnosed with Schizophrenia

A riveting true story of sisters who were identical, until the voices began

Growing up in the fifties, Carolyn Spiro was always in the shadow of her more intellectually dominant and socially outgoing twin, Pamela. But as the twins approached adolescence, Pamela began to suffer the initial symptoms of schizophrenia, hearing disembodied voices that haunted her for years and culminated during her freshman year of college at Brown University where she had her first major breakdown and hospitalization. Pamela’s illness allowed Carolyn to enter the spotlight that had for so long been focused on her sister. Exceeding everyone’s expectations, Carolyn graduated from Harvard Medical School and forged a successful career in psychiatry.

Despite Pamela’s estrangement from the rest of her family, the sisters remained very close, “bonded with the twin glue,” calling each other several times a week and visiting as frequently as possible. Carolyn continued to believe in the humanity of her sister, not merely in her illness, and Pamela responded.

Told in the alternating voices of the sisters, Divided Minds is a heartbreaking account of the far reaches of madness as well as the depths of ambivalence and love between twins. It is a true and unusually frank story of identical twins with very different identities and wildly different experiences of the world around them. It is one of the most compelling histories of two such siblings in the canon of writing on mental illness.

Hot on the heels of an optimistic film about Nobelist John Nash's schizophrenic journey comes medical journalist Robert Whitaker's disturbing exposé of the cruel and corrupt business of treating mental illness in America. Mad in America begins by surveying three centuries of mental health treatments to discover why positive outcomes for schizophrenics in the U.S. for the last 25 years have decreased--making them lower than those in developing countries. Whitaker asks, "Why should living in a country with such rich resources and advanced medical treatments for disorders of every kind, be so toxic to those who are severely mentally ill?"

One of Whitaker's answers draws upon the historic and current assumptions of a physical cause for schizophrenia. This resulted in cruel and unusual physical treatments--from ice-water immersion and bloodletting to the more contemporary electroshock, lobotomy, and drug therapies with dangerous side effects. This physical cause model leads to Whitaker's more provocative explanation: that mental illness has become a profit center. He offers disturbing details about how good business for drug companies makes for bad medicine in treating schizophrenia. From drug companies skewing their studies and patient/subjects kept in the dark about experiments to the cozy relationship between the American Psychiatric Association and drug companies, Whitaker underlines the mistreatment of the mentally ill. This courageous and compelling book succeeds as both a history of our attitudes toward mental illness and a manifesto for changing them.

Natural Healing for Schizophrenia and Other Common Mental Disorders is a guide to natural approaches to mental and emotional health. It is organized in terms of schizophrenia but includes material on depression, bipolar, autism, and behavior disorders. The book brings together over a half century of medical and psychiatric research with a detailed exploration of nutrients, herbs and biotypes, and the role of allergies, toxins, hormones, physical condition, and brain biochemistry in mental health.

Natural Healing for Schizophrenia and Other Common Mental Disorders serves to inform and support patients and families, as well as physicians and researchers. It is updated and revised every few years, as new medical knowledge becomes available. Includes a glossary, a comprehensive index, current resources, and extensive references.

Eva Edelman, is a nutritionist, herbalist and health educator, with twenty-five years experience in these fields. Edelman lectures and writes extensively on natural approaches to mental health, and appears on media nationwide. She currently serves as nutritional consultant at a drop-in center run by and for individuals with psychiatric diagnoses.

The Healthy Mind Guides offer original research and treatment options for reversing several so-called mental disorders. Addressing the underlying imbalances--biological, psychological, emotional, and spiritual--of the disorders, each book offers a wide range of effective, practical therapies drawn from extensive interviews with physicians and other practitioners. Case studies throughout the books illustrate the applications of these therapies, and numerous resources are provided for readers who want to seek treatment.

"The Natural Medicine Guide to Addiction" delineates the causes of several common addictions--including cigarettes, alcohol, street and prescription drugs, work, sex, and food. More than a dozen proven natural therapies--including psychoneurobiology, family systems therapy, traditional Chinese medicine, and acupuncture--are presented by health professionals who use them everyday to successfully treat a wide range of addictions.

This book is not about autism but about being human as a therapist and the humanity of very disturbed children..it is about how the author learned over time that the kind of psychoanalytic therapy she had originally tried with an autistic boy was not helpful - and how what she learned from that changed her ways of working with all sorts of disturbed children. Alvarez is a remarkably creative and honest clinican and a wonderful writer.

Can early, need-adapted treatment prevent the long-terms effects of psychosis?
How important is phase-specific treatment?

Evolving Psychosis explores the success of psycho-social treatments for psychosis in helping patients recover more quickly and stay well longer.

Mental health professionals from all over the world share their clinical experience and scientific findings to shed new light on the issues surrounding need-specific treatment. They cover: The Nature of Psychosis, Early Intervention in Psychosis, Phase-Specific Treatment of Psychosis & The Need for Integration. Particular attention is paid to the how treatment can be improved with individually tailored treatment programmes, early intervention, more integration between psychological treatments, and new and better diagnostic concepts.

This book incorporates new and controversial ideas that will stimulate discussion regarding the benefits of early, need-adapted treatment. It will be of interest to psychologists, psychiatrists and other mental health professionals interested in psycho-social approaches to psychosis.

"I recommend this book for anyone who works with patients having schizophrenia and similar disorders. It can be used to assist the practitioner in setting up such a program, or as simply a set of insights and techniques to support such patients even if one cannot put an entire treatment program into place."--Annals of Clinical Psychiatry

"He intended this volume to serve the dual purposes of a textbook and a practical therapeutic manual, and he has admirably met this objective....Hogarty has the unique ability to communicate complex concepts and intellectually provocative insights in a conversational and inviting style that is accessible to multidisciplinary practitioners across types and levels of expertise. His work represents a landmark advance in our understanding of the interplay between biological, psychological, and social perspectives in the pursuit of patients' recovery. His thorough scientific analysis is compelling, and his therapeutic manual is creative, exciting to read, and highly instructive....an invaluable resource for all mental health practitioners and graduate-level trainees who are inspired by evidence-based practice in mental health and the vision of recovery and rehabilitation of people with severe mental illness."--Psychiatric Services